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Seniors in Medicare's doughnut hole decrease use of meds

Beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Part D who reached a gap in health care coverage known as the "doughnut hole" were much less likely to use prescription drugs than those with an employer-based plan, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health study.

3 Feb 2009

$Older adults who experience osteoporotic fracture have increased risk of death for 5-10 years$

Older adults who experience osteoporotic fracture have increased risk of death for 5-10 years

Women and men age 60 years or older who have a low-trauma osteoporotic fracture have an increased risk of death for the following 5 to 10 years, compared to the general population, and those who experience another fracture increase their risk of death further for an additional 5 years, according to a study in the February 4 issue of JAMA.

3 Feb 2009

High-tech hospitals see fewer complications, lower costs

Texas hospitals using health information technologies had fewer complications, lower mortality rates and lower costs, a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher has found.

3 Feb 2009

Fractures due to osteoporosis in seniors a signal for premature death

An Australian study has found that people over 60 years old who have had a fracture because of reduced bone density, or osteoporosis, face a higher risk of death over the next 5 to 10 years compared to the general population and those who experience additional fractures increase their risk of death further.

3 Feb 2009

Sun-intensive holidays may increase future skin cancer risk in children

Vacationing at the shore led to a 5 percent increase in nevi (more commonly called "moles") among 7-year-old children, according to a paper published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention , a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

3 Feb 2009

Teens who frequently go out with friends more likely to use marijuana

Marijuana use appears to have decreased among most European and North American adolescents between 2002 and 2006, and those who went out with friends on fewer evenings of the week were less likely to report using the drug, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

2 Feb 2009

Risk of malpractice lawsuits in breast imaging overestimate by radiologists

Radiologists who work in breast imaging tend to overestimate their actual risk of medical malpractice lawsuits, according to a study performed at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Seattle, WA.

2 Feb 2009

Study shows restrictive law fails to limit number of abortions

Despite abortion being severely legally restricted - and potentially unsafe - in Peru, the incidence of abortion is as high as or higher than the incidence in many countries where it is legal and safe, found researchers from Peru, the United Kingdom and the United States in an article published in CMAJ.

2 Feb 2009

Quinolone-resistant gonorrhea increases in Ontario

The prevalence of quinolone-resistant gonorrhea has increased rapidly in Ontario - Canada's most populous province - from a rate of 2% in 2001 to 28% in 2006, found a study published in CMAJ.

2 Feb 2009

Swimming can cut men's risk of dying in half

A new study shows that swimming cuts men's risk of dying by about 50% compared to runners, walkers and sedentary peers.

2 Feb 2009

Weight loss in overweight and obese women reduces urinary incontinence

Reducing urinary incontinence can now be added to the extensive list of health benefits of weight loss, according to a clinical trial funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

2 Feb 2009

Study confirms persistence of diversity problems in academic medicine

A survey study believed to be one of the first efforts to put hard numbers around long-held beliefs about diversity in medical school faculties has affirmed that awareness and sensitivity to racial and ethnic diversity are believed by most faculty to be poor and even poorer among faculty who are members of underrepresented minorities.

2 Feb 2009

Single gene lets bacteria jump from host to host

All life - plants, animals, people - depends on peaceful coexistence with a swarm of microbial life that performs vital services from helping to convert food to energy to protection from disease.

2 Feb 2009

Shift workers' body clocks studied to prevent certain cancers

Does shift work predispose you to cancer by altering the body's response to hormones?

2 Feb 2009

Results of the third school nutrition dietary assessment study published

A special Supplement to the February 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association presents findings from the recently released Third School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study (SNDA-III), conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., as well as research from other studies using SNDA-III data.

2 Feb 2009

Recent reports regarding mercury and high fructose

ChemRisk, a leading scientific consulting firm, was asked by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) to examine the recent publication by Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), "Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup," and the Environmental Health journal publication "Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food product sugar," by Dufault et al, 2009, and to offer our comments and analysis.

2 Feb 2009

New CDC study assesses impact of genetic testing on health outcomes

Some genomic tests developed to personalize medical decisions about cancer care are beneficial, while for others the evidence is uncertain and reliance on the test might even lead to poorer medical management of cancer in some cases, according new recommendation statements from an expert panel.

2 Feb 2009