Category: news-perspectives

Most women with breast cancer who also have the second breast removed don’t need to take that precaution, a new study finds. The study looked at information on 1,447 women treated for newly diagnosed cancer in a single breast. The women reported information to breast cancer registries for 3 to 5 years after treatment. Nearly 19% said they had strongly considered having both breasts removed. About 8% actually had double mastectomies. But researchers concluded that 69% of those who had both breasts removed actually had a low risk of developing cancer in the other breast. They did not have a strong family risk of cancer. They also did not have any gene mutations linked with increased risk of breast cancer. Women who had more detailed imaging of their breasts using MRI were more likely to have a double mastectomy.

A home walking program may help people with poor blood circulation that leads to leg pain, a new study finds. The study focused on 168 people with peripheral artery disease. This condition is caused by narrowed arteries in the legs. The main symptom is pain or cramping in the legs while walking. People in the study were randomly divided into 2 groups. The first group took part in a program that trained them to increase their walking at home. After 6 months, they continued on their own, with phone calls for encouragement. They were told to try to walk at least 5 days a week and build up to 50 minutes a day. If their legs hurt, they were told to rest until the pain went away, and then start again. The second group received general health information only. After a year, people in the first group had increased their average distance for a 6-minute walk by about 87 feet, or 7.5%.

Antibiotics don’t help infections, such as bronchitis, that are caused by viruses. But new research suggests that the public and doctors still have not embraced that message. In the study, 71% of patient visits for acute bronchitis led to an antibiotic prescription. The study covered the years 1996 through 2010. Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchial tubes in the lungs. It is almost always caused by a virus. The main symptom is coughing. “Acute” bronchitis means that symptoms have lasted less than 3 weeks. The study was published as a research letter in the journal JAMA. It was based on a national survey of doctors’ offices and hospital emergency rooms. The sampling was selected to represent the United States as a whole. During the 15 years covered, these facilities reported 3,153 visits for acute bronchitis.

If a particularly deadly flu virus spread worldwide, saving lives would require much faster vaccine development than occurred in the 2009 pandemic, a study finds. The new study used a computer simulation. Researchers looked at how quickly a deadly influenza A outbreak would spread in a metropolitan area similar to New York City. They assumed that 1,000 people would be infected at the start. Without vaccination, they found that about 48,000 people would die. During the 2009 pandemic, a vaccine was ready for use in 9 months. But in the computer model, vaccinating people after 9 months would reduce the death toll by only about 2,300. Deaths would be further reduced if the vaccine were developed much earlier. The 2009 pandemic was caused by a flu strain known as H1N1. That strain spread fast, but was relatively mild compared with past pandemics.

U.S. health officials have released research on hepatitis testing and care as a prelude to National Hepatitis Testing Day on Monday, May 19. May is also Hepatitis Awareness Month. There are several types of hepatitis caused by viruses. Hepatitis B and C can cause long-term illness and liver damage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did the research. The CDC said one project was able to strengthen primary care for hepatitis C in rural areas of Arizona and Utah. Programs in three other states focused on hepatitis B testing. They targeted people born in countries where at least 2% of the population is infected. The CDC said expansion of programs like these will help prevent the spread of hepatitis B and C. The journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published results of the two studies May 9.

Children who don’t get enough sleep may also have a higher risk of being overweight, a new study suggests. The study included more than 1,000 children. Mothers were asked how much sleep their kids usually got. They were asked when the children were 6 months old, 1 year old and then every year. Researchers gave each child a sleep score. About 4% of the children did not get enough sleep during most of the study (scores 1 to 4). About 40% got enough sleep on a regular basis (scores 12 or 13). The others got enough sleep only some of the time. Kids who were the most sleep-deprived were about 2½ times as likely to be obese as those who consistently got enough sleep. They also scored higher on other measurements of body fat. The journal Pediatrics published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it May 19.

Two confirmed cases of the often deadly MERS virus have been reported in the United States. But so far there’s no evidence that these patients spread the disease to anyone in this country, health officials said. And the World Health Organization affirmed May 13 that it does not consider MERS a public health emergency. That’s because so far there been no “sustained human-to-human transmission.” MERS stands for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. It is caused by a type of coronavirus. More than 500 cases have been confirmed worldwide. Nearly one-third of the patients died. Most cases occurred in the Middle East. It has spread only to health care workers and others in very close contact with people who were ill. The two new cases involved health care workers who had traveled to the United States. They had cared for MERS patients in the Middle East. Two U.S.

Few American women realize that lung cancer is more likely to kill them than any other type of cancer, a new survey shows. Asked to pick the top killer of women from a list of cancers, 51% picked breast cancer. Only 22% picked lung cancer. The American Lung Association (ALA) did the survey. It included 1,000 women. About half of them said they were not concerned about lung cancer because they didn’t smoke. Among lifelong nonsmokers, two-thirds were not concerned. But about 10% of lung cancer cases occur among those who have never smoked. And 20% of women who die of lung cancer are nonsmokers. Other causes of lung cancer include long-term exposure to radon, asbestos or secondhand smoke. If just the lung cancers not related to smoking were counted separately, they would still rank among the top 10 U.S. cancers, an ALA official told HealthDay News.

A new study questions the way U.S. cervical-cancer rates are calculated and finds much higher estimates. Rates rose the most among women in their 60s and black women. Previous studies have included all women, even those who have had the uterus and cervix removed by hysterectomy. But the new study notes that a woman without a cervix would not be able to develop cervical cancer. Researchers used numbers on cervical cancer rates taken from a government registry in 18 states. They estimated hysterectomy numbers based on a national health survey. They calculated that about 11.7 cervical-cancer cases per 100,000 women are diagnosed each year. Rates were highest between ages 40 and 44 and then fell. But cervical cancer rates were 18.6 per 100,000 when only women who still had a cervix were included. And rates kept rising with age. The highest rates were between ages 65 and 69.

In a study, most children with concussions felt better within 2 weeks. But some emotional symptoms that did not show up at first were among the most lasting, the study found. The study included 235 children and young adults who were diagnosed with concussions in an emergency room. They answered questions about symptoms regularly during the next 3 months, or until symptoms went away. When they first went to the ER, children’s most common symptoms were headache, fatigue, dizziness and taking longer to think. The symptoms most likely to develop later included sleep problems, frustration and forgetfulness. Symptoms that lasted longest were irritability and sleep problems (a median of 16 days each). Next came frustration and poor concentration (14 days each). One month after injury, nearly 25% still complained of headache.