Month: August 2013

Doctors who urge some elderly patients to stop driving may help to keep them safer, a new study suggests. The study was done in Canada. Doctors there must report to licensing officials if a patient has a condition that might impair driving. These conditions include epilepsy, sleep disorders, alcoholism and dementia. In 2006, Ontario started giving doctors a small fee to encourage reporting. Researchers used the fee structure to track more than 100,000 patients. Most were older than 60. Researchers added up the car crashes for drivers from this group in the year before the warnings began. They included only crashes serious enough for the driver to go to an emergency room. Then they kept track of the group for 3½ years. Crashes per year dropped 45%. The study could not tell if the patients stopped driving or were more careful. There was another result, as well.

We’re making progress, but our habits are still undermining our health. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the American Heart Association (AHA). The AHA wants to reduce heart disease and stroke deaths 20% by 2020. But with current trends, we can expect only a 6% reduction, the report said. Obesity, smoking and lack of exercise are slowing down progress. About 68% of U.S. adults and 32% of children are overweight or obese. Nearly 33% of adults get no exercise at all in a typical week, the report says. Even in high school, 18% of girls and 10% of boys get less than an hour of aerobic exercise each week. Smoking rates are down, but 21% of men, 18% of women and 17% of high school students still smoke. About 8% of adults have been diagnosed with diabetes. The report says broad measures will be needed to encourage change.

Heart disease and diabetes are more common in people who are obese. But not all obese people have the same risk, a new medical journal article points out. Increasing evidence shows that some people who are obese have normal cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar. Doctors say they are metabolically healthy, though obese. These people may be fit even though they are overweight. They may have a relatively small waist size compared with their overall size. And they may be less likely to have long-lasting inflammation in the body. The authors of the new article say a better definition of the condition is needed. This might help doctors target treatments to those who need them most. For example, healthy obese people might be better off avoiding weight-loss surgery, they say. Doctors still don’t know why some obese people don’t suffer the same health problems as others.

Babies develop normally when they are fed either breast milk or formula, a new study confirms. Babies’ brains developed equally well when fed either cow’s milk or soy formulas. Those who got breast milk had slightly better learning and thinking skills. The study was based on tests of 391 healthy infants. They received tests of mental development at ages 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. The journal Pediatrics published the study online May 28.

Cases of West Nile illness are being reported at about triple the usual rate, U.S. health officials say. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there have been 1,118 human cases so far in 2012. About half have been in Texas. In a typical year, the CDC said, fewer than 300 cases are reported by the middle of August. Most cases are reported in August and September. CDC officials suggested that the mild winter, early spring and very hot summer have spurred breeding of the mosquitoes that carry the disease. They spread it by biting infected birds and then biting humans or other animals. Only 1 person out of 5 gets sick from the infection. Symptoms usually are mild. About 1 person out of 150 has a serious illness. The most severe symptoms include neck stiffness, paralysis and coma. The Associated Press wrote about the outbreak August 22.