Epidemiology News and Research

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Unanticipated consequences of healthcare information technology

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) have developed a framework to help hospital managers, physicians, and nurses handle the tough challenges of implementing health information technology (HIT) by directly addressing the unintended consequences that undermine safety and quality.

18 Sep 2007

Moxifloxacin drug combo speeds up treatment of tuberculosis

A team of tuberculosis (TB) experts at Johns Hopkins and in Brazil have evidence that substituting the antibiotic moxifloxacin in the regimen of drugs used to treat the highly contagious form of lung disease could dramatically shorten the time needed to cure the illness from six months to four.

18 Sep 2007

Restricting pesticides could greatly reduce suicide rates worldwide

National and international policies restricting the pesticides that are most toxic to humans may have a major impact on world suicides, according to new research from the University of Bristol published this week in the International Journal of Epidemiology (IJE).

18 Sep 2007

Tonsillectomies increasingly performed to treat snoring and sleep disorders

A new Mayo Clinic study indicates tonsillectomies are increasingly being performed to treat airway obstructions evidenced by snoring and sleep disorders as opposed to tonsil infections.

18 Sep 2007

Largest study ever to look at possible heart risks with ADHD medications

Two U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agencies will collaborate in the most comprehensive study to date of prescription medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the potential for increased risk of heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problems.

18 Sep 2007

Economic development linked to differences in rates of asthma symptoms

Children with allergic sensitizations in economically developed countries are much more likely to develop asthma than similarly sensitized children in poorer countries, according to a team of international researchers.

17 Sep 2007

Pregnancy appears to cut risks for HIV-infected women

Women with HIV infection who become pregnant have a lower risk of progression to AIDS and death, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center report.

13 Sep 2007

New project aims to come up with a water quality standard for activities other than swimming

When health officials find the water quality is unsafe for swimming at Lake Michigan beaches, warnings are quickly posted. But those who pleasure boat, canoe, kayak or fish along the Chicago and Calumet river systems don't have the protection of environmental standards.

13 Sep 2007

Gene-drug interactions that lower blood pressure

Patients with high blood pressure respond very differently to antihypertensive medication, making treatment selection tricky for physicians.

13 Sep 2007

GlaxoSmithKline responds to Journal of the American Medical Association articles

GlaxoSmithKline believes that conclusions drawn from the most recent meta-analyses published by Drs. Nissen et. al. and Furberg et. al. in the Journal of the American Medical Association do not confirm a difference in the safety profile of Avandia (rosiglitazone) and Actos (pioglitazone).

12 Sep 2007

Breastfeeding does not protect children against developing asthma or allergies

Breastfeeding does not protect children against developing asthma or allergies, says a new study led by McGill University's Dr. Michael Kramer and funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

12 Sep 2007

Link found between a lack of vitamin D and pre-eclampsia

Researchers in the United States have found an association between vitamin D levels in pregnant women and the risk of pre-eclampsia; they say women who have a vitamin D deficiency early in their pregnancy are at risk from pre-eclampsia.

9 Sep 2007

Double-disease burden in India

It has been known that countries with rapidly developing economies may experience a double-disease burden that results from undernutrition and overnutrition.

5 Sep 2007

Exercise and yoga improves quality of life in women with early-stage breast cancer

Two studies report that exercise and yoga can help maintain and in some cases improve quality of life in women with early-stage breast cancer.

5 Sep 2007

Culprit in 'popcorn lung' identified

Scientists have pinpointed an ingredient in microwaved popcorn that could be the culprit in cases of "popcorn lung", a disease which affects people who work in the popcorn making industry.

4 Sep 2007

Global health community must act on mental health

The global public health community must take action to scale up services for mental disorders, especially in low- and middle-income (LAMI) countries, according to a team of public health experts writing in the Lancet.

4 Sep 2007

Rock and pop stars twice as likely to die young

Rock and pop stars are more than twice as likely as the rest of the population to die an early death, and within a few years of becoming famous, reveals research published ahead of print in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

4 Sep 2007

Car crash-related injuries take a heavy toll nationally in terms of deaths, life-long disability and economic costs

Motor vehicle crashes (MVC) are the leading cause of death due to unintentional injury from ages 1 to 64 years.

4 Sep 2007

Gender (dis)advantages in cardiac remodeling

The topic of gender-related differences in cardiac care is an extremely complex one. Unfortunately women have been neglected in several fields of medicine for too long. I think that cardiology is only one of the many fields in the past where the male predominance was obvious.

3 Sep 2007

Diets double the odds a teenage girl will begin smoking

Starting to diet seems to double the odds a teenage girl will begin smoking, a University of Florida study has found. UF researchers, who analyzed the dieting and smoking practices of 8,000 adolescents, did not find the same link in boys, who were also less likely than girls to diet, according to findings released Friday in the American Journal of Health Promotion.

3 Sep 2007