Category: news-perspectives

No matter how well they control their blood sugar, people with type 1 diabetes have at least twice the normal risk of early death, a new study finds. The study included 34,000 people with type 1 diabetes. They were compared with nearly 170,000 non-diabetics. Their average age was 36 when the study began. Researchers kept track of them for an average of 8 years. During the study, 8% of those with diabetes and 2.9% of non-diabetics died. About 2.7% of diabetics and 0.9% of the other group died of heart disease or stroke. Risk of death was even higher for diabetics with poor control of their blood sugar. Those with the highest average blood sugar were 8.5 times as likely to die as those without diabetes. Their heart-related death rates were 10.5 times as high. Diabetics with the lowest average blood sugar were 2.4 times as likely to die during the study as those without diabetes.

About 23% of U.S. high school students use some form of tobacco, new survey data show. And about 90% of those teens smoke cigarettes, cigars, pipes or hookah, the survey found. The new study was based on a 2013 national survey of middle and high school students. They were asked if they had ever used tobacco products and if they were current users (in the last 30 days). Whites were most likely to use cigarettes (14%). So were Hispanics (13.4%). Black high school students were much more likely to use cigars (14.7%) than cigarettes (9%). More than 12% of high school students said they used 2 or more tobacco products. About 4.5% used e-cigarettes, also called “vaping.” Use of all products was lower among middle school students. About 6.5% were current tobacco users. About 46% of high school students and nearly 18% of middle school students had ever tried a tobacco product.

In a study from Japan, taking daily low-dose aspirin did not reduce the risk of early death for people who had a high risk of developing heart disease. The study included 14,464 people, ages 60 to 85. All of them had high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes. They did not have known heart disease, however. They were randomly assigned to take a daily low-dose aspirin or no aspirin. Researchers kept track of people for up to 6½ years. An expert panel then decided to end the study early. They concluded that the treatment was not helping. That’s because the risk of death from heart attack, stroke or related events was no different between the 2 groups. The risk of nonfatal stroke also was the same in both groups. The rates of nonfatal heart attack and transient ischemic attack (“mini-stroke”) were reduced by half in the aspirin group.

People who take anti-clotting drugs longer after a heart procedure may reduce their risk of heart attack, a new study finds. The study included nearly 10,000 people who received balloon angioplasty and a small metal tube called a stent to help keep the artery open. The stent released a drug that helped prevent scar tissue from clogging the artery. But this leaves the stent more likely to cause clots. In the study, everyone took aspirin plus clopidogrel (Plavix) or prasugrel (Effient) for 12 months to prevent clots. Then they took either 2 drugs or aspirin only for the next 18 months. The study lasted 5 years. In that time, 2.1% of those who took both drugs for 30 months had heart attacks. The rate was 4.1% for those who took only aspirin after 12 months. But rates of major bleeding were higher in the 2-drug group. There was no difference in fatal bleeding rates.

U.S. officials are investigating recent large price increases in several generic drugs. A commentary published November 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine addresses the issue. For example, the price of doxycycline, an antibiotic, has increased from 6.3 cents to $3.36 per pill, the commentary says. The Justice Department has sent subpoenas to 2 generic drug makers. It is investigating possible price fixing. A U.S. Senate subcommittee has scheduled a hearing next week about the increases. In a press release, the committee noted that the price of a heart medicine, digoxin, jumped from 11 cents to $1.10 per pill in less than 2 years. Reasons for the price hikes vary from drug to drug. With digoxin, the number of companies that make the drug dropped from 8 to 3 since 2002, the commentary said.

Cancer patients in hospice care are much less likely than other patients to receive aggressive end-of-life-care or die away from home, a new study finds. The study included more than 36,000 Medicare patients. All of them had advanced cancer. Half of them received hospice care. The others did not. About 74% of non-hospice patients died in hospitals or nursing homes. Only 14% of hospice patients died in these institutions. Non-hospice patients also had higher costs for hospital and intensive care, including procedures. Many of these costs were for treating infections, organ failure and other conditions, rather than cancer care. The average cost of care for the last year of life was $71,517 for non-hospice patients. Costs were $62,819 for a typical hospice patient. The Journal of the American Medical Association published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it November 11.

B-vitamin pills may not help preserve memory in certain high-risk older adults, a study finds. The study included more than 2,900 older adults. Their average age was 74. All of them had high blood levels of homocysteine. This has been linked with a greater risk of memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. People in the study took daily vitamin pills. They were randomly assigned to take either vitamin B12 and folic acid or placebo pills. The study lasted 2 years. People took memory and thinking tests before and after the study period. People taking the B vitamins had a drop in homocysteine levels. But both groups had similar results on the memory and thinking tests. The journal Neurology published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it November 12.

Older longtime smokers and ex-smokers on Medicare soon may be able to get screening tests for lung cancer. These tests can find cancers early enough that they may be curable. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced the policy change November 10. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended the screening for certain smokers last year. As a result, private insurers will be required to cover screening beginning in 2015. But Medicare officials waited so they could review the evidence and potential costs. The proposed policy will cover a low-dose chest CT scan each year for certain high-risk smokers and ex-smokers. They must be age 55 to 74 and have a smoking history of at least 30 pack-years. The number of pack-years is equal to packs per day multiplied by years of smoking. Ex-smokers can get screened if they quit within the last 15 years.

In the last 2 years, more than 700 young children needed hospital care after exposure to laundry detergent “pods,” a new study finds. One child died. Pods are brightly colored, single-use packets of concentrated laundry detergent. The membrane around them dissolves in water. The new study looked at numbers from U.S. poison control centers. They covered the years 2012 and 2013. In all, 17,230 children under age 6 were reported exposed to laundry detergent from pods. About 4 out of 5 tried to eat the pod. About 3 out of 4 children were under age 3. For more than 1,300 children, the exposure caused a moderate or major medical problem. Of those who required a hospital stay, 100 needed a tube in the throat to help them breathe. Researchers said kids who bite into the pods get a concentrated squirt of liquid into the mouth. This can cause them to swallow toxic chemicals, cough or choke.

Gastric bypass causes no more short-term problems than other common types of surgery, a new study finds. Gastric bypass is a type of weight-loss surgery. It shrinks the stomach. It also causes food to bypass part of the small intestine. The study looked laparoscopic procedures. They are done using very small incisions. Everyone in the study had type 2 diabetes. More than 16,500 had gastric bypass surgery. Almost 67,000 had other types of surgery. In the 30 days after gastric bypass, 3.4% of patients had some sort of problem (complication). That was about the same rate as for gallbladder surgery and hysterectomy (removal of the uterus). About 0.3% of gastric bypass patients died within 30 days after surgery. That was about the same death rate as total knee replacement. The study was presented November 6 at a conference. Weight loss after gastric bypass can improve health.