Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
According to a paper by Jena et al. (2014), the answer is no. The paper examines 30-day mortality rates for Medicare patients admitted to the hospital with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or heart failure and compares “…mortality and treatment differences…during dates of national cardiology meetings compared with nonmeeting dates.mortality rates “during dates of national cardiology…
Medicare has stopped paying for care related to surgical site infections. Further, it fines hospitals whenever too many patients need to be readmitted within 30 days of discharge. How is this affecting care at the physician and patient level? As Karen Sibert writes, some odd things are happening: An edict just came down in one…
What is hypertension? How is it treated? Below is a primer from a clinical guidelines paper from Weber et al. (2013). Classifying Hypertension Prehypertension: Systolic blood pressure between 120 mm Hg and 139 mm Hg, or diastolic pressures between 80 and 89 mm Hg. Patients with this condition should not be treated with blood pressure…
CBS discusses the use of advanced directives in Wisconsin. La Crosse, Wis., is a lively Mississippi River town that talks a lot about death. We came to La Crosse because, at last count, 96 percent of the people who passed away here had created advance directives. That’s the highest percentage of end-of-life planning in a…
This is what a provocative article in the Spectator concludes. A recent large epidemiological study showed that, for those diagnosed with HIV now, life expectancy is similar to someone who does not have the virus. The medical profession now considers HIV a chronic disease; it’s regarded in public health terms in the same category as,…
That is what one new study finds. The Boston Globe reports that: Doctors may have oversold the benefits of mammography and underplayed its risks, which has left many women unable to make an informed decision about whether or not to have regular breast cancer screenings beginning at age 40. That troubling finding is based on…
The Economist has an interesting profile of Dr. Angela Belcher, who uses viruses to create batteries and new touchscreens is now moving into the medical field. Here is how she proposes to improve tumor detection–and potential treatment–in the future: The plan is to produce a medical probe which can be used to locate extremely small…
According to a study by Flegal and co-authors, the answer is yes. The study conducts a systematic review and meta-analysis and finds found that individuals who are overweight live longer than those who are healthy weighted. On the other hand, severely obese individuals live less. The hazard ratios (i.e., probability of death in period t…
Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heart beat). Although AFib may cause no symptoms, it is often associated with symptoms such as palpitations, fainting, chest pain, or congestive heart failure. In some people, however, Afib is caused by otherwise idiopathic or benign conditions. AFib also increases the risk of stroke. If you…
The share children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADHD) is between 4.9 percent and 9 percent (depending on your selected source). Non-Hispanic Whites are the most likely to be diagnosed with ADHD. Between 2009 period and 1998, the average number of children aged 5-17 ever diagnosed with ADHD increased from 6.9% to 9.0% of the…