Month: April 2011

Doctors may not always recommend the same treatments they would pick for themselves, a study suggests. Researchers asked primary care doctors about two fictional situations. Each one called for a treatment decision. One involved cancer, the other a severe case of flu. In both cases, one option presented a higher risk of death. The other had a lower risk of death but a higher risk of serious side effects or disability. Doctors were asked what they would do themselves or what they would recommend to a patient. In both cases, they were more likely to choose the treatment with the higher death risk for themselves than to recommend it to patients. In the cancer scenario, about 38% would accept the deadlier treatment for themselves. Only 25% would recommend it to patients. In the flu scenario, 63% of doctors said they would choose no treatment.

New research suggests there may be a better way to predict which people with kidney disease are most at risk for kidney failure. This can lead to the need for dialysis. Doctors now measure kidney function mainly with a blood test for creatinine, a waste product. One new study combined this test with two others. The study included 26,643 people in another health study. They received blood tests for creatinine and for cystatin C, another waste product. They also got tests for excess protein in the urine. This is called albuminuria. These three tests were a better predictor of kidney failure than creatinine alone. The other study included 8,500 people with kidney disease. Researchers compared two computer models for predicting who was most likely to go into kidney failure. One model included creatinine, albuminuria, age and sex.

Having children can mess up your health habits, a study suggests. Researchers surveyed 1,520 young adults. They were asked about their diet, exercise and weight. The average age of people in the study was 25. Some were parents, with children under age 5. Mothers consumed more calories, sugary drinks and fatty foods than women without children. They got less exercise — about 2 hours a week, compared with 3 hours for childless women. They also were more overweight. Mothers had an average body mass index (BMI) of 27, compared with 26 for women without children. A number of 25 or higher is considered overweight. Fathers and childless men were more alike. They ate about the same number of calories. Both had an average BMI of 25. But fathers got less exercise. They got about 5 hours a week, compared with nearly 7 hours for men without kids.

Eating strawberries just might help fend off esophageal cancer, a very small study suggests. Only 36 people were in the study. All of them had precancerous growths in the esophagus. Researchers asked them to eat about 2 ounces of freeze-dried strawberries each day. They did this for 6 months. Afterward, researchers looked again at the precancerous cells in the esophagus. In 29 of the 36 patients, the cells looked more normal under a microscope. Researchers tried strawberries as a possible treatment because research in rats suggested it might work. They used freeze-dried berries because they have concentrated levels of antioxidants, which are thought to fight cancer. The strawberry study was presented at a conference. ABC and CBS News both aired reports on it April 6.

People who take higher doses of narcotics are more likely to overdose, a study finds. The study focused on people who took narcotics for pain. These drugs are also called opioids. They include Oxycontin, Vicodin and others. Researchers looked at 750 accidental deaths from opioid overdose. These were compared with data on nearly 155,000 other people who took opioids for pain. The overdose rate was less than one-half of 1%. It occurred more often among people who were prescribed doses of 100 milligrams a day or more. People who usually took lower doses were less likely to take too much. The Journal of the American Medical Association published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it April 5.