Month: May 2012

An expert panel has stuck with its controversial advice that most older men should not get routine screening for prostate cancer. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said last fall that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening does more harm than good. A high test reading can indicate prostate cancer. But PSA can go up for other reasons. Only a biopsy can tell if cancer exists. Some prostate cancers can be deadly. But most grow so slowly they never cause harm. Men who get treated may have problems with sexual function and urine control. Urologists, who treat men with prostate cancer, protested the task force’s statement last fall. But the panel was not persuaded. The advice issued May 21 said that there’s little or no evidence that routine PSA tests save lives. The task force said men should be able to get a test if they want one.

Heavy current and past smokers ages 55 to 74 should get yearly lung CT scans, according to new guidelines from several major medical groups. A panel of cancer and chest experts reviewed the results of past studies. One study, the National Lung Screening Trial, found that yearly low-dose CT scans could reduce deaths from lung cancer by 20%. Heavy smokers are people who have smoked a pack of cigarettes a day or more for 30 years. About 160,000 people will die of lung cancer in 2012 in the United States. Testing comes with risks, said the experts. These include side effects from radiation and more tests. The Journal of the American Medical Association published the new guidelines online May 20. HealthDay News and the Associated Press wrote about them May 21.

Children are at greater risk for heart disease now than they were a decade ago. A study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) compared data from 1999 with data from 2008. The CDC found that 23% of teens are at risk for diabetes, up from 9% in 1999. About 35% of teens are overweight or obese. About 15% have blood pressure that is higher than normal. By 2008, 43% of teens had at least one risk factor for heart disease. The study included information from 3,383 adolescents, ages 12 through 19. Results appeared in the May 21 issue of the journal Pediatrics. The Associated Press wrote about the study.

A new study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that healthy food costs less – if you measure it by portion size or nutritional value. Previous studies have shown that eating junk food is cheaper than eating healthy food. Those studies used price per calorie to calculate costs. The USDA study analyzed 4,439 foods with three measures: price per average portion, price per calorie and price per “edible gram.” An edible gram took into account the nutritional value of the food and didn’t count “empty” calories. On a price-per-calorie basis, veggies and fruits appeared more expensive. But by the other two measures, they were less expensive than junk food. The study was released May 16. The Associated Press wrote about it May 17.

Coffee can help to wake you up – and now a study suggests it might help you live longer, too. The study included more than 400,000 adults. They were followed for 13 years. Those who regularly drank coffee – even decaf – had slightly lower death rates than those who didn’t. For example, women who drank 2 or 3 cups a day had a death rate that was 13% lower than women who didn’t drink coffee. The lower death rates were found only after researchers adjusted for the fact that coffee drinkers were more likely to smoke. Coffee drinkers were less likely to have heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, stroke and infections. The study appeared in the May 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The Associated Press wrote about it.

A screening test called CT colonography is almost as good as identifying possible cancers as traditional colonoscopy is. Now, a study has found that people undergoing CT colonography may not need to take laxatives the day before. Harvard researchers did the study. It involved 605 people. Each had a CT scan without laxatives. About 5 weeks later, each had a traditional colonoscopy. The tests were equally accurate at finding polyps that were at least 1 centimeter in diameter. A polyp is a growth in the colon. Larger ones often become cancerous. Colonoscopy was better at finding smaller polyps, however. These also may become cancerous, and are usually removed during a colonoscopy. And if something suspicious is found during a CT scan, the person would then need a colonoscopy, too. The study was published in the May 15 Annals of Internal Medicine. CBS News reported on it.