Epidemiology News and Research

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World marks Haiti earthquake anniversary

Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary since a massive earthquake struck Haiti, the Miami Herald reports.

14 Jan 2011

Study finds racial disparities in weight-related counseling

When it comes to advising obese patients, blacks receive less weight reduction and exercise counseling from physicians than their white counterparts. This is according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who examined the impact of patient and doctor race concordance on weight-related counseling.

14 Jan 2011

New study finds prevalence of hypertension in older Mexican-Americans

A new study by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston reveals that the prevalence of hypertension in older Mexican-Americans living in the Southwest region of the United States has increased slightly in the last decade.

14 Jan 2011

Researchers discover molecular mechanism behind coffee's protective effect

Coffee, that morning elixir, may give us an early jump-start to the day, but numerous studies have shown that it also may be protective against type 2 diabetes. Yet no one has really understood why.

14 Jan 2011

Robot-assisted surgery improves outcomes in uterine, endometrial, and cervical cancer patients

Robot-assisted surgery dramatically improves outcomes in patients with uterine, endometrial, and cervical cancer, said researchers at the Jewish General Hospital's Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research in Montreal. Moreover, because of fewer post-operative complications and shorter hospital stays, robotic procedures also cost less.

13 Jan 2011

Genetic information from Guthrie cards may serve as valuable resource to diagnose infant diseases

Van Andel Research Institute researchers have developed a method that can yield more information from archived newborn blood that has implications for a vast array of research, including population health studies and answering questions about diseases in infants and children.

13 Jan 2011

Largest long-term examination of children's health and development in the US

The National Children's Study (NCS) has begun inviting women in San Diego to participate in the largest long-term examination of children's health and development ever conducted in the United States.

13 Jan 2011

Scientist develops FMR1 genetic blood test for predicting IVF outcomes

A researcher at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has helped to develop the first genetic blood test for predicting the chances that in vitro fertilization will lead to a successful pregnancy.

13 Jan 2011

NSAIDs raise risk of heart disease: Study

A new study published online in the British Medical Journal explores the relative safety of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), commonly used to treat joint and muscle aches and pain and concludes that NSAIDs significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular events in patients who take them regularly.

12 Jan 2011

Baby-led weaning feasible for most infants

Most babies can reach out for and eat finger food by six to eight months, according to a study in the January issue of Maternal and Child Nutrition.

12 Jan 2011

Private rooms in the ICU help reduce hospital infections

A research team from the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and McGill University has demonstrated that private rooms in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) play a key role in reducing hospital infections like C-difficile. The study, published today in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, also suggests that length of stay would be shorter and this could lead to cost savings to the healthcare system.

12 Jan 2011

Herpes zoster vaccine reduces risk of developing shingles by 55%

Receiving the herpes zoster vaccine was associated with a 55 percent reduced risk of developing shingles, according to a Kaiser Permanente study of 300,000 people that appears in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

12 Jan 2011

African-American men's delay in getting preventive medical care more attributable to medical mistrust than masculinity

Whether they see themselves as tough or just self-reliant, men are less likely than women to seek routine, preventive medical care, like blood pressure and cholesterol screenings.

11 Jan 2011

Basal-like breast cancer is equally aggressive disease in African American women and white women: Study

In 2006, a team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill schools of Public Health and Medicine and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center found that breast cancer in younger African American women is more likely to be the more aggressive basal-like (or triple-negative) subtype - one factor thought to be behind known racial disparity differences in breast cancer patient outcomes.

11 Jan 2011

MSU researcher believes pregnancy unmasks predispositions to cardiovascular disease

As the rate of preterm delivery rises - accounting for 12.5 percent of all U.S. births - a Michigan State University epidemiologist is using a $3.7 million federal grant to uncover why some mothers who deliver babies early are at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

11 Jan 2011

Group of health research funders calls for increased sharing of public health data

Public health research data "must be made more widely available in the scientific community if researchers are to unlock its full potential and make progress in public health, the world's top health funding agencies said Monday," Reuters reports. "In a joint statement, 17 major health research funders from around the world pledged to work together to support 'timely and responsible' sharing of data gathered during studies on health," the news service notes (Kelland, 1/10).

11 Jan 2011

95.6% of WTC survivors report posttraumatic stress symptoms

Nearly 10 years after the greatest human-made disaster in U.S. history-- the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers -- there has been little research documenting the attacks' consequences among those most directly affected -- the survivors who escaped the World Trade Center towers.

10 Jan 2011

Study finds link between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and stroke

People suffering from fatty liver disease may be three times more likely to suffer a stroke than individuals without fatty liver, according to a study by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the London Health Sciences Centre.

10 Jan 2011

Study supports two-dose vaccine regimen for protecting children from chickenpox

Two doses of the varicella, or chickenpox, vaccine provide excellent protection in children against this highly contagious and, in some cases, severe disease. To be published in the February 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, the findings support the two-dose vaccine regimen recommended in the United States since 2006.

7 Jan 2011

Study examines link between media consumption, eating disorders among adolescent girls in Fiji

For parents wanting to reduce the negative influence of TV on their children, the first step is normally to switch off the television set. But a new study suggests that might not be enough. It turns out indirect media exposure, i.e., having friends who watch a lot of TV, might be even more damaging to a teenager's body image.

7 Jan 2011