Life Expectancy News and Research

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Life expectancy is the expected (in the statistical sense) number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by e''x'', which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged ''x'', according to a particular mortality experience.

New research indicates Canadians live longer than Americans

Compared to their neighbours south of the border, Canadians live longer, healthier lives. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Population Health Metrics has found this disparity between the two countries, suggesting that America's lack of universal health care and lower levels of social and economic equality are to blame.

29 Apr 2010

Universite de Montreal demographer offers prediction of boomer future

Baby boomers are retiring healthy, financially secure and with a desire to travel. According to Universit- de Montr-al demographer Jacques L-gar-, baby boomers will remain among the most self-reliant generations to reach their golden years.

27 Apr 2010

Programs to address care for children born with SCD during adulthood

Forty years ago, children born with sickle cell disease (SCD) were not expected to live past their teenage years. Today, medical advances are allowing children to live well into adulthood, raising concerns over who is going to care for these patients as adults. However, programs are underway to address these concerns, as reported in the March/April edition of Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, published by the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON).

24 Apr 2010

Researchers to measure children with Down syndrome to develop new growth charts

Parents and doctors have known for a long time that children with Down syndrome tend to grow more slowly and are considerably shorter than most other children. But pediatricians needing to record growth milestones at regular office visits have an outdated set of growth charts based on data collected more than 25 years ago.

23 Apr 2010

Actelion Pharmaceuticals launches Epoprostenol for Injection for treatment of primary pulmonary hypertension

Actelion Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. today announced the commercial availability of Epoprostenol for Injection, an improved formulation of epoprostenol that is stable at room temperature, for the treatment of primary pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary hypertension associated with scleroderma spectrum of disease in NYHA Class III and Class IV patients.

22 Apr 2010

GUMC researchers awarded grant to discover and develop new smoking cessation drugs

A Georgetown University Medical Center research team has been awarded a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to discover and develop new smoking cessation drugs based on an unconventional theory about nicotine addiction. Kenneth Kellar, PhD, a professor of pharmacology at GUMC is principal investigator of the five year grant totaling $4.6 million.

22 Apr 2010

Knopp Neurosciences to initiate Phase 3 studies of KNS-760704 in AL

In an invited presentation today before the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Knopp Neurosciences Inc. described further encouraging trends observed in a previously reported Phase 2 study of KNS-760704 (dexpramipexole) in ALS.

17 Apr 2010

Socioeconomic factors linked to rates and outcomes of stem cell transplantation for AML patients

The socioeconomic status of a country has long been considered a potentially significant factor in the availability of high-quality health-care interventions and even a determinant of long-term patient outcomes. A new study from the Acute Leukemia Working Party of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation reports that in Europe, socioeconomic factors have a direct correlation to the rates and outcomes of stem cell transplantation for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

16 Apr 2010

Brains on Bikes raises funds for brain cancer research and support

Anne Feeley, a 55-year-old mother and brain cancer survivor, began a 3,781-mile ride across the country today to raise money and awareness for brain cancer research and support.

12 Apr 2010

Patients with end-stage cancer do not benefit from palliative radiotherapy: CANCER

A new analysis has found that a considerable proportion of patients with end-stage or terminal cancer do not benefit from palliative radiation therapy despite spending most of their remaining life undergoing treatments. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study indicates that greater efforts are needed to tailor appropriately palliative radiotherapy to patients with end-stage cancer.

12 Apr 2010

Increase in delaying retirement likely to gain speed: RAND study

An unprecedented upturn in the number of older Americans who delay retirement is likely to continue and even accelerate over the next two decades, a trend that should help ease the financial challenges facing both Social Security and Medicare, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

9 Apr 2010

Opinions: Preparing for next flu outbreak; Elections in Zimbabwe; U.S. response to Haiti

Now that concerns about swine flu have eased, "[o]ur fear is that the public and officials will get blase about the next flu outbreak," according to a New York Times editorial. "Efforts to rush vaccine into production did not go well. This dry run should lead health officials to push the vaccine makers even harder to adopt new technologies that can turn out vaccine more quickly.

9 Apr 2010

Americans are getting heavier younger and carrying extra weight for longer periods: Study

It was a provocative prediction that due to the obesity epidemic Baby Boomers may outlive their children.

8 Apr 2010

Adherence to type 1 diabetes treatment lags if parents don't monitor

Teenagers and "tweenagers" with type 1 diabetes have more trouble sticking to their treatment plan - thus raising their risk of blindness, kidney failure and heart disease - if their parents become increasingly lax about monitoring the child's treatment, or if the mother-child relationship is poor.

8 Apr 2010

Cities, leaders worldwide mark World Health Day

Cities throughout the world are marking World Health Day today by promoting urban health, as part of the WHO's "1,000 cities, 1,000 lives" campaign, CNN reports (Shaikh, 4/7).

8 Apr 2010

Brazil healthcare market to reach $129.9 billion in 2012

On the road to global economic recovery, the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are setting up a new scene. Brazil, in particular, is the 9th economy in the world and is expected to reach the 8th position by 2012. New opportunities set a promising healthcare market perspective with a strong potential for further growth.

7 Apr 2010

WHO launches campaign to highlight urban planning to improve public health

Urban settings have a direct impact on the health of the people who live there. On World Health Day WHO is launching a campaign to highlight urban planning as a crucial link to building a healthy 21st century. In particular, the Organization calls upon municipal authorities, concerned residents, advocates for healthy living and others to take a close look at health inequities in cities and take action.

7 Apr 2010

Newer treatments, closer monitoring of childhood cancer may improve longevity

Although more children today are surviving cancer than ever before, young patients successfully treated in the 1970s and 80s may live a decade less, on average, than the general population, according to a study from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Harvard School of Public Health.

7 Apr 2010

Childhood cancer survivors may not survive long says new study

Children who have survived a cancer are at a higher risk of an early death says two new studies. The first report published in the April 6th issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, said that there was a cumulative effect of the disease, a childhood cancer and its treatment on the risk of death in 15 year old patients who have been cancer free for at least 5 years.

6 Apr 2010