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April 28, 2008
VA denies cover-up of suicide rates
In continuing coverage from previous editions of Headlines, the CBS Evening News (4/25, story 7, 1:55, Couric) reported that Michael Kussman, M.D., Undersecretary for Health, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), "was grilled in court about a series of emails written by top VA officials."
Dr. Kussman said that "he disagreed with the premise that there was some effort to cover up something." This past November, "CBS News revealed for the first time an epidemic of suicides among those who have served in the military," a report that was "quickly disputed" by Ira Katz, M.D., Ph.D., "the head of mental health for the VA," even though "new emails made public in court" last "week show [that] at the very same time, the VA staff believed there was [a] flaw in the way they calculated their data."
HealthDay (4/27) also reported the story in its Health Highlights section.
Related Links:
- "Despite E-mails, VA Boss Denies Cover Up," CBS Evening News, April 25, 2008.
Posted by admin at 04:50 PM
Experts offer advice regarding Internet medical information
HealthDay (4/24, Thompson) reported that while "[t]he Internet offers a dizzying amount of health information," this "information can lead to overload -- or worse."
Don Powell, Ph.D., president and CEO of the American Institute for Preventive Medicine, said, "We ask people when they look on the Web that they make sure the site is accredited," as that is "a good way to establish trustworthiness."
Jim King, M.D., a family practice physician in Selmer, Tenn., and president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, noted that "websites published by companies or individuals can contain some good advice, but health consumers need to be more discerning when using those sites." Dr. King added that "[t]he ads supporting a site can be a hint to possible bias."
Related Links:
- "The 'Net: A Tangled Web of Health Information", HealthDay, April 24, 2008.
Posted by admin at 04:46 PM
April 24, 2008
VA hot line aims to reduce number of suicides
The New York Times (4/22, Cohen) reports on its website that a veterans' hot line (1-800-273-TALK) "is part of a specialized effort by" the VA "to reduce suicide by enabling counselors, for the first time, to instantly check a veteran's medical records, and then combine emergency response with local follow-up services."
The hot line, which is staffed "24 hours a day, seven days a week" by "social workers, addiction specialists, and nurses," has "received more than 37,200 calls, and made more than 720 rescues" since its inception last August. According to Janet Kemp, Ph.D., R.N., the VA's national suicide prevention coordinator, hot line "counselors have medical information at their fingertips, which they use to connect vets with counseling near their homes." Calls for help, which are "split fairly evenly between Vietnam and Iraq veterans," can also come from friends and family members.
Related Links:
- "Talking Veterans Down From Despair," Patricia Cohen, New York Times, April 22, 2008.
Posted by admin at 10:13 AM
April 23, 2008
Study indicates length of psychodynamic therapy may predict long-term outcomes
MedWire (4/21, Davenport) reports that "[s]hort-term psychodynamic psychotherapy" may produce "benefits in patients with psychiatric symptoms more quickly than long-term therapy, but long-term therapy" appears to be "more beneficial in the longer term," according to a study published in the journal Psychological Medicine.
Researchers from the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland, examined "326 outpatients, of whom 84.7 percent had mood disorders, and 43.6 percent [had] anxiety disorders." Of this group, "128 patients were assigned to long-term psychodynamic therapy, 101 to short-term psychodynamic therapy, and 96 to solution-based therapy, with 42 discontinuing treatment prematurely."
The investigators found that "[d]uring the first year, short-term psychodynamic therapies were significantly more effective than long-term psychodynamic therapy, with comparative reductions on the four scales of 15 to 27 percent." But, after three years' follow-up, "long-term psychodynamic therapy was more effective,...with comparative reductions of 14 to 37 percent on the outcome measures." The authors noted "no significant differences between short-term psychodynamic therapy and solution-based therapy at any of the follow-up assessments."
Related Links:
- "Length of psychodynamic therapy predicts long-term outcomes," Liam Davenport, Medwire News, April 21, 2008.
Posted by admin at 09:48 AM
April 22, 2008
Study indicates anticholinergic medications may cause memory problems in some older people
The AP (4/18, Johnson) reports that medications commonly used for incontinence "may cause memory problems in some older people," according to a study presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in Chicago.
Neurologist Jack Tsao, M.D., of the Uniformed Services University of Bethesda, Md., and colleagues analyzed "the medication use and cognitive test scores of 870 older Catholic priests, nuns, and brothers [average age 75] who participated in the Religious Orders Study at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center." Approximately "80 percent of the study participants took one or more of a class of drugs called anticholinergics, including drugs for high blood pressure, asthma, Parkinson's disease, and incontinence drugs such as Detrol (tolterodine) and Ditropan (oxybutynin)." The researchers followed the participants "for nearly eight years, testing [them] yearly for cognitive decline," and found that those "who took the drugs had a 50 percent faster rate of cognitive decline compared to those who didn't take any," even after adjusting for "other risk factors for memory loss, such as age."
According to HealthDay (4/17, Doheny), "Anticholinergic drugs are a class of medicines that work by blocking the binding of a brain chemical called acetylcholine to its receptor in nerve cells." Dr. Tsao explained that individuals "need acetylcholine for [good] memory." Research published in 2006 in the BMJ previously "found that elderly people taking anticholinergics had poorer performance on memory and other tests than those who didn't take the drugs." Notably, in Dr. Tsao's study, participants not on anticholinergic medications showed an overall "decline in cognitive performance of about 0.5 on the scale used," but "[t]hose on the medicines showed a decline of 1.5." In particular, Dr. Tsao and colleagues found that drugs "used for bladder problems and Parkinson's disease impaired memory about three times as much."
Related Links:
- "Common Medications May Harm Memory in Older People," Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, April 17, 2008.
Posted by admin at 02:22 AM
April 09, 2008
Data from 2006 indicate thousands of children abused, neglected early in life
The CBS Evening News (4/3, story 5, 2:10, Couric) reported that according to a study published in the Apr. 4 issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, "more than 91,000" children were "abused or neglected" in 2006. Now, "for the first time, we're learning just how often it happens to the tiniest victims, infants, some of them only days old."
The Washington Post (4/4, A2, Stein) reports that the study represents "the first national estimate of abuse of the nation's youngest, most vulnerable children, prepared by federal officials on the basis of cases substantiated by state and local children's protective services agencies."
In order to conduct this study, federal researchers "examined data collected in fiscal 2006 from 44 states plus the District through the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, which compiles reports from child protective service agencies." The data indicated that "905,000 children younger than 18 were reported to have been abused that year, including 91,278 who had not yet reached their first birthday." This equates to "a rate of more than 23 mistreated babies in every 1,000 of the nearly four million infants during the period studied." And, among "the children abused in their first year, more than 84 percent -- 35,455 -- were less than a month old."
Related Links:
- "1 In 50 Babies Victims Of Abuse Or Neglect," AP/includes video report by Sandra Hughes, CBS News, April 3, 2008.
- "Report Cites Abuse of 91,000 Babies Under 1," Rob Stein, The Washington Post, April 4, 2008.
- CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Posted by admin at 04:16 PM