Health & Fitness

Category: Health

Older patients enthusiastic about emails to and from doctors

Nearly half of patients over the age of 65 said they were enthusiastic about the possibility of email communication with their physicians, even though less than 2 percent corresponded that way at the time of a 2003 survey.

Researchers at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine in collaboration with those at the University of California at Los Angeles in a report in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that out of 4,059 patients over age 65 and 181 physicians carried out in Southern California showed that while only 52 patients reported communicating with their physicians by email, nearly half (49.3 percent) said they were enthusiastic about the possibility of using the electronic communication. The older the patients were, the less likely they were to consider using email.

However, African-Americans, Hispanics and men were more likely to say they would use email. Those who thought their doctors had good communications skills or those who felt that communication was not as good when they talked to their doctors during regular visits were also more likely to be willing to use email.

The article can be found at http://www.jmir.org/2009/2/e18/HTML

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Category: Health

Depressed? St. John's wort may be as effective as antidepressants, study shows

There's good news for those seeking to ease depression naturally. A report from The Cochrane Collaboration suggests that St. John's wort may be as effective as antidepressants in treating major depression.

Researchers reviewed 29 studies involving 5,489 patients with depression. The studies compared treatment with extracts of St. John's wort for 4 to 12 weeks with placebo treatment or standard antidepressants. The studies were conducted in a variety of countries, tested several different St. John's wort extracts and mostly included patients suffering from mild to moderately severe symptoms.

Overall, the St. John's wort extracts tested in the trials were superior to placebo, similarly effective as standard antidepressants, and had fewer side effects than standard antidepressants. However, findings were more favorable to St. John's wort extracts in studies from German-speaking countries where these products have a long tradition and are often prescribed by physicians.

Researchers reviewing the studies stated: "Patients suffering from depressive symptoms who wish to use a St. John's wort product should consult a health professional."

Category: Health

African Americans have lost sight of blood pressure, study shows

African Americans are not paying enough attention to their high blood pressure, a new study shows.

The Association of Black Cardiologists collaborated on the new in-depth research with Daiichi Sankyo as part of an education campaign, My Pressure Points. The program is designed to help encourage African Americans focus on their high blood pressure and stress such as family, job and finances.

African Americans are more likely to develop the condition than any other racial or ethnic group, and often have more severe cases. The continued high prevalence within the African American community is of great concern because the treatable condition results in stroke and kidney failure.

The survey shows:

--Stress related jobs, family and finances are coinciding with neglect of high blood pressure among African Americans.

--Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of African Americans with high blood pressure say they worry more about their finances than their personal health

--More than half (55 percent) of the African Americans with hypertension surveyed report that they are more ‘stressed’ about their financial situation now than they were a year ago, compared to just 28 percent who are feeling more anxiety about their health than 12 months ago.

--Family history is not enough to encourage action. Of the 75 percent of African Americans with high blood pressure surveyed who were aware of a family history of blood pressure before they were diagnosed, almost three in five (59 percent) did not take any steps to keep their blood pressure down before their own diagnosis.

--More men than women surveyed (46 percent vs. 38 percent) who were aware of a family history made an effort to keep their blood pressure down before their own diagnosis.

--African American women are more stressed than men �" yet less proactive.

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Category: Health

Get passionately pink for the cure

Hanes® today announced its partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure and actress Sarah Chalke to join the fight against breast cancer.

America's No. 1 apparel brand is now the Official Apparel Sponsor of Passionately Pink for the Cure, a fundraising program created by Komen for the Cure that inspires breast cancer advocacy and honors those affected by the disease.

To align with a cause women care deeply about, Hanes will offer a special "pink collection" of panties, bras, socks, and graphic tees (including one T-shirt exclusively designed by Sarah Chalke, star of the television show "Scrubs" and television mini series "Maneater") and has created a campaign Web site, www.hanespink.com, that features interactive content to inspire the public to make a difference in the breast cancer support community. Proceeds from the sale of the Hanes "pink collection" will help fund Komen's breast cancer research and community outreach efforts.

The Hanes "pink collection," including Chalke's T-shirt, will be available on the www.hanes.com. Web site in August and in select stores in September. The Official Apparel Sponsor of Passionately Pink for the Cure, Hanes is donating $250,000 ($100,000 in cash and $150,000 in kind) to Komen for the Cure.

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Category: Health

Slip, slop, slap and wrap if you're going to be out in the sun

Finally, it's warm and sunny outside. The American Cancer Society reminds Metro Detroiters about the importance of sun safety. It's been a cold, dreary winter and many of us often forget how quickly we can get a sunburn.

Remember that:

- Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers in the United States.

- More people will be diagnosed with skin cancer this year than breast, prostate, lung, and colon cancer combined.

- Whether from the sun or an artificial light source, ultraviolet radiation is a carcinogen. According to a recent study, in 2006, in the 116 largest (most populous) U.S. cities, there were, on average, more tanning salons than Starbucks® coffee shops.

Here are some simple ways to be safe in the sun. Remember, Slip, Slop, Slap®...and Wrap, and plan activities away from the midday sun:

- Slip on a shirt;

- Slop on sunscreen (SPF 15 or higher);

- Slap on a hat; and

- Wrap on sunglasses to protect the eyes and sensitive skin around them from ultraviolet light.

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Category: Health

Most Americans willing to split pills to save money, study says

More than half of Americans said they would consider splitting their prescription pills to save money if their doctor said it would not be detrimental to their health, according to results of a national poll conducted by Opinion Research Corp.

Yet while 57 percent of Americans overall would consider pill-splitting, only nine percent of those currently taking medications that are safe to split are actually splitting their prescription pills in half. Respondents attributed the global economic downturn for spurring them to find ways to save money when it comes to health care and lifestyle choices.

According to the data, 27 percent of Americans currently taking medications said they are not taking their prescription medications as directed by their physician, including 18 percent who said they are foregoing their medicines altogether.

Still, only about a third (31 percent) of Americans have asked their doctor or pharmacist about ways to save money on prescription medicines, according to the poll results.

"Pill-splitting under the direction of a physician can be a simple and safe way to receive the benefits of certain prescription drugs at half the cost," said Dr. Sam Ho, UnitedHealthcare’s executive vice president and chief medical officer. "Some of our health plan customers have saved almost $400 a year by splitting a single prescription through our voluntary Half Tablet Program."

Not all prescription pills should be split, including certain medicines that require a finely tuned dosage to be effective, or have a protective coating that can be damaged in the splitting process.

Yet many common medicines that are taken on a daily, long-term basis can safely be split, including Crestor, Lipitor, Cozaar, Diovan, Lexapro and Zoloft. These six medicines, on which Americans spent nearly $15 billion alone in 2008, are among the 21 branded and generic prescription drugs appropriate for splitting under UnitedHealthcare's Half Tablet program.

UnitedHealthcare considers medicines with all of the following characteristics as potential candidates for splitting with a physician’s approval:

•Tablets that can be split relatively evenly without crumbling;

•Medicines that have a wide margin of safety so that minimal differences in tablet sizes will not result in either under-dosing or over-dosing;

•Medications that remain stable after splitting.

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Category: Health

Doctors often miss whooping cough diagnosis in teens

Doctors can do a better job of diagnosing whooping cough among teens, an age group with a growing incidence of the illness, according to a University of Michigan study.

In a national study of primary care physicians, U-M researchers found that nearly one in seven physicians were unable to recognize whooping cough in a standardized adolescent case patient. The study will appear in an upcoming edition of Preventive Medicine.

A similar proportion did not test adolescents for whooping cough as part of their routine clinical practice, says Dr. Amanda Dempsey, assistant professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School and the study’s lead author.

Whooping cough is a common infection that leads to significant morbidity and sometimes death. Because adolescents are considered to be a primary infection-spreading group, researchers say it is imperative to recognize and diagnose it in a timely and accurate manner.

The study showed there is a need to increase provider education about the importance of recognizing whooping cough in order to minimize outbreaks.

Researchers selected family physicians and pediatricians as interview subjects because they are the specialists to interact the most with adolescent patients.

Results of the national survey of 702 general pediatricians and family medicine physicians �" the first to explore physician practices for adolescent whooping cough management in the United States �" suggest that testing, recognition of clinical symptoms, and case management of whooping cough in adolescents among primary care physicians is sub-optimal.

A majority of physicians surveyed, 86 percent, said they experienced at least one barrier to testing. These barriers included the delay in obtaining test results, having to send the patient to an outside facility to collect a sample, inaccurate diagnostic tests, and lack of testing supply availability.

Category: Health

Unemployed reeling from rising healthcare cost, survey says

People who have lost jobs in the economic downturn are being saddled with the high costs of health care, according to preliminary results of an ongoing online health care survey sponsored by the AFL-CIO.

Of 16,000 people who have taken the online survey to date, nearly 4,000 report that they or someone in their household have lost their health care due to losing or changing jobs. Survey responses will be accepted through May.

The survey responses come from every state and the District of Columbia, with heavy representation from states such as Washington, Oregon, Minnesota and Wisconsin. More than 4,300 of the survey respondents have included stories of individual struggles with the nation's health care system.

Stories can found online at www.healthcaresurvey.aflcio.org.

A breast cancer survivor wrote that she was recently laid off after 11 years in the auto industry. Her union contract ensures that she'll have coverage for 25 months but with so many companies going into bankruptcy, she lives with the fear that her coverage will run out. She says she can't imagine going into the market and trying to get another plan with a "pre-existing condition."

Category: Health

Can't get enough Swine Flu information? Here's more

If you'd like to look up more information about the Swine Flu, check out Kosmix.com.

and RightHealth.com.

These sites have have excellent pages with information about Swine Flu (http://www.righthealth.com/topic/swine_flu) and (http://www.kosmix.com/topic/swine_flu). The Swine Flu map from Google is particularly interesting, as well as the international news reports about the virus and updates from the CDC.

These two online search destinations go far beyond a basic Google search, instead offering a 360 degree view of any topic on the Web (or any health topic, in RightHealth's case) by integrating the best Web applications for that topic into a single page.

In simpler terms, it's a comprehensive, easy way to learn as much as possible about Swine Flu, from images to forums, news clips, research, recommended sites and much more, all grouped conveniently on one page.

Category: Health

Swine flu outbreak shows vaccine industry needs changes, study says

Fears of a swine flu pandemic highlight the importance of developing new vaccines, as well as meeting public demand for existing vaccines, according a new report from the National Center for Policy Analysis.

“We are facing a real threat of a shortage of at least six vaccines for common childhood illnesses,” said NCPA Senior Fellow Devon Herrick, Ph.D. Citing today’s new report -- “What’s Behind Vaccine Shortages,” Herrick added, “The vaccine industry itself is at high risk for failure, with shortages becoming more frequent.”

Herrick says vaccinating large population segments, especially children, is one of the most cost-effective ways of preserving life. “Unfortunately, government cost-controls have restricted the vaccine industry to archaic production methods when faster, more efficient options are available.”

The FDA approval process also slows the development of vaccines for new virus strains.” Herrick said these restrictions are partially to blame for the estimated four to six month lag in providing the public a vaccine for the current swine flu outbreak. “We have a fragile vaccine supply line that cannot respond quickly to emerging threats like we are seeing today.” He added, “The federal government should remove itself from the marketplace.”

For more information, please link to the full study.