LocalHealthGuide - Part 214

1 in 4 Older Patients Stay on Risky Sedative Too Long

Prescriptions for sedatives known as benzodiazepines may lead to long-term use among 1 in 4 older adults who receive them.

September 14, 2018 HIV/AIDS / Public Health / Sexually Transmitted Disease

Discreetly Tracking Down Sex Partners To Stop A Surge In STDs

Oregon’s Clackamas County, health officials are asking patients with an STD who their sexual partners are — and then are tracking those partners down.

September 13, 2018 Biotechnology / Breast Cancer / Cancer / Drugs

Is ‘Precision Medicine’ The Answer To Cancer? Not Precisely.

Doctors and hospitals love to talk about patients saved with precision medicine, and reporters love to write about them, but success is, in fact, rare.

September 13, 2018 Disaster Response / Seniors

Trying To Protect Seniors, The Most Vulnerable, From Formidable Foe Florence

With Hurricane Florence predicted to slam the North Carolina coast Friday, health officials are already scrambling to keep older residents safe.

September 12, 2018 Vaccines

Why you might want to get a hepatitis A vaccine

The hepatitis A vaccine is safe and effective; it is given as 2 shots, 6 months apart. Both shots are needed for long-term protection.

September 12, 2018 Health Costs / Health Policy

Unwitting patients used to influence federal rule-making

Some patients whose comments were submitted to the federal government to oppose a change in drug payment policy have no memory of writing or signing the comments.

September 12, 2018 Fitness / Nutrition / Public Health

Obesity rates at or above 35% in 5 states, CDC

Adult obesity prevalence is at or above 35% in Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.

September 11, 2018 Influenza/Flu / Public Health / Vaccines

Flu plane: are we really ready for a global pandemic?

The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic killed 50-100m people. A major influenza pandemic on this scale will happen again, and we’re unprepared.

September 9, 2018 Fitness / Nutrition / Weight Loss

How to beat the ‘freshman five’ weight gain

Young women will gain one to five kilograms of body fat during young adulthood, while males will gain 1.5 to 10 kilograms on average.

September 8, 2018 Breast Cancer / Doctors

Top Cancer Researcher Fails to Disclose Financial Ties to Corporations

One of the world’s top breast cancer doctors failed to disclose millions of dollars in payments from drug and health care companies in recent years.

September 7, 2018 E. coli / Food-borne Illness

E. coli infections in Washington state linked to raw milk

A Washington state child under 5 years old and resident in their 70s became ill with an E. coli infection after drinking Dungeness Valley Creamery raw milk.

September 7, 2018 Nutrition

Take Two Carrots and Call Me in the Morning

The idea behind “food is medicine” is that if chronically ill people eat a nutritious diet, they’ll need fewer medications, ER visits and hospital readmissions.

September 7, 2018 Diabetes / Endocrinology / Insulin

Insulin’s High Cost Leads To Deadly Rationing

His family thinks their son was rationing his insulin — using less than he needed — to try to make it last until he could afford to buy more.

September 6, 2018 Pregnancy

Counting Kicks to Prevent Stillbirths

Stillbirths dropped 28% in Iowa after the launch of a program that teaches mothers to track the movements of their unborn babies in the last trimester.

September 6, 2018 Seniors

Avoidable Sepsis Infections Send Thousands Of Seniors To Gruesome Deaths

Nursing homes around the country are failing to prevent infections that can lead to sepsis.