Month: January 2013

Women’s smoking patterns have been similar to men’s for a while now, and a new study shows the result — higher death rates. Women smokers in the 2000s died of lung cancer almost 26 times as often as women who never smoked. That’s about the same as the gap between men who do and don’t smoke. And it’s a big jump compared with women smokers in the 1980s. They died of lung cancer at 13 times the rate of nonsmoking women. In the 1960s, the risk for women smokers was only 3 times as high. The reason for the change, researchers said, is that women have been starting smoking earlier and smoking more cigarettes. And they’ve been doing that long enough for health effects to occur. Women smokers also have nearly caught up with men in their increased risk of emphysema and other smoking-related diseases. The study was based on statistics from the American Cancer Society.

Two new studies suggest that about 1 patient out of 5 returns within 30 days after a hospital stay. One study examined 4 million hospital stays. About 18% of patients came back within a month after their hospital stay. About 40% of them went to the emergency room only. The others were admitted again. A second study looked at 3 million hospital stays by Medicare patients. Among those who were admitted for heart failure, nearly 25% were admitted again within 30 days. Almost 20% of those with heart attacks came back. So did 18% of those with pneumonia. Most people were admitted the second time for a different problem. The author of this second study said a long hospital stay can increase people’s risk of illness or injury soon afterward. Some reasons include poor sleep in the hospitals or weaker muscles from bed rest.