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U.S. hospital stays for heart failure fell 30% in the last 10 years, a new study has found. But the death rate for these patients fell only slightly. Among those discharged in 2008, about 30% died within a year. That compares with 32% after similar hospital stays in 1998. The study was based on data for Medicare patients. The decline saved money for Medicare. Without it, hospital stays for heart failure would have cost $4.1 billion more in 2008, the study found. Many factors could have caused the improvement, experts told the Associated Press. Prevention and treatments are better, they said. More people also may be getting treatment in emergency rooms and clinics. They might not have to stay in the hospital. The nation’s new health care reform law requires hospitals to work harder to keep people with heart failure healthier after discharge.

In a new study, about half of sudden infant deaths occurred in babies who had been placed in unsafe sleeping positions. The study was presented October 17 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The AAP also released expanded guidelines to help prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The new study looked at 91 recent SIDS cases or other unexplained infant deaths. Doctors have recommended putting babies on their backs to sleep for nearly 20 years. But in half of the deaths studied, the baby had been in some other position. About half were sharing a bed. Nearly 3 out of 4 were sleeping on a surface such as a sofa or pillow. The AAP says these practices are unsafe. MedPage Today wrote about the study. The AAP issued its new SIDS guidelines October 18. For the first time, they say that cribs should not have bumper pads.