Entries Tagged as ''
Benefits of Hormonal Contraception May Extend Beyond Pregnancy Prevention
A practice bulletin issued by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has reviewed benefits of hormonal contraception, including treatment of dysmenorrhea and heavy menstrual bleeding.
Medscape Medical News
Medscape Medical News
Quitting Smoking, Increased Calcium May Lower BMD Loss Linked to DMPA Use
Quitting smoking and increasing calcium intake may reduce the risk for higher bone mineral density loss associated with use of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate.
Medscape Medical News
Medscape Medical News
Growth Hormone Deficiency May Be Overdiagnosed in Short Children With High BMI
Body mass index (BMI) negatively affects peak stimulated growth hormone (GH) in children with short stature, which makes children with higher BMI standard deviation (SD) scores more vulnerable to overdiagnosis of GH deficiency, according to researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Reuters Health Information
Reuters Health Information
Pravastatin protects against heart disease in blacks
 | NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The cholesterol-lowering drug pravastatin prevents coronary heart disease in blacks, according to trial results published in the December American Heart Journal. “It's very important to manage risk factors, including hypercholesterolemia, in black patients at risk for cardiovascular disease,” lead author Dr. Karen L. Margolis, from the University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, told Reuters Health. “Although things are improving, there are still disparities in treatment, and black patients receive less treatment for hypercholesterolemia than white patients. Our results show that there is no reason to doubt that black patients will benefit from statin treatment.” Dr. Margolis and colleagues in the ALLHAT Collaborative Research Group analyzed the composite endpoint of nonfatal MI and fatal coronary heart disease in four groups: 1991 black patients randomized to pravastatin, 1920 blacks assigned to usual care, 3179 non-blacks randomized to pravastatin, and 3265 non-blacks assigned to usual care. Both pravastatin groups took 40 mg/day. Visit attendance and medication adherence did not differ significantly between blacks and non-blacks in the pravastatin and usual care groups, the authors report. At 2 years, pravastatin had decreased total cholesterol levels by 34 mg/dl in blacks and 35 mg/dL in non-blacks. In the usual care groups, cholesterol fell by 9 mg/dL and 10 mg/dL in blacks and non-blacks, respectively. By year 6, total cholesterol decreases were again similar for blacks (44 mg/dL) and non-blacks (47 mg/dL) in the pravastatin groups and for blacks (22 mg/dL) and non-blacks (29 mg/dL) in the usual care groups. In all races, independent predictors of coronary heart disease included age, male sex, a previous history of coronary heart disease, and diabetes. However, only in blacks was pravastatin treatment associated with a lower risk of coronary heart disease, the investigators say. This association persisted after adjustment for changes in total cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure during follow-up. The adjusted hazard ratios for coronary heart disease with pravastatin treatment were 0.65 in blacks versus 1.07 in non-blacks. There are “two possibilities for why we saw differences between blacks and non-blacks,” Dr. Margolis said. “It could be that for a given degree of cholesterol lowering, blacks actually experience greater protection against coronary heart disease from statins than non-blacks.” “The other possibility is that chance could account for our results, but I don't think that's the case,” Dr. Margolis said. “We are in the process of examining long-term follow-up of the ALLHAT-LLT cohort, and we'll be looking at whether a differential in coronary heart disease incidence in blacks remains after an extended follow-up period.” Reference: Am Heart J 2009;158:948-955. Views: 2046 Rating:  |
Blood Test That Provides Prior Blood Sugar Average Now Recommended For Diabetes Screening, Diagnosis
New official guidelines for diabetes screening and diagnosis now include a blood test that gives a person's average blood glucose level over the previous 2 - 3 months. The A1C test is not new. It has been used since the late 1970s as a way to get a snapshot of how well glucose control is going in people with diabetes...
Genetic Causes Identified For Disturbances In Lipid Metabolism
Scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen led by Professor Karsten Suhre have identified new gene variants associated with disturbances in the lipid metabolism. Some of these common human gene variants are already known to be risk factors for diabetes mellitus. The pathomechanisms of diabetes have intrigued physicians and been the subject of much debate for many decades...
Switching Off Hunger Hormone Affects Desire To Drink
A Faculty of 1000 evaluation examines how a stomach-produced hormone that influences the desire to eat and consume alcohol could be switched off to control drinking problems. The study, carried out by Jerlhag et al...
TENS Gets Thumbs Down as Back Pain Treatment
Title: TENS Gets Thumbs Down as Back Pain Treatment
Category: Health News
Created: 12/31/2009 8:33:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 12/31/2009 8:33:46 AM
Category: Health News
Created: 12/31/2009 8:33:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 12/31/2009 8:33:46 AM
Persistent Favorable Trends in Cancer Mortality Rates in Europe
Cancer mortality rates continue to decline in Europe, with decreases comparable to those seen in the United States and also in Japan.
Medscape Medical News
Medscape Medical News