Health in the world

1. Most elderly don’t get good medical care: Researchers at UCLA using quality of care measurements developed by the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders project looked at 43 specific types of care received by more than 100,000 patients with an average age of 81, in 19 counties in California. The study found that vulnerable patients at risk of death or significant decline received only 65 percent of tests and/or diagnostic procedures recommended for a number of illnesses, including diabetes and heart disease. One specific example cited was that only 42 percent of patients with diabetes were tested to assess their blood sugar control or received an eye exam during the one-year period covered by the study.

2. Adolescents need support during family breakups: As reported in the journal Pediatrics, these kids have high rates of emotional and social problems, including behavioral disorders, substance abuse, and anxiety and depression. The atmosphere and the deterioration of the relationships around them are more deleterious than the actual separation, according to the medical research group that produced the report. Preventing these disorders in teens during a parental breakup may require legal interventions that encourage divorce mediation or joint custody, as well as social interventions that support children and families as they go through these transitions.

3. New hearing loss warnings set for Viagra, Levitra and Cialis: The FDA decided to put more prominent warnings on the impotence drugs to make people aware of "the potential risk of hearing loss.” Revatio, a drug used to treat pulmonary hypertension will receive the same labeling changes. "Because some level of hearing loss is associated with the aging process, patients on these drugs may not think to talk to their doctor about it,” said a deputy commissioner for the FDA.

4. Staph screening may wipe out the germ: Consumer advocates and some early evidence suggests that testing all new hospital patients could help wipe out a germ (MRSA) that infects and sickens more than 90,000 Americans each year and kills nearly 19,000 per annum. MRSA is endemic in some American health facilities and is a danger for anyone entering an American hospital. Hospital administrators and some doctor groups oppose the move, claiming that testing and isolation of patients is too costly. Those who have been fatally infected and their advocates argue that the cost in human lives and misery far outweighs the expense of the widespread testing.

5. Obesity can harm kids’ hearts: A study by a team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis performed a new Doppler tissue imaging technique called Vector Velocity Imaging on 33 obese children, 20 kids at risk for obesity and 115 kids of normal weight. "In the patients who are obese, the rate of motion of the heart muscle changed,” said Dr. Angela Sharkey, an associate professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine. The findings were published in the winter issue of the Journal of Cardiometabolic Syndrome. Vector Velocity Imaging could help track these children and help determine if intervention tools like dietary changes, increased exercise, and the use to statin drugs could help lower the risk of further damage and/or future cardiac events.

6. Panel recommends FluMist for young children: A federal advisory panel has said that children as young as two can be given the nasal spray flu vaccine. Federal guidelines currently recommend traditional shots for children younger than five, but recent studies have shown FluMist to be safe for children as young as two. The FDA has reached similar findings.

Phillip Alden is a freelance journalist, health educator and novelist living in Redwood Shores. He’s currently preparing his first fantasy novel for publication. He can be reached at phillip@smdailyjournal.com.