Epidemiology News and Research

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Link between high cholesterol and better memory

What's bad for your ticker may be good for your bean, according to a research from a team of scientists at Boston University.

22 Mar 2005

Calls to regionalize the care of patients with heart attacks are premature

Calls to regionalize the care of patients with heart attacks are premature, and do not account for potential unintended consequences, according to a commentary by Yale researchers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

21 Mar 2005

Obtaining patient consent for clinical audit is unworkable

Obtaining signed patient consent for audit purposes is difficult and is unlikely to be successful unless extra resources are made available, finds a study published online by the BMJ.

21 Mar 2005

Risk of cardiac death after radiation for breast cancer has dramatically decreased

In the largest and most comprehensive prospective study of its kind, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have concluded that the risk of ischemic heart disease and, ultimately, cardiac death following radiation treatment for breast cancer has steadily declined over the last quarter century.

16 Mar 2005

No association between acrylamide intake in foods and risk of breast cancer

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, have found no association between acrylamide intake in foods and risk of breast cancer among Swedish women. The findings appear in the March 16, 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

15 Mar 2005

Risk of ischemic heart disease associated with radiotherapy for breast cancer has substantially decreased in the last 25 years

The risk of ischemic heart disease that is associated with radiotherapy for breast cancer has substantially decreased in the last 25 years, according to a new study in the March 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

15 Mar 2005

Beneficial effects of Alpha-Linolenic acid in walnuts

The recently-announced USDA dietary guidelines stress the need for consumers to be more aware of the benefits of polyunsaturated essential omega-3 fatty acids in order to achieve a healthy diet. Many people look to fish, such as salmon, for omega-3s, but plant sources such as walnuts are also specifically noted in the USDA recommendations.

15 Mar 2005

Association between prolonged residential radon exposure and lung cancer risk

Two University of Iowa researchers were part of a large multi-center study that provides compelling direct evidence of an association between prolonged residential radon exposure and lung cancer risk.

14 Mar 2005

Genetic factors may play a significant role in the racial differences encountered in the epidemiology of breast cancer

A new review finds similarities between the clinical presentation and course of breast cancer in Africans and African-Americans, suggesting that genetic factors may play a significant role in the racial differences encountered in the epidemiology of breast cancer in America.

14 Mar 2005

Gene identified that confers susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration

By combining the tools of high-throughput biology and statistical genetics, scientists at Rockefeller University, Yale University School of Public Health and the National Eye Institute have identified a gene that confers susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of vision loss in the United Sates for those over 60.

14 Mar 2005

Washing hands with soap and water best protection against disease-causing viruses

The largest, most comprehensive study ever done comparing the effectiveness of hand hygiene products shows that nothing works better in getting rid of disease-causing viruses than simply washing one's hands with good old-fashioned soap and water.

14 Mar 2005

European folic acid policies are not effective enough

The prevalence of neural tube defects in Europe has not declined substantially in the past decade, despite national policies of folic acid supplementation in half the countries, finds a study in this week's BMJ.

13 Mar 2005

New NHS payment system has already run into problems and requires careful monitoring

The new NHS payment system has already run into problems and requires careful monitoring, say researchers at Dr Foster in this week's BMJ.

13 Mar 2005

Gene for AMD has now been identified by researchers

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a debilitating eye disease affecting about 15 million people in the United States.

13 Mar 2005

Birdflu vaccine successful on monkeys

A bird flu vaccine for humans could be only months away since the success of a vaccine on monkeys in Vietnam, researchers hope to have a vaccine ready for testing in humans later this year.

10 Mar 2005

Africa faces potential increases in breast cancer rates

9 Mar 2005

Income, not just race, explains much of the health gap between groups of Americans

Income, not just race, explains much of the health gap between groups of Americans, and a “health equity impact” statement should accompany government policy proposals, suggests a Harvard professor in the current edition of the prestigious journal Health Affairs.

9 Mar 2005

Study examines consequences of Thailand's "War on Drugs"

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Chiang Mai University Research Institute for Health Sciences and the Northern Drug Treatment Centre in Thailand conducted the first study on the effect of Thailand’s aggressive war on illicit drugs and the war’s impact on injection drug users.

9 Mar 2005

Lung cancer rates among men are on the decline

Results of the most comprehensive analysis to date of the impact of gender differences in lung cancer incidence in the United States indicate that lung cancer rates among men are on the decline, while the rate in women remains steady.

8 Mar 2005

Women with non–invasive breast cancer carry the same mutations in two inherited breast/ovarian cancer genes as women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer

The inherited breast/ovarian cancer genes are BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are associated with an increased risk of breast and/or ovarian cancer. The results are part of a five–year study of a common form of early stage breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

7 Mar 2005