Harvard Health Content API

Two new drugs offer a possible treatment option for skin infections that increasingly are able to resist current antibiotics. The New England Journal of Medicine published study results June 4. One study looked at dalbavancin, which recently was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. More than 1,300 people with bacterial skin infections were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group received dalbavancin intravenously (in a vein). It was given once a week for 2 weeks. The other group received a standard antibiotic, vancomycin. This was given in a vein twice a day for 3 days. Doctors then could prescribe antibiotic pills for the next 10 to 14 days. For about 80% of each group, treatment halted fever and the spread of infection within 3 days. The second study focused on oritavancin. This drug is not yet approved.

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are used to help people with advanced heart failure. But new research suggests that they may also help those with moderate heart failure live longer. Moderate heart failure is defined as having ejection fractions of between 30% and 35%. An ejection fraction is the percent of blood the heart can pump out of its main chamber with each heartbeat. Ejection fractions below 30% indicate advanced heart failure. Researchers looked at 2 groups over the course of 3 years. The first group, of 3,120 people, had moderate heart failure. The second group, of 4,578 people, had advanced heart failure. In each group, researchers compared survival rates between those who had an ICD and those who did not. For those with an ICD, survival rates improved in both groups. The Journal of the American Medical Association published the study.

Current guidelines suggest halting colon-cancer screening at age 75 for people who have been screened regularly. But a new study finds that it may be worthwhile, even as late as 86, for those who have never been tested before. The study was based on a computer model. It looked at risks and benefits of screening for a simulated group of people. The model projected what would happen if they were screened for colon cancer for the first time at different ages, from 76 to 90. Researchers concluded that screening would be worthwhile and cost-effective up to age 83 for colonoscopy, 84 for sigmoidoscopy and 86 for fecal occult blood tests. These conclusions apply to healthy seniors. Those with moderate or severe health conditions would benefit only into their late 70s or early 80s. The gains of life from screening would be small, however.

The risk of future health problems for people with high blood pressure depends on which type they have, a new study shows. Systolic pressure is the top number in a blood pressure reading. Diastolic is the bottom number. In the study, high systolic pressure (140 or more) was linked with the most problems. Researchers looked at health records for more than 1 million people. They were at least 30 years old and did not have heart disease when the study began. Researchers kept track of them for about 5 years. People with high systolic blood pressure were more likely to have bleeding strokes, stable angina (chest pain) and narrowed arteries in the legs. High diastolic pressure (90 or more) was linked only with abdominal aortic aneurysm. This is a swelling of the body’s largest artery in the belly area.

Many people don’t start taking prescribed blood thinners right away after getting a stent inserted in an artery near the heart. And those who delay are more likely to have heart attacks and die, a new study shows. Stents are tiny metal mesh tubes. They are placed inside narrowed arteries that are opened with balloon angioplasty. The stents help keep the arteries open. People need to take blood thinners for a month to a year after receiving a stent. This helps to prevent heart attacks during healing. Researchers looked at records for more than 15,600 people who had stents placed. About 30% did not fill their prescriptions for the blood thinner clopidogrel (Plavix or generics) within 3 days of hospital discharge. In the 30 days after discharge, they were 3 times as likely to have heart attacks as people who started taking the medicines right away.