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Heart Problem - Get to Hospital Fast
Getting to Hospital Fast Improves Heart Attack
Chances 70 Percent
Mayo Clinic researchers emphasize calling 911
immediately
Nov. 5, 2007 - If you go to the hospital within one
to two hours of the onset of symptoms of a heart attack, your chances of
getting proper treatment are nearly 70 percent greater than those who
wait 11 to 12 hours before seeking treatment, according to results
presented today at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions
2007 in Orlando, Fla.
Read more...
Late Treatment of Heart Attack with Angioplasty
Equals High Cost, Low Results
Minimal initial benefits that patients with PCI enjoy
diminish over time
Nov. 5, 2007 – Trying to better the conditions of
heart attack sufferers, whose treatment has been delayed by three days,
with stents and clot-busting medical therapy is not justified, according
to researchers from Duke University Medical Center.
Read more...
One Life A Day Saved by Bystander Using Automated
External Defibrillator
CPR plus AED more than doubles survival of cardiac
arrest with just CPR
Nov. 5, 2007 - Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
combined with bystander use of an automated external defibrillator (AE
D) more than doubled the chances of surviving out-of-hospital cardiac
arrest compared with using CPR alone, researchers reported at the
American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2007.
Read more...
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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
High Blood Pressure Control is Equal with Common
Medications
ACEIs more likely than ARBs to cause
harmless, persistent cough
Nov. 2, 2007 - Two common classes of blood pressure
medications – angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and
angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) – are equally effective at
controlling high blood pressure, which strikes half of all senior
citizens, according to a report released today by the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services.
Read more...
Your Fate Determined When Brother or Sister have
Heart Attack
Hereditary link puts male sibs at higher risk, but
sisters not off the hook
Oct. 30, 2007 – If you are a healthy male and your
sister or brother has a heart attack, your risk of the same jumps
dramatically. If you are a health female and your sister of brother has
a heart attack, your risk goes up too, but not so much.
Read more...
Osteoarthritis Inflammation May Have Surprising
Source Study Finds
Indicates inflammatory mechanism distinct from joint
cartilage
Oct. 30, 2007 – There are some bad words you don’t
become familiar with until you are a senior citizen, like “arthritis.”
It strikes most seniors and the most common form is the crippling
degenerative joint disease, osteoarthritis (OA). New research has come
up with some new ideas on what is causing the painful inflammation.
Read more...
Mortality Gap Widens with Rheumatoid Arthritis, No
Longevity Increase in Decades
Mayo Clinic study says action needed. Most senior
citizens have rheumatoid or other forms of arthritis
Oct. 29, 2007 – Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an
autoimmune inflammatory disease that takes a progressive toll on the
heart, kidney and liver as well as the joints, is a diagnosis that
carries a high risk of early death. This sobering fact is well known.
Less is known about whether longevity has improved for RA patients over
the past few decades of remarkable improvements in longevity in the
general population.
Read more...What
is Rheumatoid arthritis?...Advice on RA...
Vaccine that Stops Cancer in Mice is Headed for
Human Clinical Trial Soon
‘When we tested our best vaccine we got really,
really fabulous antibody levels that have never been seen before’
Oct. 29, 2007 – Tantalizing news of a big step
forward in the development of a vaccine to stop cancer has been
announced by researchers at the University of Georgia Cancer Center.
Backed by the National Cancer Institute, the scientists have created a
carbohydrate-based vaccine that – in mice – has successfully triggered a
strong immune response to cancer cells.
Read more...
Senior Citizen Obese at 65 Will See Lifespan Shrink,
Cost Society More
Epidemic of weight-related diseases as baby boomers
become senior citizens
Oct. 26, 2007 - Health care analysts predict an
epidemic of weight-related diseases, as more baby boomers become senior
citizens. A new study warns that the cost of treating such diseases
through publicly funded programs such as Medicare and Medicaid could
increase significantly. But, even more disturbing is the prediction that
the overweight and obese will significantly shorten their lives.
Read more...
Older Women Skipping Hormone Therapy and Gaining
Weight Increase Breast Cancer Risk
Maintaining weight throughout adulthood may be
means of breast cancer prevention
Oct. 23, 2007 - Women who do not take hormone
therapy after menopause may have an increased risk for breast cancer if
they have gained weight throughout adulthood rather than maintaining a
stable weight, according to a report in the October 22 issue of Archives
of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Read more...
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These
dietary behaviors together with a healthy lifestyle and body
weight may prevent most heart attacks, author says. |
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Healthy Diet, Exemplary Lifestyle Decrease Risk of
Heart Attack in Women
Nothing to it - moderate alcohol, physically active,
healthy weight and no smoking
Oct. 23, 2007 - Women who eat a healthy diet, drink
moderate amounts of alcohol, are physically active, maintain a healthy
weight and do not smoke have a significantly reduced risk of heart
attack, according to a less than surprising report in the October 22
issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives
journals.
Read more...
Power of
Positive Thinking Not Enough to Slow Down Cancer
Emotional state – positive or negative – has no
effect on cancer survival
Oct. 22, 2007 – The power of positive thinking
doesn’t work, when it comes to fighting cancer, but, being a pessimist
is not going to make it any worse either. A patient’s emotional state –
positive or negative – has no effect on cancer survival, or the cancer’s
progression, according to a large new study.
Read more...
Researchers
That Found Sunlight Lowers Breast Cancer
Risk Say It Also Decreases Spread
Sunlight's vitamin D may lower advanced breast cancer
by half
Oct. 22, 2007 – Researchers, who earlier found that
women who received the most frequent sun exposure had a lower risk of
developing breast cancer, have now determined that increased exposure to
sunlight – which increases levels of vitamin D in the body - also
decreases the risk of advanced breast cancer.
Read
more...
Should Senior Citizens Ask Their Doctor to Use Honey
to Heal Their Wounds?
Honey is one of oldest foods, was an ancient
remedy for wound healing
Oct. 19, 2007 - Surgeons are being advised to
consider the supermarket as well as the drugs cupboard when it comes to
effective wound healing, according to a research review published in the
October issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.
Read
more...
Senior Citizens Four Times More Likely to be Hit by
Drug Resistant Staph Infection
JAMA study says MRSA more prevalent than assumed and
no longer contained in health care setting
Oct. 16, 2007 - Infections caused by methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) appears to be more prevalent than
previously believed, affecting certain populations disproportionately –
senior citizens in particular - and is being found more often outside of
health care settings, according to a study in the October 17 issue of
Journal of the American Medical Association. Methicillin is used to
treat penicillin-resistant infections.
Read more..
Mortality Rates 71% Lower at Top-Rated Hospitals in
HealthGrades 2008 Study
Mortality rates improve nationally; annual study
examines 41 million hospitalization records at 5,000 hospitals over 3
years
Oct. 16, 2007 – Patients have on average a 71
percent lower chance of dying at the nation’s top-rated hospitals
compared with the lowest-rated hospitals across 18 procedures and
conditions analyzed in the tenth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in
America Study, issued yesterday by HealthGrades, the healthcare ratings
company.
Read
more...
Colorectal Cancer Screening to at Least Age 84
Appears Essential for Elderly
Obesity greater colorectal cancer risk factor for
women than smoking; this cancer differs in minorities
Oct. 15, 2007 - As people get older, their risk of
developing polyps and colorectal cancer increases. Currently, there is
no clear evidence or established guideline for the upper age limit for
colorectal cancer screening by colonoscopy. Two new studies presented at
the American College of Gastroenterology’s 72nd Annual Scientific
Meeting suggest continued colorectal cancer screening among healthy
elderly Americans.
Read more...
Decline in Cancer Death Rate Has Doubled Says New
Report
Cancer organizations, CDC join effort to present
good news to the nation
Oct. 15, 2007 - A new report from the nation’s
leading cancer organizations shows cancer death rates decreased on
average 2.1 percent per year from 2002 through 2004, nearly twice the
annual decrease of 1.1 percent per year from 1993 through 2002. It is
important news for senior citizens, although, as Americans pass age 65
it is heart disease that surges ahead as the greatest death risk.
Read more...
Sharp Decline in Hospital Death Rates Good News for
Aging Senior Citizens
Death rates from heart attack, five other leading
conditions decline in 2004
Oct. 12, 2007 – Certainly good news for aging
seniors citizens, sharp declines in the hospital death rates of patients
from heart attack and five other leading conditions were revealed in new
statistics on 2004. This means an estimated 136,000 who would have died
had they been hospitalized a decade earlier survived their stays in
2004, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality.
Read more...
Statins Keep Old Lungs Young, Reducing Loss of
Function Even in Elderly Smokers
Good for lowering cholesterol, maybe as dementia
fighter, statins gain in reputation
Oct. 12, 2007 - Statins taken my millions of senior
citizens for lowering cholesterol and maybe even fighting dementia, now
have another reported benefit: they appear to slow decline in lung
function in the elderly - even in those who smoke. According to
researchers in Boston, it may be statins’ anti-inflammatory and
antioxidant properties that help achieve this effect.
Read more...
Prostate Cancer Increases Hip Fracture Risk by Eight
for 'Almost' Senior Citizens
Just being 50+ with prostate cancer increases hip
fracture risk by 4
Oct. 11, 2007 - Men over age 50 who have prostate
cancer are four times more likely to suffer a hip fracture, but this
ratio shoots up to eight times for early baby boomers and other older
men on the verge of becoming senior citizens at age 65.
Read more...
Targeting Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Can Save
Needless Suffering
HER-2 status predicts success of chemotherapy in
breast cancer treatment, study finds
Oct. 11, 2007 – Researchers have found they can
potentially target chemotherapy for
breast cancer to only those women most likely to benefit, sparing
the majority of patients from unnecessary side effects.
Read more, link to video...
Senior Citizen and Internet
iGuard Drug Safety Alert is Newest Reason Senior
Citizens, Caregivers Must Use Web
Provides patients & physicians with immediate,
personalized, free drug safety information
Oct. 9, 2007 – Almost weekly there is a new and
compelling reason why senior citizens or their caregivers should be
active on the Internet. One significant new tool to launch on the Web,
which promises potentially life-saving help to seniors, is iGuard. This
is a free service to access current information about the risk profile
of their medications and receive personal drug safety alerts.
Read more...
Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Surgery Wins as Best Prostate Cancer Treatment for
Long-Term Survival
Ten year survival: 83% prostatectomy, 75%
radiotherapy, 72% watchful waiting
Oct. 9, 2007 – One of the things most often debated
among older men and those who provide their health care is how to treat
prostate cancer – common for senior men. The latest study says cut it
out. Those who chose surgery in this study were less likely to die
within 10 years than were men who chose other treatments.
Read more...
Xeloda
Tablet Improves Survival Rate from Colon Cancer Versus Chemo
Oral medicine approved in U.S. to also treat
metastatic breast cancer
Oct.
8, 2007 – Xeloda, a tablet taken orally to treat colon cancer (it is
also approved in the U.S. for metastatic breast cancer) is proving much
more convenient than traditional chemotherapy, has fewer side effects
and, in a new study of almost 2,000 patients, has shown it is giving
them a better chance of surviving the disease.
Read more...
Unhappy Relationship May Break Your Heart – For Real
Study finds negative close relationships
increase heart disease risk
Oct. 8, 2007 – It has long been established that
having a good personal relationship with close relations, a spouse in
particular, usually means you will lead a happier, healthier life with a
reduced chance of heart disease. In a new study, however, the
researchers took the negative approach – if you have a bad relationship
will it increase your risk of a heart attack.
Read more...
Osteoarthritis of the Knee Does Not Improve from
Common Treatments
Government funded study questions arthroscopic
surgery, supplements, injections
Oct. 8, 2007 – Millions of senior citizens
struggling with osteoarthritis of the knee, will be disappointed by a
new scientific review released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality concluding that evidence of benefit is lacking for many common
ways of treating this painful knee problem, including popular dietary
supplement ingredients, a common surgical procedure, and injected
preparations.
Read
more...
People with Disabilities Much More Likely to Smoke
Than Other Adults
Disabled less likely to receive preventive health
care
Oct.
5, 2007 – In an announcement that first seems shocking, then on the
other hand makes sense, a new study by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) has found that people with disabilities, mostly
senior citizens, are 50 percent more likely to smoke than those with no
disabilities. Thirty percent of the disabled are smokers, compared to
20 percent of other adults.
Read
more...
Angioplasty Has Bypassed the Bypass for Treating
Blocked Arteries
Angioplasties almost doubled 1993 to 2005, bypass
dropped fast from 1997
Oct. 4, 2007 - Percutaneous coronary intervention
(PCI), which used to be known as transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA)
or just “angioplasty,” a procedure for opening blocked arteries in
patients with coronary artery disease, has bypassed coronary artery
bypass graft surgery (CABG).
Read more...
Seven Most Common Chronic Diseases Costing U.S. $1
Trillion, Headed to $6 Trillion
Senior citizens are Americans most often suffering
multiple chronic diseases
Oct. 3, 2007 - The annual economic impact on the
U.S. economy of the seven most common chronic diseases is calculated to
be more than $1 trillion, which could balloon to nearly $6 trillion by
the middle of the century. Yet the news is not entirely grim because
much of this cost is avoidable, according to the Milken Institute that
released the study yesterday, which also identifies obesity as enemy
number one.
Read
more...
Women, Black Men Much Less Likely Than White Men to
Get Life-Saving ICDs
Implantable cardioverter defibrillators shock
heart back into rhythm
Oct. 2, 2007 - Among senior citizen Medicare
patients, men are two to three times more likely than women to receive
an implantable cardioverter defibrillator designed to shock a heart that
is beating irregularly and put it back in normal rhythm to prevent
sudden cardiac death. And, among people of all ages, fewer than 40
percent of potentially eligible patients hospitalized for heart failure
receive ICDs, and women and black patients are significantly less likely
than white men to receive them. These two studies are reported today in
the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Read more...
Learning More About Prostate Cancer Screening Causes
Many Men to Opt Out
More knowledge seems to lead some to question
the value of PSA
By Becky Ham,
Science Writer
Health Behavior News Service
Oct. 2, 2007 - When men get a little extra help in
understanding prostate cancer screening tests, they come away more
educated and confident about their choices. However, they might also be
less likely to go ahead with the tests, according to a closer look at
some recent studies.
Read more...
Older Women Twice as Likely to Die in Five Years
After Having Panic Attack
Panic attack also makes them four times as likely to
suffer heart attack
Oct.
1, 2007 - Older women who experience at least one full-blown panic
attack may have an increased risk of having a heart attack or stroke and
an increased risk of death in the next five years, according to a report
in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the
JAMA/Archives journals.
Read more...
Popular Prostate Cancer Treatment May Encourage
Spread of the Disease
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) reduces male
hormones, called androgens, in the body.
Oct. 1, 2007 - A popular prostate cancer treatment
called androgen deprivation therapy may encourage prostate cancer cells
to produce a protein that makes them more likely to spread throughout
the body, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests.
Read more...
Older Blacks and Latinos Still Lag Behind Whites in Controlling Diabetes
Improvement
possible by targeting factors such as medication use and emotional distress,
for which the racial and ethnic gap is wide
Sept. 27, 2007 - Despite decades of advances in
diabetes care, African Americans and Latinos are still far less likely than
whites to have their blood sugar under control, even with the help of
medications, a new nationally representative study finds. That puts them at
a much higher risk of blindness, heart attack, kidney failure, foot
amputation and other long-term diabetes complications.
Read more...Video link in
story...
Some Diabetics
Would Sacrifice Years of Life to Avoid Treatment, Complications
Large proportions with type-2 diabetes have poorly
controlled glucose (20%), blood pressure (33%) and cholesterol (40%)
Sept. 27, 2007 – Between 10 and 18 percent of patients
with diabetes said they are willing to give up 8 of 10 years of healthy life
to avoid life with treatments for the disease.
Read more...
New Type Drug Found Effective in Innovative Attack
on Melanoma Cancer
New drug with chemotherapy more than doubled the
time patients survived without progression of their cancer
Sept. 26, 2007 - An experimental drug that attacks
cancer in an entirely new way has shown promise in treating advanced
melanoma, delaying progression of the disease and prolonging the lives
of patients. Half of all deaths from the skin cancer melanoma in
developed countries are among older men – those over age 50.
Read more...
Cancer Care for Growing Elderly Population Poses
International Time Bomb
Well educated, internet savvy elderly will be more
capable of demanding optimal care
Sept.
26, 2007 – It is impossible to predict how many older people will have
cancer in 2020, according to the editor of Cancer World, but there will
be many more elderly with cancer than there are today; and she warned an
international conference there is too much “complacency about this time
bomb.”
Read more...
Few Senior Citizens Take Advantage of
Medicare-Provided Cardiac Rehab
Older, female, non-white: biggest offenders; varies,
too, by state
Sept. 26, 2007 – Even though Medicare pays for it,
senior citizens are terrible about following through with cardiac
rehabilitation after a heart attack or coronary bypass surgery. Fewer
than 20 percent – less than one out of five – take advantage of this
free benefit despite strong evidence that it reduces disability and
prolongs life.
Read more...
Communication in World of Cancer Victims is Key to
Survival
New report says need is greater as information grows
Sept. 19, 2007 - For the 10 million Americans who
are living with cancer or have survived it, one factor may be most
indispensable for keeping their spirits intact: communication. In
recognition of this, the National Cancer Institute plans to issue a
special report by November 1, co-authored by a University of Rochester
physician, stating that effective communication is truly essential to
good cancer care and deserves more research.
Read more...
Websites Comparing Hospital Performance Show Widely Differing Results
Hospital ranked best on one site was ranked worst on another
Sept. 18, 2007 – More than 113 million Americans, many of them senior
citizens, went to the Internet last year to seek health information.
Those checking the sites that compare hospital performance, however, may
not have found accurate information. A look at six of these sites found
Medicare and the non-profit Websites are the best for accessibility and
data transparency.
Read more...
Campaign Highlights the Link Between Diabetes
and Cardiovascular Disease
Heart disease & stroke account for about 65% of deaths in
people with diabetes
Sept. 14, 2007 – Control Your Diabetes. for
Life. is the latest campaign effort by The National Diabetes
Education Program and it includes special help for the millions of
senior citizens suffering with diabetes. The focus of the campaign is
the increased risk of cardiovascular disease for those with diabetes,
especially senior citizens. More than one out of five of those over age
60 have diabetes, which is over 10 million older Americans.
Read more...
Heart Medications: Skipping Medicines Leads to Heart
Attack in Studies
Study highlights consequences of senior citizens
not taking prescribed drugs
Sept. 13, 2007 - Several studies in recent years
have found senior citizens frequently skip their prescribed medicine,
especially if it is not covered by Medicare or other insurance. A new
study, one of the first to look at the consequences of not taking
medicine, finds that heart patients who most frequently miss a dose are
more than twice as likely to suffer heart attack, stroke and death.
Read more...
Senior Citizens Pay Billions for Top Cholesterol
Fighters: Liptor, Zocor
Liptor earned $9 billion U.S. dollars in 2004 from
all adults
Sept. 12, 2007 – Lipitor, the cholesterol-reducing
statin drug, brought in more dollars – about $9 billion - from U.S.
adults in 2004 than any other drug. Senior citizens paid $4.35 billion,
while all other adults over age 18 plunked down almost $5 billion,
according to the latest News and Numbers from
the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Read more...
Senior Citizens Most Frequent Victims as Deadly Drug
Reactions Spiral Upward
Seniors are 12.6% of population but 33.6% of
serious adverse drug events
Sept. 11, 2007 – Senior citizens represent a
disproportionate share of adverse drug events as the number of serious
outcomes reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more
than doubled between 1998 and 2005, as did deaths associated with
adverse drug events, according to a report in the September 10 issue of
Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Read more...
Being Overweight May Independently Increase Risk for
Heart Disease
Effects on blood pressure and
cholesterol could account for about 45% of the increased risk of
coronary heart disease
Sept. 11, 2007 – If you are just moderately
overweight, you have increased your risk of developing coronary heart
disease problems, independent of traditional cardiovascular risk
factors. Obesity increases the risk of heart disease by 81 percent over
those of normal weight, says an analysis of previous studies published
today in the Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the
JAMA/Archives journals.
Read more...
Poor and Senior Citizen Diabetics are Most Likely to
be Hospitalized
Older diabetics five times more likely to be
hospitalized
Sept. 10, 2007 – If you live in one of the nation’s
poorest communities, you are 80 percent more likely to be hospitalized
for diabetes or its complications than those living in the more affluent
areas. And, if you are a diabetic senior citizen, you are five times
more likely to be hospitalized than younger Americans.
Read more...
Stress Probed for Its Impact on Cardiovascular
Disease and Diabetes
National Institutes of Health study looks at
twins
Sept. 6, 2007 - Researchers have long thought
that environmental stress factors – things like family dysfunction, low
socioeconomic status and discrimination – play an important role in
cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes, but little is known about
physiological factors that link stress to the diseases’ development.
There is hope, however, to learn more from a study of twins at the
Medical College of Georgia.
Read more...
New Implanted Heart Pump Does Well Helping Survival
Prior to Transplant
These new implants push the blood out of the heart in
a continuous flow, rather than a pulsing flow
Aug. 30, 2007 - A new generation of implanted
heart-assisting pump that pushes in a continuous does very well at
helping severely ill heart-failure patients survive, and thrive, until
they receive a heart transplant, a new study shows. One patient
recovered so fully that a transplant was no longer needed.
Read more...
New Male Sling Helps Prostate Cancer Survivors with
Urinary Incontinence
Losing urine control is frustrating for the
more than 2 million men
Aug. 29, 2007 – Michael Yarborough, a 58-year-old
business owner from Waxahachie, Texas, was fortunate. A routine check-up
three years ago revealed prostate cancer, but a side effect of his
successful surgery was “driving him nuts.”
Read more...
Blood Pressure
Increase in Older Men from Heavy Drinking Counters Good Cholesterol
Risk of stroke - more sensitive to blood pressure than
heart attack - is not substantially lower in moderate drinkers
Aug. 28, 2007 - Although there are studies indicating
that drinking can be good for the heart and boost good cholesterol levels, a
large new study suggests that middle-aged men who drink heavily could see
their blood pressure rise, regardless of whether their levels of “good”
cholesterol also go up.
Read more...
Human Stem Cells Successfully Repair Damaged Hearts
in Rats
Human trials could begin in about two
years, says researcher
Aug. 27, 2007 – Clinical trials with humans could
begin in “about two years” to test the ability of embryonic stem cells
to rebuild heart muscle damaged by a heart attack and improve the
heart’s function, according to a leader in recent research that was
successful using human stem cells to repair the hearts of rats. The
findings increase the possibility that stem-cell-based treatments may
one day help people suffering from heart disease, the leading cause of
death in most of the world.
Read more...
Ability of Aspirin-Like Drug Salsalate to Lower
Glucose in Diabetics Begins Trial
University of Illinois one of 16 sites needing
volunteers in large NIH clinical trial
Aug. 24, 2007 - Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory
medications (NSAIDs), cherished by millions of senior citizens for their
ability to relieve pain, have taken a beating in recent years for a
potential to increase certain health risks, including heart attack; but
they have survived as popular pain relievers. Now, one of these drugs,
salsalate, marketed as Disalcid and Salflex, could be on its way to
fame. It is being tested for its potential to lower blood glucose levels
in adults with type 2 diabetes, a massive chronic problem for older
people.
Read more...
Good Cholesterol Can Turn Bad, Become Danger to
Heart, Researchers Say
Why can’t scientists leave ‘well enough’ alone?
Always finding something new for seniors to worry about.
Aug. 22, 2007 – There is something about scientists
that just won’t allow them to let “well enough” alone. The latest
unsettling discovery, impacting senior citizens in particular, is that
good cholesterol can undergo detrimental changes in protein composition
that makes it bad for the heart.
Read more...
Advanced Age Should Not Be Reason to Deny Liver
Transplant, Study Finds
No significant difference in survival for 70 year
olds compared to group just 50 to 59
Aug. 21, 2007 – As Americans live longer, the
demand for medical services once denied many because of their age, like
transplants, has been increasing. The latest study to prove age should
not be a bearer has found that the risk of death after a liver
transplant cannot be solely attributed to advanced age. In fact, the
longest living survivor has reached age 88, 15 years after the
transplant.
Read
more...
Diabetes Patients
Fixate on Blood Sugar and Neglect What May Kill Them
Most die from heart
disease and should focus on cholesterol, other protection
Aug. 20, 2007 –
Diabetes is high on the radar for senior citizens, who are well aware of
the increase of this chronic and deadly disease, and
because few do not have friends whose lives have been forever negatively
changed the rituals of diabetes care and management. Although high blood
pressure and arthritis are the most prominent chronic conditions for
older Americans, type 2 diabetes, apparently fueled by the obesity
epidemic, is the fastest growing. The New York Times focused several
reports today on this disease.
Read more...
Older White Men Who Cope with Stress Rewarded with
Higher Good Cholesterol
Same research finds no direct effect on 'bad'
cholesterol’
Aug. 20, 2007 - Older white men who are better able
to cope with stress experience higher levels of so-called “good
cholesterol” than men who are more hostile or socially isolated,
according to a study released at the 115th Annual Convention of the
American Psychological Association.
Read more...
New Review Suggests Caution on Using Drugs to Raise
'Good' Cholesterol
Primary focus should be on lowering 'bad' cholesterol
By Maia Szalavitz, Health Behavior News Service
Aug. 17, 2007 - With 40 percent of all heart
attacks and related cardiovascular problems occurring in people who have
low levels of so-called “good” cholesterol, researchers have long sought
medications to increase the amount of this type of cholesterol in the
body’s circulation.
Read more...
Coumadin Label
Update Ushers in Genetic Prescribing
to Make Drugs Safer, More Effective
FDA advises doctors to watch for two genes in
prescribing warfarin
Aug. 16, 2007 – A major step toward making
medicines safer and more effective was taken today by the Food and Drug
Administration with the approval of updated labeling for the widely used
blood-thinning drug, Coumadin. The change will advise doctors that
people’s genetic makeup may influence how they respond to the drug. This
is the first time genetic considerations have been used on a drug label
and FDA says this is the beginning of its "personalized medicine"
initiative making use of pharmacogenomics.
Read more...
Diabetes Drugs to Strengthen Warning of Heart
Failure Risk, Says FDA
Included drugs: Avandia, Actos, Avandary, Avandamet
and Duetact
Aug. 16, 2007 - After a review of adverse events
reported for drugs approved to treat Type 2 diabetes, the Food and Drug
Administration has determined that an updated label with a “boxed
warning” on the risks of heart failure was needed for the entire
thiazolidinedione class of antidiabetic drugs, which includes Avandia,
Actos, Avandary, Avandamet and Duetact.
Read more...
Clinical Trial Uses Eye Drops to Restore Sight in
Elderly with Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Eye drops may replace multiple injection treatment
now used
Aug. 16, 2007 - An 88-year-old man at The Methodist
Hospital in Houston is one of two patients in the world today to receive
an investigational eye drop that may restore sight for those suffering
from neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration, a major cause
of central visual loss and one of the leading causes of blindness in
people over 60 in the United States.
Read more...
Increased Use of 5 Preventive Services Could Save
100,000 Americans Each Year
Simply taking an aspirin daily could prevent 45,000
deaths
Aug. 15, 2007 - Increasing the use of just five
preventive services would save more than 100,000 lives - most of them
senior citizens - every year in the
U.S., according to a recent study by Partnership for Prevention. That
includes 45,000 lives that would be saved each year if more adults took
a daily low-dose aspirin to prevent heart disease.
Read more...
Your House May be Giving You Diabetes, Says Study of
Urban African-Americans
Sub-standard
housing more than doubled diabetes risk, says puzzled researchers
Aug.
13, 2007 - Studying people in their homes and neighborhoods,
investigators have found that poor housing conditions – exclusive of the
neighborhood - contribute to the risk for diabetes in urban, middle-aged
African-Americans. Diabetes is a major chronic disease among all senior
citizens.
Read more...
Study Supports 'Pot Belly Theory' that High
Waist-to-Hip Ratio is Best Predictor of Heart Disease
Earlier study found
WHR better measurement for heart
risk in senior citizens; body mass index used by most physicians
Aug.
13, 2007 – A new study has found that people with a larger waist-to-hip
ratio may be at increased risk for heart disease. Sometimes referred to
as the “pot belly” theory, many are claiming this WHR measurement should
be considered along side the body mass index (BMI) measurement used most
often by physicians to measure obesity. A similar conclusion was reached
in 2006 by researchers looking at obesity in the elderly and its
relationship as a cause of death.
Read more...
More Proof that Smoking Increases Risk of
Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Blindness for Senior Citizens
Current smokers 4 times more likely to develop AMD;
past smokers 3 times as likely to have advanced form of the disease
Aug. 13, 2007 - Current and past smokers appear to
have a higher risk of developing late age-related macular degeneration,
the leading cause of blindness in senior citizens, than those who have
never smoked, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of
Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Read more...
Senior Citizens Get New Online Help on How to
Communicate with Their Doctor
National Institutes of Health adds subject to Website
for seniors
Aug. 10, 2007 – Effective communications between
senior citizens and their doctor is receiving increased attention, with
a growing number of studies showing there is a dangerous communications
gap and that many seniors fail to understand health care instructions.
In response, the National Institutes of Health have added a new subject
to their Website for senior citizens – “How to Talk with Your Doctor.”
Read more...
Nexium, Prilosec Get OK from FDA After Quick Look at
Possible Heart Risk
Data do not
