Epidemiology News and Research

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Diagnostic imaging in stage IV cancer on the rise

Diagnostic imaging in elderly patients with stage IV cancer has increased significantly in recent years, while its use among those with early-stage disease has decreased, suggest study findings.

6 Aug 2012

Head trauma in older adults over a weekend more deadly than during the week

A Johns Hopkins review of more than 38,000 patient records finds that older adults who sustain substantial head trauma over a weekend are significantly more likely to die from their injuries than those similarly hurt and hospitalized Monday through Friday, even if their injuries are less severe and they have fewer other illnesses than their weekday counterparts.

6 Aug 2012

Allergies may reduce risk of brain cancer

New research adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that there's a link between allergies and reduced risk of a serious type of cancer that starts in the brain. This study suggests the reduced risk is stronger among women than men, although men with certain allergy profiles also have a lower tumor risk.

3 Aug 2012

Giving antibiotics just before cesarean section prevents infections

Giving antibiotics before cesarean section surgery rather than just after the newborn's umbilical cord is clamped cuts the infection rate at the surgical site in half, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

3 Aug 2012

HSF1 increases expression of chaperones and supports cancer metastasis

Whitehead Institute researchers have found that increased expression of a specific set of genes is strongly associated with metastasis and death in patients with breast, colon, and lung cancers.

3 Aug 2012

Alcohol decreases turnover of bone in post-menopausal women

Women after menopause tend to develop weaker bones from what is known as osteoporosis, which may lead to fractures (especially hip fractures) from falling. The weakness of the bones results from an imbalance between the normal resorption (a type of dissolving of old bone) and the laying down of new bone, an ongoing process for both men and women referred to as "bone turnover."

3 Aug 2012

Caffeine may help control movement in people with Parkinson's

Caffeine, which is widely consumed around the world in coffee, tea and soft drinks, may help control movement in people suffering from Parkinson's. This is the finding of a study conducted at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) that was recently published in Neurology, the official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

2 Aug 2012

$Older Medicare patients have reduced risk of hip fracture following cataract surgery$

Older Medicare patients have reduced risk of hip fracture following cataract surgery

Medicare patients 65 years and older who underwent cataract surgery had a lower odds of hip fracture 1 year after the procedure when compared with patients with cataract who did not have cataract surgery, according to a study in the August 1 issue of JAMA.

1 Aug 2012

People with mental health problems have lower life expectancy

People with mental health problems have a lower life expectancy, according to a large-scale population based study published today in the British Medical Journal. The findings may prompt further research into the way doctors treat patients with even mild psychological problems.

1 Aug 2012

Obesity and heart disease risk in children: an interview with Joana Kist-van Holthe

'What defines obesity in children' is a very important question, primarily because we need to use one definition in order to be able to compare the prevalence of obesity in different countries. It is also important to have a single definition in order to evaluate whether interventions are successful or not.

31 Jul 2012

Antioxidants and pancreatic cancer risk: an interview with Dr Andrew Hart

The antioxidants that we mainly looked at were selenium, vitamin C and vitamin E. They are chemicals which inactivate pro-oxidants or free radicals. Smoking and normal metabolism can lead to the production of free radicals.

30 Jul 2012

Nurse burnout leads to higher healthcare-associated infection rates

Nurse burnout leads to higher healthcare-associated infection rates (HAIs) and costs hospitals millions of additional dollars annually, according to a study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

30 Jul 2012

PSA testing and early detection may prevent 17,000 men each year from prostate cancer

A new analysis has found that doing away with PSA (prostate specific antigen) testing for prostate cancer would likely cause three times as many men to develop advanced disease that has spread to other parts of the body before being diagnosed. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study suggests that PSA testing and early detection may prevent approximately 17,000 men each year from having such advanced prostate cancer at diagnosis.

30 Jul 2012

Lack of physical activity and life expectancy: an interview with Dr I-Min Lee

With the approach of the Olympic Games, a group of researchers throughout the world thought that it would be a good time to draw the attention of the world to the health dangers of being physically inactive.

30 Jul 2012

Patients with plantar fasciitis experience less pain and improved QOL after standard radiation therapy

Patients with plantar fasciitis (painful bone heel spur) experience significantly less pain and improved quality of life following a standard dose of external beam radiation therapy, a common cancer treatment similar to receiving an X-ray, according to a randomized, cooperative group study that was published online July 25, 2012, in the International Journal of Radiation, Oncology, Biology, Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

30 Jul 2012

Early ART treatment delays AIDS-related health events in HIV-infected individuals

Further analyses of the landmark NIH-funded treatment-as-prevention study (HPTN 052) have found that providing antiretroviral treatment to HIV-infected individuals earlier, when their immune systems are healthier, delays AIDS-related health events, such as chronic herpes simplex virus and tuberculosis, as well as death. Additionally, researchers found that earlier HIV treatment is also cost-effective because it increases survival, prevents costly opportunistic infections and averts transmission of the virus to uninfected individuals.

30 Jul 2012

Results from HIV incidence study in Swaziland

The results from a nationally representative HIV incidence study in Swaziland indicate that the national rate of new HIV infections is 2.38% among adults ages 18-49. This figure, comparable to the 2009 UNAIDS estimate of 2.66% for Swaziland adults ages 15-49, suggests that the HIV epidemic in Swaziland may have begun to stabilize in the past few years.

30 Jul 2012