August 5th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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More on the Mediterranean diet shows that olive oil is the key component associated with less stroke risk in seniors, a French study found.
The Mediterranean diet has already been linked to better cardiovascular effects, so researchers poured it on to assess its link to stroke. A study of people 65 and older in the French cities of Bordeaux, Dijon and Montpellier divided 7,625 residents into three categories of olive oil consumption: no use, moderate use for cooking or dressing, or intensive use for both cooking and dressing. Researchers used plasma oleic acid as an indirect biological marker of oleic acid intake from olive oil. (They acknowledged that it could also stem from use of butter and goose or duck fat.) Results appeared in the Aug. 2 issue of Neurology.
In the study, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
August 1st, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in News
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The World Health Organization’s new patient safety envoy will take on health care acquired infections in his new role, he announced last week. Liam Donaldson, England’s former Chief Medical Officer, pointed out in his first report as envoy that patient safety incidents occur in 4% to 16% of all hospitalized patients, and that hospital-acquired infections affect hundreds of millions of patients globally.
A WHO report outlined the problem.
High-income countries had pooled health care acquired infection rates of 7.6%. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control estimated that 4.1 million Europeans incur 4.5 million health care acquired infections annually. In the U.S. the incidence rate was 4.5% in 2002, or 9.3 infections per 1,000 patient-days and 1.7 million affected patients.
In Europe, these infections cause Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Hospitalist*
July 26th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Health Policy
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Eight preventive health services for women should be added to the services that health plans will cover at no cost to patients under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, according to a report by the Institute of Medicine.
The recommendations encompass diseases and conditions that are more common or more serious in women than in men. They are based on existing guidelines and an assessment of the evidence on the effectiveness of different preventive services. They include:
1) screening for gestational diabetes in pregnant women between 24 and 28 weeks and at the first prenatal visit for women at high risk for diabetes,
2) adding high-risk human papillomavirus DNA testing in addition to conventional cytology testing in women with normal cytology results starting at age 30, and no more frequently than every 3 years,
3) offering annual counseling on sexually transmitted infections for all sexually active women,
4) Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
July 25th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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Smartphones and tablets have reached 80% of physicians across all practice types, locations and years in practice, and 25% of users are “Super Mobile” physicians who use both types of mobile devices. This is far beyond the general population’s 50% adoption of smartphones and 5% adoption of tablets.
QuantiaMd, a free, online learning collaborative, released survey results that showed 44% of physicians who do not yet have a mobile device intend to buy one this year.
While younger physicians have higher adoption rates than older ones, current use of mobile devices by physicians longest in practice is above 60%, the survey showed. Among physicians with 30 years or more of practice, almost 20% already use a tablet device for work, and another 25% say they are extremely likely to do so. Physicians in their second decade of practice use Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
July 19th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Health Policy, Research
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Generic medications appear to be far more cost-effective than previously reported, concluded a team of Harvard professors. But, physicians and patients aren’t adopting them wholeheartedly.
Patents of 20 drugs with annual sales of more than $1 billion expired or will do so between 2010 and 2013, including Lipitor and Plavix, the highest- and second-highest revenue producing drugs in the U.S. While highly effective generics provide low-cost options for chronic disease management, they are not always factored into cost analyses, and are sometimes viewed with concerns about their safety and efficacy.
The Harvard team revisited a 2008 study that used brand-name medication costs in an analysis of the cost-effectiveness of strategies to prevent adverse outcomes associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The study found that up to 244 million quality-adjusted life-years could be gained over 30 years with appropriate preventive care. But, the study authors wrote, that “most prevention activities are expensive when considering direct medical costs.”
The Harvard team recalculated figures from the 2008 research, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
The Mediterranean diet has already been linked to better cardiovascular effects, so researchers poured it on to assess its link to stroke. A study of people 65 and older in the French cities of Bordeaux, Dijon and Montpellier divided 7,625 residents into three categories of olive oil consumption: no use, moderate use for cooking or dressing, or intensive use for both cooking and dressing. Researchers used plasma oleic acid as an indirect biological marker of oleic acid intake from olive oil. (They acknowledged that it could also stem from use of butter and goose or duck fat.) Results appeared in the Aug. 2 issue of Neurology.
