July 7th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Health Tips, Opinion, Research
Tags: Breast Cancer, Customization, Frequency, Mammogram Screening, Mammograms, Oncology, Personalized Healthcare, Plastic Surgery, Risk Factors, Screening, USPSTF
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I read the LA Times article by Shari Roan, Study urges more individual mammogram guidelines, with interest. As Roan notes, guidelines to date have mainly focused on a woman’s age and not her other risks factors.
The American Cancer Society recommends that healthy women undergo screening mammograms every one to two years beginning at age 40 regardless of risk factors. In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended a different schedule which urged the inclusion of an individual’s personal risks: screening for women ages 40 to 49 should be based on individual risk factors and women ages 50 to 74 should be screened every two years.
Monday, a paper was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (full reference below) which argues for a more personalized approach to screening mammograms.
The study by Dr. Steven R. Cummings, senior author and senior researcher at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, and colleagues was based on a computer model comparing the lifetime costs and health benefits for women who got mammograms every year, every two years, every three to four years or never. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
July 7th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
Tags: Benefits, Cigarettes, Disparities, Morbidity, Mortality, Obesity, Scotland, smoking, smoking cessation, Women's Health
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Obesity is filling in for smoking as a cause of death in working class women, concluded researchers after reviewing mortality rates from a nearly 30-year study in Scotland.
In Europe, wealthier people either aren’t starting to smoke or are finding it easier to quit, which accounts for up to 85% of the observed differences in mortality between population groups, researchers noted.
Their analysis showed higher rates of being overweight or obese among those who’d never smoked in all occupational classes, with the highest rates in women from lower occupational classes. Almost 70% of the women in the lower occupational classes who had never smoked were overweight or obese, and severe obesity was seven times more prevalent than among smokers in higher social positions. Among women who had never smoked, lower social position was associated with higher mortality rates from cardiovascular disease but not cancer.
To investigate the relations between causes of death, social position and obesity in women who had never smoked, Scottish researchers conducted a prospective cohort study. They drew from the Renfrew and Paisley Study, a long term prospective community based cohort named for two neighboring towns in west central Scotland from which all residents then aged between 45 and 64 were invited to participate from 1972 to 1976.
Researchers reported their results online Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
July 7th, 2011 by admin in Research
Tags: Breast Cancer, Cancer Screening, Cancer Treatment, Colorectal Cancer, Lung Cancer, Morbidity, Mortality, National Cancer Institute, Oncology, Patient Engagement, Patient Participation, Patient-Centered Care, Prevention, PSA, Screening, U.S. News & World Report, War On Cancer
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Nearly forty years ago, President Richard Nixon famously declared a “War on Cancer” by signing the National Cancer Act of 1971. Like the Manhattan Project, the Apollo program that was then landing men on the Moon, and the ongoing (and eventually successful) World Health Organization-led initiative to eradicate smallpox from the face of the Earth, the “War on Cancer” was envisioned as a massive, all-out research and treatment effort. We would bomb cancer into submission with powerful regimens of chemotherapy, experts promised, or, failing that, we would invest in early detection of cancers so that they could be more easily cured at earlier stages.
It was in the spirit of the latter that the National Cancer Institute launched the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer (PLCO) Screening trial in 1992. This massive study, which eventually enrolled more than 150,000 men and women between age 55 and 74, was designed to test the widespread belief that screening and early detection of the most common cancers could improve morbidity and mortality in the long term. Not a few influential voices suggested that the many millions of dollars invested in running the trial might be better spent on programs to increase the use of these obviously-effective tests in clinical practice.
They were wrong. As of now, the PLCO study is 0-for-2. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Prepared Patient Forum: What It Takes Blog*
July 6th, 2011 by John Mandrola, M.D. in News, Research
Tags: AF Ablation, Atrial Fibrillation, Cardiology, Flecainide, Health Day, Misinformation, Misrepresentation, Research, Safety, Science
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I have said that the best tool for treating atrial fibrillation (AF) is education. I still strongly believe this, perhaps more then ever.
AF presents itself to people in so many different ways–from no symptoms to incapacitation. Likewise, the treatments for AF range from simple reassurance and lifestyle changes, to taking a medicine, and on to having a complex ablation[s].
Because knowledge is so important to patients with AF, I encourage them to do outside research. This surely means going on-line. The problem, of course, comes with assessing the quality of information. It reminds me of what an old professor used to profess, “no data is better than bad data.”
What’s more, the vast diversity of AF makes comparing notes with friends problematic. One person’s wonder drug may be another’s poison.
Last week, this provocative AF headline came through on one of my Google Alert emails: 
“Flecainide Treatment Linked to Sudden Cardiac Death.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
July 5th, 2011 by GarySchwitzer in News, Research
Tags: Biased Studies, Conflicts of Interest, Infuse, Medical Devices, Medtronic, Neurosurgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Risk Benefit Analysis, Spinal Fusion
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The Spine Journal has published a special June issue focusing on Medtronic’s INFUSE product, or rhBMP-2, a bone growth product commonly used in spine fusion surgeries. A journal news release states:
A critical review of 13 industry-sponsored studies on a spine surgery product found that the actual risk of adverse events was 10 to 50 times the estimates originally reported. The product in question is recombinant bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2), a controversial synthetic bone growth factor often used as a bone graft substitute in spine fusion surgeries. This eye-opening study, “A critical review of rhBMP-2 trials in spinal surgery: emerging safety concerns and lessons learned” is included in a special BMP-focused issue of The Spine Journal.
The comprehensive review found four main areas of concern among the 13 original industry-sponsored studies:
• Conflicts of interest were either not reported or were unclear in each study. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
