Better Health: Smart Health Commentary

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A Simplified Formula For Good Health

December 1st, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips

Tags: Be Healthy, BMI, Body Mass Index, Diet and Exercise, Dr. Toni Brayer, Everything Health, Fruits and Vegetables, Good Health, Healthy Weight, No Smoking, Non-Sedentary Lifestyle, Physical Activity, Rest and Relaxation, Staying Healthy

You can’t do anything about your genes, but here’s a formula for good health — simplified:

0          Cigarettes
5          Servings of fruits and vegetables a day
10        Minutes of silence or relaxation a day
30        Body mass index (BMI) below
150      Minutes of exercise a week    

You knew this already, but are you really doing it?

*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*

Germs, Kids, And School

November 30th, 2010 by Michael Sevilla, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Video

Tags: Children's Health, College Students, Daycare, Doctor Anonymous, Dr. Michael Sevilla, Family Medicine, Infectious Disease, Pediatrics, Preventing Infections, Preventive Health, Preventive Medicine, Primary Care, School and Health, Spreading of Germs, Teaching Kids, Viruses

Everyone knows that when it comes to germs and kids, it can sometimes be difficult to limit the spread of infection — especially in a school or daycare setting. In this video, I talked with local TV news last week about germs and kids, and about preventing infections in college students during finals week:

If you find this video helpful, I invite you to check out my other videos at MikeSevilla.TV. Enjoy!

*This blog post was originally published at Doctor Anonymous*

Healthcare Transparency: Patient Experts At Medical Conventions

November 30th, 2010 by AndrewSchorr in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion

Tags: AHA, American Heart Association, American Society of Hematology, Andrew Schorr, ASH, Empowered Patients, General Medicine, Healthcare Transparency, Medical Conferences, Medical Conventions, Patient Advocacy, Patient Empowerment, Patient Experts, Patient Involvement, Patient Power, Patients and Social Media, Transparency In Medicine

We are invading their home turf. Increasingly, in among the thousands of doctors, scientists, and medical industry marketers at the largest medical conventions you are finding real patients who have the conditions discussed in the scientific sessions and exhibit halls. Patients like me want to be where the news breaks. We want to ask questions and — thanks to the Internet — we have a direct line to thousands of other patients waiting to know what new developments mean for them.

I vividly remember attending an FDA drug hearing a few years ago and how there were stock analysts sitting in the audience, BlackBerries poised for the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” on whether a proposed new drug would be recommended for approval. (At that session it was thumbs down.) When the analysts got their thumbs moving, a biotech stock tanked in minutes and before long the company was announcing layoffs. Those analysts were powerful reporters.

Now patients are reporters, too, and their thumbs are just as powerful. So are their video cameras and microphones. These folks are a different breed than the folks from CNN or the scientist/journalists from MedPageToday. Their questions are all-encompassing: “What do the discussions about my disease or condition here mean for me? What should change in my treatment plan? What gives me hope? What’s important for my family to know?” Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*

New Recommendations For Vitamin D

November 30th, 2010 by PeterWehrwein in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research

Tags: Benefits Vs. Harms, Bone Growth, Bone Health, Calcium, Dietary Supplements, Dr. Michael Holick, Harvard Health Blog, Harvard Health Publications, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Health Claims, Institute of Medicine, IOM, Kidney Stones, Osteoporosis, Peter Wehrwein, Postmenopausal Women, Vitamin D Recommendations, Women's Health

Vitamin D has been talked about as the vitamin — the one that might help fend off everything from cancer to heart disease to autoimmune disorders, if only we were to get enough of it.

“Whoa!” is the message from a committee of experts assembled by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to update recommendations for vitamin D (and for calcium).

The IOM committee’s report, released this morning, says evidence for many of  the health claims for vitamin D is “inconsistent and/or conflicting or did not demonstrate causality.” The exception is the vitamin’s well-documented (and noncontroversial) benefits on bone growth and maintenance.

The IOM panel’s report also says most North Americans (Canadians as well as Americans) have more than enough vitamin D in their blood to achieve the desired effect on bone. The committee said a blood level of 20 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) is sufficient for most people.

The panel set 600 International Units (IU) as the recommended daily intake for children and for adults ages 19 to 70. People ages 71 and older are supposed to get an additional 200 IU, or 800 IU a day.

That’s a fairly sizable increase over the previous recommendations of 200 IU per day through age 50, 400 IU for people ages 51 to 70, and 600 IU for people ages 71 and older. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Harvard Health Blog*

Understanding Treatment: The Communication Disconnect Between Doctors And Patients

November 30th, 2010 by Elaine Schattner, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research

Tags: Accuracy of Medical Decision Making, Angioplasty, Annals Of Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Communication Disconnect, Communication Gap, Doctor-Patient Communication, Doctor-to-Patient Communication, Dr. Elaine Schattner, General Medicine, Healthcare Decision Making, Informed Consent, Medical Lessons, Medical Procedures, Patient Education, PCI, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, Reason For Treatment, Risks vs. Benefits, Shared Decision-Making, Surgical Procedures, Therapeutic Misconception, Treatment Decision-Making, Why A Procedure Should Be Done

Over the long week­end I caught up on some read­ing. One arti­cle* stands out. It’s on informed con­sent, and the stun­ning dis­con­nect between physi­cians’ and patients’ under­stand­ing of a procedure’s value.

The study, pub­lished in the Sept 7th Annals of Inter­nal Med­i­cine, used sur­vey meth­ods to eval­u­ate 153 car­di­ol­ogy patients’ under­stand­ing of the poten­tial ben­e­fit of per­cu­ta­neous coro­nary inter­ven­tion (PCI or angio­plasty). The inves­ti­ga­tors, at Baystate Med­ical Cen­ter in Mass­a­chu­setts, com­pared patients’ responses to those of car­di­ol­o­gists who obtained con­sent and who per­formed the pro­ce­dure. As out­lined in the article’s intro­duc­tion, PCI reduces heart attacks in patients with acute coro­nary syn­drome — a more unsta­ble sit­u­a­tion than is chronic sta­ble angina, in which case PCI relieves pain and improves qual­ity of life but has no ben­e­fit in terms of recur­rent myocar­dial infarc­tion (MI) or survival.

The main result was that, after dis­cussing the pro­ce­dure with a car­di­ol­o­gist and sign­ing the form, 88 percent of the patients, who almost all had chronic sta­ble angina, believed that PCI would reduce their per­sonal risk for hav­ing a heart attack. Only 17 percent of the car­di­ol­o­gists, who com­pleted sur­veys about these par­tic­u­lar patients and the poten­tial ben­e­fit of PCI for patients fac­ing sim­i­lar sce­nar­ios, indi­cated that PCI would reduce the like­li­hood of MI.

This strik­ing dif­fer­ence in patients’ and doc­tors’ per­cep­tions is all the more sig­nif­i­cant because 96 percent of the patients “felt that they knew why they might undergo PCI, and more than half stated that they were actively involved in the decision-making.” Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Medical Lessons*