Articles Posted in Medical News

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As the U.S. population ages, increasing numbers of people are taking care of elderly relatives. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released a new study that reports that, in the past three months, 39.8 million Americans have provided unpaid care to someone over 65 because of a condition related to aging.

A story on the recent report was published in the New York Times.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 78 million American children were born between 1945 and 1964 in the years following World War II. Now those children are heading into their golden years, starting retirement and facing some of the illnesses usually associated with old age. Many of their caregivers will be their sons and daughters.

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The New York Times has reported that long-time use of prescription antacid drugs can result in certain illnesses, including severe anemia, bone fracture and infections. The medications can be especially dangerous for older patients, who are urged to used them as briefly as possible.

The Times cited the example of a medical student, Jolene Rudell, who fainted; she assumed that the stress of being in medical school had caused her to pass out. Two weeks later, she lost consciousness again.

Blood tests showed Rudell’s red blood cell count and iron level were dangerously low, even though she is a hearty eater (and a carnivore). Her physician pointed to another possible culprit: a popular drug used by millions of Americans to prevent gastroesophageal acid reflux, or severe heartburn.

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Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) have been receiving a lot of attention lately because of the large number of such injuries suffered by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the risk of concussions in sports like football and hockey. But many TBI incidents are caused by car accidents or car-pedestrian accidents. In the elderly, many brain injuries are caused by falls. Often these falls occur when patients are left unsupervised in hospitals or nursing homes.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1.7 million people a year experience a traumatic brain injury in the United States. Of those, 275,000 are hospitalized, and more than 50,000 die. More than 5 million Americans are estimated to suffer from a long-term disability following such injuries. The direct medical expenses and indirect costs, including lost productivity, have been estimated at $76 billion a year, according to the C.D.C.

Now scientists are examining the use of progesterone, the reproductive hormone, to help TBI patients. The new study, described in the New York Times, was financed by the National Institutes of Health and overseen by Emory University in Atlanta. The purpose of the study is to test the hypothesis that the hormone can reduce mortality and disability if administered right after a traumatic brain injury.

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The United States Preventive Services Task Force has issued a draft statement recommending that healthy women should not take low doses of calcium or vitamin D supplements to prevent bone fractures.

The group is an independent panel of experts in prevention and primary care and was appointed by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. In a report, the task force said there was insufficient evidence to recommend taking vitamin D with or without calcium to prevent fractures in postmenopausal women and men.
Scientists who took part in the study said a normal healthy diet provides enough vitamin D and calcium.

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The Supreme Court decision upholding the federal Affordable Care Act is good news for residents in Illinois who do not have heath insurance. Nearly 5,000 Illinois residents died between 2005 and 2010 because they didn’t have insurance, according to a report issued by Families USA.

Illinois ranked sixth among all states in the number of uninsured people between ages 25 and 64 who died prematurely, the report said. During the five-year period, 134,120 people in the U.S. died because they lacked insurance of any kind, including Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the poor, according to the Washington-based advocacy group.

The high court ruled on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. By a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the health insurance mandate, which requires all Americans to have health insurance or pay a fine.

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Most doctors recommend that their patients see a primary care physician once a year to check blood pressure, respiratory rate, cholesterol levels, liver function and other systems. Those things are routine, but the reason doctors ask patients to see them regularly is for preventative medicine. The costs of medical care and insurance have been soaring for decades. Medical treatment costs are much higher than the screening process costs.

Family doctors urge annual checks for blood pressure, cholesterol levels and prostate. Being examined by a dermatologist who screens for skin cancer is another important preventative measure. Women should regularly be seen by their gynecologist to rule out or examine for signs, symptoms of breast, ovarian, uterine cancer and other devastating diseases.

Those in good health past the age of 60 may realize that they are lucky but should take steps to safeguard their health against future problems.

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The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that the average American now lives to 77 years of age. That number has been on the rise for the last several decades.

As Americans live longer, there has been an increase in the number of nursing homes opening in the U.S. Nursing homes offer a safer place for the elderly or infirm to live. These alternative living quarters are for older Americans who are unable to care for themselves.

But as more older Americans move into nursing homes, we also see rising numbers of abuse and neglect cases in these facilities.

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The American Society of Clinical Oncology announced during its Chicago meeting that a drug has the potential of attacking tumors without some of the usual side effects. The results, although not yet certain, point to prolonging the lives of breast cancer victims.

The treatment in clinical trials validates the method in which a drug is delivered to cancerous cells without harming healthy ones. “We’ve envisioned a world where cancer treatment would kill the cancer and not hurt the patient,” said Dr. Kimberly L. Blackwell, a professor of medicine at Duke Cancer Institute and a lead investigator in the clinical trial. Dr. Blackwell said this drug does that.

The drug, known as T-DM1, was developed by Genetech, which sponsored the trial. The company has indicated that it would ask for approval of the use of the drug later this year. That would mean the drug would be available for sale in 2013.

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The journal of Science Translational Medicine published an article describing the surgical procedure developed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital regarding organ transplantation. The article, co-authored by Dr. Joseph Leventhal, a surgeon at Northwestern, said the new organ transplant procedure would help eliminate the need for numerous medications that individuals must take to prevent the body’s immune system from rejecting a new organ.

The reported study described the procedure in which a recipient’s immune system accepts a mismatched organ, even one with a high rate of rejection, from a donor who is unrelated. Those kinds of organ donors represent the majority of the roughly 28,000 organ transplants each year in the United States.

In traditional organ transplant procedures, recipients take medications for the rest of their lives to prevent the body’s immune system from rejecting the organ.

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It was not long ago that Yaz and Yasmin ranked as one of the leading birth control pills on the market. They were able to corner a large share of the market in large part due to a successful ad campaign marketed towards women under 35 and promises to decrease acne and premenstrual depression. However, nowadays when Yaz and Yasmin are in the news it is related to the large number of lawsuits filed against the drugs’ manufacturer.

Bayer Pharmaceuticals Co. began manufacturing Yasmin in 2001 and Yaz in 2006. These new forms of birth control differed from older versions of oral contraceptives in that Yasmin and Yaz contained less estrogen and added a new synthetic form of progestin, called drospirenone. Supposedly, this new combination would lower the risk of blood clots typically caused by high levels of estrogen in birth control pills.

However, recent studies have shown that in fact Yaz and Yasmin users actually have a greater risk of developing blood clots than women using older forms of birth control. In addition, new information has suggested that Yaz and Yasmin also can cause heart failure, strokes, and other organ failures. As a result, over 11,300 product liability lawsuits were filed against Bayer.

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