September 30th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
No Comments »
Married men who have no children have a 17% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease after the age of 50 than men with two or more children. But whether that’s because of a physical cause, a sociological effect or self-selection (sick people may choose not to have kids) isn’t known.
To determine if the number of kids predicts cardiovascular death, researchers used data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study of nearly 135,000 men ages 50 to 71 without prior cardiovascular disease who were followed-up for an average of 10 years. That study mailed 3.5 million questionnaires from 1995 through 1996 to AARP members living in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Louisiana or in Atlanta or Detroit. Nearly 586,000 people returned the questionnaire, which underwent follow-up surveys in 1996-1997 and 2004-2006. Results appeared online Sept. 26 in the journal Human reproduction.
Almost all (92%) men had Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
September 26th, 2011 by Dinah Miller, M.D. in Opinion
No Comments »
My hat goes off to kiddy shrinks. It’s a tough field, full of issues we don’t see in adult psychiatry.
Our comment section often buzzes with talk about the over-diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children and the ethics of giving psychotropic medications to children. The Shrink Rappers never comment on these things. Why? Because we don’t treat children. I have no idea if the children being treated are mis-diagnosed, over-diagnosed, wrongly-diagnosed, or if the increase in treatment represents a good thing—- perhaps children who would have suffered terribly now are feeling better due to the option of medications. I’ve certainly had adult patients tell me their children were treated with medications, the children have often eventually stopped the medications and emerged as productive adults. Would they have outgrown their issues anyway. Or did the treatment they received switch them from a bad place to a good place and enable them to carry on in a more adaptive way? Ugh, my crystal ball is on back-order at Amazon!
Why I’m Happy I’m Not A Child Psychiatrist: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
September 24th, 2011 by Linda Burke-Galloway, M.D. in True Stories
No Comments »
In 2007, Melanie Jaggard went to the hospital for a punctured ear drum and was given the shock of her life. She had cancer; a very rare form that was located at the base of her brain.
Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is the second most common cause of salivary gland cancer but can affect other areas of the body. Melanie is one of only 20 to 25 people in the United Kingdom to have ACC and had a 2-inch tumor removed from her head following a delicate 10-hour operation. She was single at the time, cancer free and one year later met the love of her life, Charlie Jaggard, on an online dating site. Charlie proposed three months after their first date and life was good, until she received the news that the cancer had returned, this time metastasizing to her lungs. Surgery was not an option because the tumors were too numerous and radiation was too risky to the lungs. However the couple was not discouraged. They married in January 2009 and Melanie decided to be a victor rather than a victim. Although 89 % of people with ACC survive after 5 years only 40% survive after Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway*
September 4th, 2011 by Berci in Opinion
1 Comment »
I’ve recently come across Medikidz, a fantastic initiative with a mission to help children understand medical information, especially diseases. I cannot imagine a better way to promote such important messages to children.
Millions of children worldwide are diagnosed every day with conditions that even their parents may find difficult to comprehend. Most children don’t understand their medical conditions, or associated investigations, procedures and treatments, and are often scared by what is going on around them.
That is where the Medikidz come into action!
The Medikidz are Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
August 31st, 2011 by Dr. Val Jones in Audio, Expert Interviews
1 Comment »
Dori Carlson, O.D.
In a recent interview with the president of the American Optometric Association (AOA), Dr. Dori Carlson, I learned the surprising statistic that about 1 in 4 school age children have an undetected or undiagnosed vision problem. School vision screenings, while helpful, still miss more than 75% of these problems. And for those kids who are discovered to have a vision problem during a school screening, upwards of 40% receive no follow up after the diagnosis. Clearly, we need to do better at diagnosing and treating childhood visual deficits. My full conversation with Dr. Carlson can be listened to below:
Dr. Carlson told me that the solution involves Read more »
