Public Health News and Research

RSS

Debate over medical malpractice litigation continues

The Senate is expected to vote soon on legislation to impose a federal cap on noneconomic damages in malpractice suits, following on similar bills that passed the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate last year.

10 May 2006

Inhaled corticosteroids can reduce breathing problems in children at high risk for asthma

Studies in older children and adults show that the most effective long-term control medicine for persistent asthma (symptoms more than two days a week or more than twice a month at night) is inhaled corticosteroids, which reduce airway swelling and help prevent asthma symptoms (e.g., asthma attacks).

10 May 2006

Air purifiers increase ozone levels exceeding health standards

In a small, poorly ventilated room, an indoor air purifier that produces even a few milligrams of ozone per hour can create an ozone level that exceeds public health standards, researchers at UC Irvine have found.

10 May 2006

An evolutionary life-history framework for understanding sex differences in human mortality rates

Despite research efforts to find modern factors that would explain the different life expectancies of men and women, the gap is actually ancient and universal, according to University of Michigan researchers.

10 May 2006

Breast cancer may be on the rise in U.S.-based Latinas

Breast cancer is an understudied and poorly understood disease in Hispanic/Latina populations in the U.S., and breast cancer appears to be presenting at an earlier age in this population, on average 10 years younger when compared to Caucasian women.

10 May 2006

300,000 U.S. schoolchildren diagnosed with autism

According to researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, the first-ever national estimate of the prevalence of autism in the United States has found that the disorder affects up to one in every 175 school-age children.

9 May 2006

Cardiovascular disease impact varies according to age, gender, other factors

Cardiovascular disease deaths have declined in the last 25 years, but the effect of America's No. 1 killer varies greatly based on gender, age, location and type, according to a study reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

9 May 2006

Study highlights increased passive smoking risk at home

Most non-smoking mothers recognise the need to protect sick children from smoking husbands, but persuading their spouse to quit isn't always an option, according to research published in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.

8 May 2006

Underage and abusive drinkers very profitable for the alcohol industry

According to new research in the U.S. the underage drinking market is making the alcohol industry a neat $23 billion a year and that figure represents 17.5 percent of all money spent on alcohol in the U.S. annually.

3 May 2006

Passive smoking associated with behavior problems in children and pre-teens

A new Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study shows that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, even at extremely low levels, is associated with behavior problems in children and pre-teens.

3 May 2006

Screening for depression unlikely to improve the mental wellbeing of the population

Nevertheless, it may soon become health policy in England and Wales as primary care doctors are rewarded for screening under their new contract.

3 May 2006

Importance of relative measures in policy on health inequalities

The British public supports the use of personal medical data, without consent, for public health research, finds a study published on bmj.com. Most people also think that cancer registration should be required by law.

3 May 2006

Current US drug safety system is moving toward a delay in drug approval

In the May 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and Chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, analyzes the limitations of the current system of drug-safety monitoring and proposes a solution that addresses overly aggressive early marketing practices

3 May 2006

Analysis of 'virginity pledges'

Adolescents who sign a "virginity pledge" and then go on to have premarital sex are likely to disavow having signed such a pledge

3 May 2006

Traffic, susceptibility and childhood asthma

Young children who live near a major road are significantly more likely to have asthma than children who live only blocks away, according to a study that appears in Environmental Health Perspectives.

3 May 2006

Obesity in the U.S. greatly underestimated

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) analyzed data from health surveys, which are used to estimate obesity levels in states. Because people tend to provide incorrect information about their weight and height, especially in telephone surveys, the researchers concluded that estimates of obesity in individual states have been too low, by more than 50%.

3 May 2006

Researchers recommend national uniform newborn screening tests

In a new study, conducted for the federal government and published in a supplement to the May issue of the journal Pediatrics, Stephen M. Downs, M.D. and Aaron E. Carroll, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine, recommend a national uniform panel of newborn screening tests which they found to be cost saving as well as life saving.

3 May 2006