Harvard Health Content API

People do better after a heart attack or bypass surgery if they stick with their rehab program, says a study. The study looked at Medicare records for 30,000 people. All of them had been hospitalized for a heart attack, a bypass operation or long-term, severe chest pain. All went to at least one session of a cardiac rehabilitation program. They learned about how to exercise more, eat better and quit smoking. About 11% of people who went to all 36 sessions died in the next three years. About 18% of those who went to fewer than 12 sessions died. People who went to more sessions also were less likely to have a heart attack. The journal Circulation published the study results. The Associated Press wrote about it December 22.

Five Minnesota children got sick last year from Haemophilus influenzae bacteria, U.S. health officials report. One died of meningitis caused by the germs. This was a much higher number of cases than usual. Only 20 cases a year occur in U.S. children under age 5. Use of the Hib vaccine has dramatically reduced such illnesses. In the Minnesota cases, three of the children had not received Hib shots. Their parents had decided to refuse or put off the shots. One child had shots, but did not get a booster dose because of a vaccine shortage that year. One had received the recommended shots. The Associated Press wrote about the outbreak January 23.

Doctors seldom face sanctions or criminal charges related to painkillers, a study finds. Researchers used state medical board records from 1998 through 2006. They focused on doctors accused of prescribing narcotics in an illegal or improper way. Some doctors faced criminal charges. In other cases, boards imposed sanctions such as suspending a license. In all, 725 doctors were involved. That’s 1 out of 1,000 U.S. physicians. The study did not include charges by state and local police. The New York Times wrote about the study September 20. It was in the journal Pain Medicine.

Doctors should stop giving babies one of the two vaccines that fights a leading cause of diarrhea, U.S. officials said March 22. The Associated Press wrote about the announcement. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said doses of Rotarix are contaminated. They were found to contain broken pieces of DNA from a pig virus. Rotarix is one of two vaccines against rotavirus. It is made by GlaxoSmithKline. The other vaccine is RotaTeq, made by Merck. The FDA said the pig virus is not known to cause any kind of illness in people or animals. There is no known risk to children who have received the vaccine. But the FDA decided to err on the side of caution. Officials urged parents to get their children the RotaTeq vaccine instead. Before the vaccines were available, about 55,000 U.S. children were hospitalized each year with rotavirus infections.

Prostate removal using small cuts in the body leads to better results in some ways but not in others, a new study finds. The new study is based on five years of Medicare claims. Researchers looked at results for 1,938 men who had their prostates removed with instruments inserted through small incisions. They compared them with 6,899 men who had an “open” procedure. This is an older procedure that uses a bigger incision. The small-incision group stayed one day less in the hospital than the other group. They had fewer problems with breathing after surgery. They were less likely to need a blood transfusion. But they also were more likely to have problems up to 18 months later with urine control and sexual function. MedPage Today wrote about the study October 13. It was published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Two new studies offer guidance on which drugs may help prevent strokes. Both studies included about 20,000 stroke patients. In one study, people were randomly assigned to receive either telmisartan or a placebo (fake pill). Telmisartan is a blood pressure drug. After 2½ years, both groups had similar rates of new stroke, heart attack or diabetes. The other study looked at drugs that reduce the risk of blood clots. People were given either clopidogrel (Plavix) or the combination of dipyridamole (Persantine) and aspirin. After 2½ years, stroke rates were the same in both groups. HealthDay News wrote about the studies August 27. They were published online by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Children with asthma may get too much “screen time,” a study finds. The study looked at 224 city children with asthma. Parents were asked how much time their kids spent on TV, video games and computer use. Kids who limited activities because of asthma spent an average of 3.5 hours daily on screen time. Kids who were able to be more active spent about 2.5 hours daily. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 hours a day. Reuters Health news service wrote about the study February 18. Researchers told Reuters that kids can be less active without increasing screen time. They could try reading, games, arts and crafts. The study appeared in the journal Academic Pediatrics.

Emergency teams may not get women having heart attacks to the hospital as fast as men, a study finds. The study included 5,887 emergency calls for possible heart attack symptoms. All the calls took place in Dallas County, Texas, in 2004. On average, women got to the hospital about 2 minutes later than men. That amount of time probably didn’t affect care. But women also were much more likely than men to be delayed 15 minutes or more. Delays that long could be harmful. HealthDay News wrote about the study January 13. It was in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Heart disease patients tend to have more heart attacks and other problems if they’re also depressed. A new study suggests a simple reason — they don’t take care of themselves. They especially tend to skip exercise. The study included 1,017 people with stable heart disease. About 1 in 5 people were depressed. The depressed people were more likely to have a heart attack, stroke or related event than people without depression. But the gap disappeared after accounting for health habits. Depressed people were less likely to exercise and take their medicines. They were more likely to smoke. The study was in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Reuters Health news service wrote about it November 25.

Researchers have found another way to do stomach-stapling surgery. The surgery is done to treat obesity. Stapling the stomach makes it smaller. People lose weight because they are not able to eat as much. At a conference, researchers reported a way to reach the stomach through the mouth. One hundred Europeans got either the stomach stapling or a fake procedure. Those who got the real treatment lost an average of 45% of their body weight in 18 months. A U.S. study is still in progress. The Associated Press wrote about the studies June 4.