Month: February 2013

Flu shots offered only 9% protection for people over 65 against the most severe strain of flu circulating this season, the U.S. government says. That strain was the most common this season as well as the one that caused the worst illness. Overall, the vaccine provided about 27% protection against 3 strains of influenza for adults over 65, the new report said. Protection was about 56% for all age groups. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the statistics February 21. Flu generally hits older adults harder, and flu shots don’t work as well for them. Overall, the effectiveness of this season’s vaccine was not much below average, experts told the Associated Press (AP). Because flu changes quickly, there’s a lot of guesswork in creating the vaccine. So 30% to 40% effectiveness is considered good for seniors, AP said. About 60% to 70% is acceptable for all groups.

Some patients may need fewer tests to keep track of a bulging artery, a new study suggests. The study focused on abdominal aortic aneurysm. This is a bulge in the aorta inside the belly area. If it ruptures (bursts), 8 out of 10 people die. Doctors order ultrasounds to keep track of when it’s big enough to make surgery worthwhile. But there’s no agreement on how often to do them. British researchers combined numbers from 18 previous studies. They came up with an ultrasound schedule that they estimated would result in only a 1% chance of rupture before the next test. They suggested tests every 2 years for aneurysms of 3.0 to 3.9 centimeters in diameter. This would increase to every year for 4.0 to 4.9 centimeters and every 6 months for 5.0 to 5.4 centimeters. That’s not much different from current U.S. practice. But British doctors do the scans much more often.

Children’s doctors have new guidelines to help them diagnose and treat children’s ear infections. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued the guidelines February 25. One goal is to reduce the use of antibiotics, which often are not needed. The guidelines were last updated in 2004. The new ones include the results of research done since then. They describe a more precise way to diagnose an ear infection. And for the first time they say it’s OK sometimes to wait before giving antibiotics to children ages 6 to 23 months. Immediate antibiotics are still recommended for children with severe infections or high fever. They also should be given when kids don’t get better within 48 to 72 hours, the guidelines say. Doctors are urged to give medicine for pain, especially during the waiting period.

A new study may provide the best evidence yet that a Mediterranean-style diet reduces people’s risk of heart attack and stroke. Unlike previous studies, the new one randomly assigned 7,500 people to specific diets. They followed the diets for 5 years. In that time, people on Mediterranean diets had a 30% lower combined rate of heart attack, stroke and deaths from related causes. Considered separately, only the stroke rate reduction was large enough to be clearly not the result of chance. Everyone in the study had a high risk of developing heart disease or stroke. Nearly all were overweight or obese. Most had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. About half had diabetes. Two groups were randomly assigned to a Mediterranean diet. This included lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, tomato sauce, fish and legumes.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of U.S. women, and more of them realize it today than 15 years ago, a survey shows. About 56% of those surveyed last year knew about this risk. That’s nearly double the 30% rate in 1997. Awareness rose from 15% to 36% among black women and from 20% to 34% among Hispanics. Though that’s a sharp increase, rates still lagged those among white women. Young women had the lowest awareness of heart disease risk among all age groups, about 44%. The American Heart Association sponsored the survey, which included 2,400 women. This month marks the 10th anniversary of the group’s “Go Red for Women!” campaign. Public health campaigns have helped to boost awareness. Yet nearly half of U.S. women still don’t know that heart disease is their top risk of death. More efforts are needed, particularly among minority women, the study’s author told HealthDay News.

A study has found no link between stroke and dementia rates and the amount of antioxidants people get from their diets. That’s a different conclusion from some other studies. Researchers suggest that the new results show the source of antioxidants is important. The study included about 5,400 people, age 55 or older. They didn’t have dementia when the study began. Only about 100 had ever had a stroke. People filled out questionnaires about what they usually ate and drank. In the next 14 years, 599 developed dementia and 601 had a stroke. There was no difference in stroke or dementia rates between people who consumed more or fewer antioxidants. Coffee and tea drinking was the main difference in diet for people who consumed the most antioxidants. These drinks contain antioxidants known as flavonoids.