Here we address interesting and important issues affecting the delivery of medical care and related topics from 2023.
We cover additional, related issues and discuss them in more depth on our blog.
In The News: 2020, 2021, 2022,
June 7, 2023
They call it kangaroo mother care. It refers to creating skin-to-skin contact between mother and newborn. It is nature’s way and it holds lots of benefits for premature and low birth weight babies. A large study shows that for any premature or low birth weight infant for whom it is possible, 8 hours a day of skin-to-skin contact with the mother or a surrogate significantly improves the chances for survival. It even helps stimulate milk production for mothers intending to breast feed.
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June 6, 2023
Americans pay more for drugs than any other country in the world. Congress finally took a baby step towards changing that by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for a small number of drugs, with more drugs on the negotiating list in future years. Now pharmacy giant Merck has filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the law and protect the huge profits it makes selling drugs to Medicare patients. Keep an eye on this suit.
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June 5, 2023
More than 9 million Americans are cutting corners with their prescribed medications due to cost issues. Some of the cost-saving strategies involved taking less medication than prescribed, skipping doses, or delaying doses. Each of these cost-saving strategies has the potential to make the condition for which the medication was prescribed more serious and more expensive to treat over the long run. Women were more likely to cut corners than men. People who were uninsured or on disability were the most likely to cut corners.
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June 2, 2023
A new study released by the American Medical Association reports that female doctors are sued only about half as often as their male counterparts. While there is a lot of speculation about why this significant difference exists, there is no question that men and women doctors interact differently with their patients and that, on balance, patients of female doctors express more satisfaction with those encounters than do patients of male doctors. Female hospitalists also have better outcomes and fewer readmissions than male hospitalists.
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June 1, 2023
The latest research shows that it is never too late to begin an exercise program to improve your brain health. The study subjects were 70 and 80 year old individuals, who had been inactive. Some had already begun to experience cognitive decline on brain function testing. Walking four days a week for four months improved scores for the participants. A control group that remained inactive, experienced no improvement on cognitive testing. Get out there and get moving.
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May 31, 2023
Nerve stimulation devices use small amounts of electrical current to stimulate nerves and interfere with pain signals traveling to the brain. For patients in whom they are effective, they reduce or eliminate the need for narcotic painkillers. The start up maker of a new design stimulator came out with an updated model that featured a small plastic piece, which the manufacturer claimed made it both more effective and more expensive by thousands of dollars. After over 8,000 units were sold with the new plastic part, a company whistleblower came forward and informed authorities that the part was medically unnecessary and had been added as part of a scheme to inflate prices and profits. The company was forced to agree to pay the federal government $10,000,000 to reimburse it for losses suffered by federal healthcare programs, such as Medicare, and the CEO has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Given the bankruptcy of the company, its ability to make good on the promise to pay the fine is questionable.
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May 30, 2023
There is currently a shortage of drugs used to treat cancer. Doctors are having to ration the drugs that they do have in the hope that the reduced doses will still be effective. Doctors are being urged to use the lowest recommended dose and the longest recommended interval between doses to help alleviate the situation. The shortages, which are being attributed to “supply chain difficulties,” are hitting small, rural hospitals hardest but even big city hospitals are feeling the squeeze.
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May 26, 2023
There has been an outbreak of meningitis in a Mexican hospital in Matamoros, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas. According to reports, the outbreak arose from the contamination of a medication that was being used in cosmetic surgeries. So far it appears that as many as 300 -400 people may have been affected with 10 deaths. Two Americans were among the dead. See my blog post on the dangers of seeking elective medical treatment in Mexico.
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May 9, 2023
The pace of consolidation in medical care is proceeding at an increasing rate. The most recent focus is on primary care physicians. More and more primary care groups and practices are being purchased, either by private equity groups or by hospital chains. Either way, it spells poorer care and higher prices for patients, based on investigations that have been done of the effect of prior episodes of consolidation on quality of care and price.
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May 8, 2023
A story in today’s Wall Street Journal discussed still another reason nurses and other non-physician personnel are leaving the field of medicine: Threats to their physical safety. The number of attacks on health care professionals has been increasing for years. Some assailants blame the doctor’s office or the hospital for collecting on bills or for the death of a loved one. There are just so many angry people out there with such easy access to the means to hurt someone else.
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May 2, 2023
They are out there so be careful. Authorities just arrested another person for pretending to be a doctor and treating patients. This one was in the Los Angeles area and had been seeing and treating patients for years. The District Attorney’s office released a statement saying that he had treated “thousands” of patients, some of whom he treated for cancer. Always do a background check with the state medical board before seeing a new doctor.
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May 1, 2023
Doctors are beginning to use artificial intelligence (AI) to assist them in responding to patient messages. Since the onset of the Covid pandemic and with the increasing use of patient portals, which create a vehicle for messaging physicians, more and more patients have been sending messages to their doctors. Doctors, who already consider themselves overburdened, say they are having a hard time responding to the increase in messages and questions. Enter AI chat programs, which can read the question, review the patient’s chart, and prepare a draft response for the doctor. The doctor can edit the response, scrap it altogether, or send it as is. As these chat programs continue to evolve the ability to mimic human communication and do so effectively, their use in doctor/patient communications will only increase.
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April 28, 2023
The evidence is pretty irrefutable. Drivers over 70 are more likely to have an at fault accident than younger drivers. The statistics are much worse if the older driver has been using alcohol, marijuana, stimulants, narcotics, or depressants. These substances affect the judgment and reactions of older drivers to a greater extent than they do younger drivers. Be safe on the road and don’t drink (or take other substances) and drive.
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April 27, 2023
Some people experience repeated urinary tract infections (UTI). Women in particular are susceptible to recurrent UTI’s. Cranberry juice has long been touted as a foe of UTI’s and research has confirmed its beneficial properties. It is not a cure for UTI’s but can help prevent them, if taken regularly. So, if you have a history of recurrent UTI’s, you might want to take cranberries to help prevent them. Cranberries can be taken as juice or as powder or in pill form.
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April 25, 2023
Here is an excellent series of articles from Kaiser Health News about the effect of private equity investment in health care. The desire of private equity for a return on its investment often runs contrary to the needs of the patient and the requirements of good medical practice. This is an important issue, which is making health care worse in many ways, and which does not get the attention it deserves.
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April 24, 2023
After a two year delay, the FDA has finally approved Medtronic’s new Mini-Med pump and sensor system. The pump communicates with a wireless sensor and can automatically adjust insulin infusions in response to rising blood sugars around mealtime. It is intended for use by Type 1 diabetics. Users are expected to continue to bolus themselves prior to meals based on their intended consumption but the pump can cover for them to a certain extent, should they forget to bolus. There is still a long way to go before we have a system that closely mimics the actual human pancreas but this is a welcome step in the right direction.
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April 17, 2023
If you want to know what the hot areas of medicine are, follow the money. According to an article on the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal, the big pharmacy companies are investing heavily in companies that are developing treatments for immune system illnesses, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus, and Type 1 diabetes.
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April 14, 2023
If you lie in bed long enough, you will probably develop blood clots in your legs. These clots, called deep vein thromboses (DVT), can cause life-threatening pulmonary embolism, if pieces of the clot break off and travel to the lungs. Bears hibernate all winter but don’t get nasty blood clots and researchers think they know why. Bears have low levels of a protein that helps blood clot. Most interestingly, so do people who have medical conditions that make them immobile for long periods, such as people with paralyzing spinal cord injuries. Now that they know what they are looking for, researchers can focus on trying to manipulate this protein level to prevent unwanted blood clots but preserve the important ability of the blood to clot when necessary.
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April 13, 2023
Don’t try to use long naps to make up for disturbed or too short nighttime sleep, according to a study in Spain. People who napped more than 30 minutes a day had a significantly increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a heart dysrhythmia that sets the stage for strokes. Get those 7 or 8 hours of sleep each night.
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April 12, 2023
Good thing I like blueberries. A recent study out of Great Britain found that just 12 weeks of drinking smoothies mixed with powdered blueberries improved short term memory, executive function and reaction times. Blueberries accomplished this by improving blood flow in the heart and brain. The participants were all between 60 and 80. They received the equivalent of 75-80 blueberries a day.
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April 11, 2023
According to a story on the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal, the weight loss industry sees the new drugs being used for weight loss to be an existential threat. Huge amounts of money are spent by Americans trying to lose weight. Most of it goes to companies that offer diets, regular weigh ins, exercise regimens and the like. The new medications, which are primarily intended to treat Type 2 diabetes, have weight loss as a side effect. More and more people are choosing to take these medications and, when they do, the flow of money to the traditional weight loss companies stops. The new medications are pretty pricey, however, so if you don’t have Type 2 diabetes, you may have to pay for them yourself.
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April 10, 2023
Know your CPR and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED). You just might save someone’s life. AED’s are becoming more common. It is not unusual to see one on the wall inside a public building. You should probably look around your work and see if there is one present so you can get to it quickly in an emergency. An AED is used to restore rhythm to a heart which has stopped due to a cardiac arrest. As I have written before, cardiac arrests are different than heart attacks. While you can sometimes have a cardiac arrest as part of a heart attack, you can also have a cardiac arrest without a heart attack. Only a small percentage of people who suffer a cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive the experience. When they do it is because someone administered CPR while someone else brought an AED to the scene and shocked the victim’s heart back to normal rhythm. Do your part. You never know whose life you might save or who might save yours.
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April 7, 2023
Some interesting news on the heart attack front. When a heart attack occurs, it is usually because blood flow to a part of the heart has been blocked, which causes the part of the heart not receiving oxygenated blood to die. The larger the area blocked, the more likely the heart attack is to lead to death or a badly damaged heart that cannot pump well. Once heart cells die, they do not come back to life, nor are they replaced by new cells. Scientists are exploring a gene therapy that shows promise in allowing the heart to produce new heart cells and thereby restore pumping function. Here is a link to a story about the efforts.
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April 6, 2023
The gut microbiome is back in the news. Researchers trying to understand why some people are able to be cured of or at least live for more than a few years with pancreatic cancer have discovered that those lucky few have larger populations of certain bacteria in their guts. Coincidentally, patients who have positive responses to immunotherapy for advanced melanoma also have enriched populations of this bacteria. Researchers believe this is evidence that the gut microbiome plays a role in immune system response to cancers and other invaders. At present, there is no known way of increasing the population of the bacteria of interest and no clear understanding of how or why it leads to better immune response and survival. Lots more to do to investigate this.
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March 31, 2023
Flexible duodenoscopes are used to examine the stomach and the upper part of the small intestine. There have been problems with cleaning the devices between uses with disease being spread from patient to patient due to difficulty with getting them fully clean. As a result, some manufacturers have switched to disposable parts, which don’t need to be cleaned after use. In a good example of Murphy’s Law, the disposable parts are coming of in patient’s mouths and stomachs. The edges on some of these disposable parts are sharp enough to cause internal bleeding. The FDA has threatened the companies with action unless they do more to effectively address the problem. As usual, stay tuned.
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March 30, 2023
Well, it was nice while it lasted. The era of effective antibiotics is just about over. More and more drug-resistant bacteria are infecting us and we have only ourselves to blame. Careless use of antibiotics, overuse of antibiotics, routine use of antibiotics in animal husbandry, even when the animals were not sick, all these have played a role in the development of superbugs that eat our antibiotics for breakfast. Not much to do but wash your hands often and pray you don’t get infected.
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March 29, 2023
You might want to put that probiotic back on the shelf. With all the talk about the importance of a healthy gut biome, retailers are flooding the store shelves with probiotics, products they claim will make your microbiome healthier. Not so fast. Recent studies have shown that, while some people are helped by commercial probiotics, others are not and some are even hurt by them. Your gut biome needs to be varied and balanced. There is just no way a probiotic can contain all of the bacteria, viruses, fungi and the like that make up a healthy biome. They may have some but not all. Taking a probiotic can therefore overwhelm your existing gut biome and crowd out the good things that are in there. If you eat lots of fiber, fruits and vegetables, and modest amounts of fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and yogurt, your gut biome will take care of itself.
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March 24, 2023
According to a story on KJZZ, the deadly, drug-resistant fungus, Candida auris, which I wrote about on Tuesday, has been discovered in four Arizona counties so far. The counties are Maricopa, Pima, Cochise, and Mohave. Most of the cases have been in Maricopa County. There have been 19 reported cases and 18 of them have resulted in bodily colonization, which is the more advanced form of the infection. Wash your hands carefully and use hand sanitizer, especially if you are in health care settings or have contact with a person who is immunocompromised.
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March 22, 2023
Many rural areas are losing their obstetrical care and becoming what experts call “maternity-care deserts.” Obstetrical care is expensive and offering it requires having staff members on call 24 hours a day to respond to emergencies. Hospitals that offer obstetrical care almost always lose money on it. When rural hospitals find themselves in financial straits, as many of them do for reasons I have addressed elsewhere, dropping obstetrical care is an easy way to save a lot of money. Add this to the long list of problems facing rural Americans in need of health care.
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March 21, 2023
An extremely virulent, drug resistant, fungus is spreading in hospitals in the United States. The fungus, Candida auris, can be carried by people who do not become infected by it. Even if infected by it, healthy people with functioning immune systems should be able to successfully resist it. Hospitals, however, hold lots of people with weakened immune systems due to age, chemotherapy, or diseases. Fatalities are common in weakened patients if the fungus gets into the bloodstream. Once the fungus gets a toehold in a hospital, authorities say it is very difficult to dislodge as it hides in nooks and crannies and evades disinfectant protocols. Many of the usual disinfectants are not effective against the fungus.
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March 20. 2023
OK, I give up. There doesn’t appear to be a bad health condition for which the Mediterranean diet is not protective. I am exaggerating a bit but here is an article discussing the components of the diet and the research supporting its many benefits. The best part of all is that the Mediterranean diet is not a diet at all in the sense of depriving yourself of good food. It has some of the best tasting food you can find. Eat well, live long and prosper.
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March 17, 2023
The final shoe has dropped in the insulin price drama. Sanofi, the third major maker of insulin, has announced a significant decrease in the price it charges for its insulin products. In light of the drops previously announced by the other two major makers, it was probably just a matter of time before Sanofi would feel so much pressure that it had to go along. Hopefully, these price decreases will be passed along to the patients and improve the lives of the many people in the United States who depend on insulin to sustain their health.
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March 15, 2023
More good news in the insulin wars. Another major producer has announced a dramatic price decrease. Earlier in the month, Eli Lilly announced a major price decrease. Now Novo Nordisk, another major insulin supplier, is following suit, although its price decrease will not take effect until January of 2024. These reductions cannot come soon enough for the many insulin-dependent patients who cannot afford their insulin at today’s prices and are forced to choose between eating and managing their diabetes.
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March 11, 2023
Autopsies results show that following the Mediterranean diet or the MIND diet reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in older persons. There had been some suggestion in prior research that diet might affect the risk of Alzheimer’s, but these results are thought to be confirmatory. The MIND diet calls for lots of green, leafy vegetables, berries and a couple of servings of fish each week. The Mediterranean diet calls for three servings of fish each week, nuts, and fruits. Both diets call for modest amounts of wine. As one researcher remarked, the two diets are safe and effective methods of addressing the threat of Alzheimer’s.
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March 6, 2023
Instagram, Tik Tok, GroupOn. What do these three things have in common? Answer: They are all terrible ways to find a cosmetic surgeon. Cosmetic surgery promises a lot, but sometimes fails to deliver on those promises. There is only one way to escape growing older. I don’t recommend it. At some point, if you live long enough, you are going to look old. You may be able to put that off for a while, but not forever. The more procedures you have, the more likely it is that one of them is not going to give you the result you had hoped for. If you do opt for cosmetic surgery, look for a board certified plastic surgeon. When you find one, you will at least know that she or he is well-trained and is a real doctor. Do not be swayed by pretty pictures or sharp videos. There are charlatans out there. Do your homework before you entrust your appearance to someone who wants to perform surgery on you.
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March 1, 2023
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used more and more frequently in medical treatment. I have written about its success in detecting lung cancer tumors that might be missed by a human radiologist. Its use in diagnosing other illnesses is getting more attention. There is a problem, however, and it relates to the data used to educate the AI. If the data is flawed or otherwise unreliable, the AI results will be flawed and unreliable. Some studies have found that data used in AI programs has been racially biased or is not applicable to all racial groups. This has affected the accuracy of the AI diagnosis when applied to non-white groups. Companies bringing AI programs to market are aware of the problem and looking to fix it.
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February 28, 2023
Statins are a family of drugs that reduce levels of bad cholesterol in the blood. Elevated levels of bad cholesterol create plaque deposits in the arterial system which can lead to heart attacks and strokes. Surveys have shown, however, that up to 20% of the people with known elevations of bad cholesterol refuse to take statins that have been recommended to them. Some continue to refuse even after having had a heart attack or a stroke. It makes no sense. If you haven’t had your cholesterol levels checked, do so. If your bad cholesterol levels are elevated, talk to your doctor about statins and, if she or he recommends them, take them. They could significantly extend your life.
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February 27, 2023
Are the end times here? I hope not but there are some troubling signs. After years of concerns about indiscriminate use of antibiotics, more and more strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are emerging. The Centers for Disease Control recently warned about an antibiotic-resistant form of Shigella, an intestinal bacteria which causes bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramping. Populations with weakened immune systems are at particular risk. According to the CDC, these “superbug” infections “are a serious public health threat, and we want to ensure that providers are aware of the increasing potential for antibiotics to fail.”
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February 25, 2023
Plant-based diets are all the rage. They offer the promise of healthier eating and possible weight loss. While some live up to the hype, many do not. There are a lot of ultra-processed foods out there that are plant based but do not lead to healthy outcomes. As a general rule, the less processing a food has, the better it is for you. Keep that in mind and avoid ultra-processed foods, even the ones that promise great benefits.
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February 24, 2023
Medicare has been directed by Congress to penalize hospitals that have too many patients readmitted for avoidable reasons. Here is a link to a finder that allows you to see whether your local hospital has been penalized and by how much. The maximum penalty is 3%. On the basis of avoidable readmissions, it appears as though the most heavily penalized hospital in Arizona over the last eight years has been the Arizona Orthopedic and Specialty Hospital in Chandler. It has been penalized the maximum amount in 7 of the last 8 years.
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February 23, 2023
The United States Air Force is conducting a study of cancer occurrences among its ICBM crews after clusters of non-Hodgkin lymphoma have appeared among the crews. Nine officers who worked with the missiles, either at launch silos or at command centers in Montana, have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Other missile crew members have reported cancer diagnoses as well. The Missile Community Cancer Study will be conducted by the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine.
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February 22, 2023
Still more contradictory findings on the question of how good/bad alcohol is for you. There is no question that excessive drinking is bad for your health. It leads to all kinds of illnesses including dementia, liver disease, heart disease and cancer to name only a few. I have written about studies that conclude even small amounts of alcohol are bad. Here is one which found an association between light drinking and a lowered risk of dementia. It is not clear if this is an outlier or if there is indeed some benefit to be had. In any event, if you don’t already drink, don’t start.
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February 14, 2023
I have lost a number of friends to pancreatic cancer recently. According to the studies, the rate of pancreatic cancer is increasing in the United States. Men are more likely to get pancreatic cancer than women but the rate of increase is slightly higher among women now, especially young, black women. No one knows why at this time. The best advice for reducing your risk of contracting this deadly cancer is to stop smoking, reduce alcohol consumption, exercise, eat healthily and manage your weight. All reasonable suggestions we probably ought to be doing anyway.
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February 13, 2023
More on sudden cardiac arrests. Although it often seems as though they come out of nowhere, recent research shows that, looking back, almost 60% of patients who suffer a sudden cardiac arrest contacted or visited their doctor in the two weeks preceding the arrest. In short, there was usually something going on prior to the arrest.
Second, in the women just can’t catch a break category, women who are resuscitated have a lower overall survival rate than men. Doctors are not sure if this is related to their gender or to their anatomy or to some combination of the two. Some speculate that responders administering CPR may be reluctant to push as hard on a female chest as on a male and it takes a good two inches of compression to move the blood and keep oxygen flowing to the brain.
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February 10, 2023
New research shows that it may not be necessary to remove an entire lobe of the lung in patients with early lung cancer. Data from almost 30 years ago showed better results and less reoccurrence when the entire lobe was removed. Due to advances in detection and treatment, that appears to no longer be the case. Being able to retain part of the lobe results, unsurprisingly, in somewhat better lung function.
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February 9, 2023
A heart attack and a cardiac arrest are two different things. A heart attack (or myocardial infarction) occurs when the heart muscle does not get enough blood and some of it begins to die. A cardiac arrest, on the other hand, is an electrical problem, which causes the heart to either stop beating or not beat effectively. Some heart attacks lead to cardiac arrest but you can have a cardiac arrest all by itself. Of the two, cardiac arrest is the more deadly. Some people will live through a heart attack, even without treatment. You don’t usually live through a cardiac arrest unless someone intervenes to help you by administering CPR and using a defibrillator to shock the heart back to normal rhythm. Here is a nice article about the importance of people recognizing when someone is having a cardiac arrest and taking action.
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February 7, 2023
This is scary. Authorities in Mexico have arrested an anesthesiologist and charged him with causing an outbreak of meningitis that killed 35 patients and sickened an additional 79. The doctor administered spinal blocks to patients using what the prosecutors say was contaminated morphine. Our procedures in the United States are different so we should hope that a disaster like this cannot occur here but never underestimate the human capacity for error.
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February 6, 2023
Medicare Advantage plans have been taking advantage of us in more ways than one. Advantage plans receive a set amount from Medicare to care for those Medicare beneficiaries who enroll in the plan. If the beneficiary is sicker than average, the plan gets some additional money on the grounds that it is going to cost more to care for this person. Audits by Medicare going back to 2011 have shown that many of the plans are consistently falsifying the records of their plan members to make them appear sicker than they really are so that they can collect the extra money. The overcharges by the plans run into the hundreds of millions. It is unclear at this point to what extent Medicare will require the plans to reimburse it for the overcharges. Just another reason to keep a close eye on Medicare Advantage plans.
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February 3, 2023
Another story of greedy doctors and opiod pill mills. Two brothers in Florida set up pill mills and hired doctors to prescribe pills to their “patients.” The doctors were paid by the number of “patients” they saw and the ones who prescribed the most pills received bonuses. Lots of lives ruined. Many lives lost. When the operation came crashing down, thirteen doctors were charged with various racketeering counts. All but two ended up pleading guilty to lesser charges of money laundering and fraud. Hopefully, they all lost their licenses, but don’t count on it.
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February 2, 2023
Machine learning is coming. Machine learning is coming – and that may not be a bad thing. Researchers have given computers thousands and thousands of x-ray images of patients with and without lung cancer to study. Lung cancer is deadly and the earlier it can be recognized and treatment begun, the better the patient’s chances for long-term survival. Lung cancer on chest x-rays is often difficult for human radiologists to recognize, especially when it is early in the process and the signs of lung cancer are so subtle. Enter the computers. After studying all these images, the computers were able to go back and look at early chest x-rays of lung cancer patients and identify the presence of the cancer as much as 6 years before the human radiologists were. Lots of work yet to do but this development is encouraging.
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January 31, 2023
You are what you eat. It seems as though every day there are more research findings to support that old adage. Today’s news reports on the ever stronger links between the health of our gut biomes and our mental health, particularly depression. The researchers have found that people with depression do not have the same levels of some healthy gut bacteria and, at the same time, have higher levels of some other bacteria, which may be associated with depression. Our gut biomes are driven by what we eat. Lots of fruits, nuts and fiber is good for our biomes. Lots of processed foods is not. Take note.
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January 30, 2023
As part of the infrastructure bill, Congress finally gave Medicare the power to negotiate prices on the most expensive drugs. The change was long overdue. Even now it is only baby steps. Medicare cannot begin to negotiate until 2026 and then only on prices for the ten most expensive drugs. Fifteen more drugs will be added to the list of drugs eligible for negotiation in 2027, fifteen more in 2028 and 20 more in every year after that. It is expected that this power will save the taxpayers tens of billions of dollars every year. It will also provide substantial savings to seniors who have to pay drug co-pays or deductibles. Keep an eye out for drug companies, which will continue to lobby heavily to overturn or blunt this grant of authority.
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January 27, 2023
A large Chinese study published in the BMJ and reported in the Washington Post makes some not-so-surprising findings about how to avoid dementia and slow memory decline. According to the researchers, there were six things you could and should do: 1) Eat a balanced diet; 2) Exercise your body; 3) Exercise your mind; 4) Socialize with others; 5) Don’t drink alcohol; and 6) Don’t smoke. Nothing new here but getting people to follow this advice is not easy. The high levels of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, dementia and early death in this country show that, while we know how to slow or stop these things, we have a long way to go to actually make it happen.
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January 26, 2023
Here is a research finding that should not be that surprising, I guess. Japanese researchers studied 4,400 older adults for over four years to determine the extent to which exercise produced cognitive benefits. It was not clear from the summary I read the ages of the participants. In any event, those subjects who exercised at least twice a week reduced their risk of developing impaired thinking or a decrease in learning skills by more than 15%. Knowing that socializing also had a beneficial effect on brain health, the researchers examined its effects with the same group and found that those who exercised at least twice a week with a partner or in a group almost doubled the benefit to a 29% risk reduction. The moral of the story is to get up off that couch and get moving and, when you do, call a friend to go with you.
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January 17, 2023
With the increasing legal availability of marijuana has come its increasing use by seniors to deal with pain, insomnia, anxiety, the effects of chemotherapy, and other issues. Some seniors used marijuana in their younger days and believe they are familiar with it as a result. Professional tip: This is not the same marijuana they used back in the day. Today’s weed is more potent than the weed they bought back in the 60’s or 70’s. Furthermore, their bodies cannot handle the active ingredients in marijuana they way they could when they were in their 20’s. As a result, doctors are seeing more patients over 65 in the emergency department after ingesting marijuana either the traditional way by smoking it or by eating it. Since 2005, emergency department visits by seniors have increased by over 1,800%. If you are going to use marijuana and you are a senior, be careful.
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January 16, 2023
We are making progress in the battle against cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, the rate of cancer deaths has dropped by 33% since peak cancer deaths in 1991. Among the reasons cited for the improvement is a 65% drop in the rate of cervical cancer in young women who were vaccinated against HPV, a virus that causes cervical cancer. Other factors identified as leading to the improvement were early screening, better treatment and a drop in the rate of smoking.
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January 13, 2023
The State of California is going after the big drug companies over the outrageous price of insulin. Over the last ten years, the price of insulin, a necessary, life-saving drug for Type 1 diabetics, has gone up dramatically for no apparent reason. It is a huge moneymaker for the big three drug companies that sell most of the insulin in this country. Recently, Congress passed and the President signed legislation that will begin to force the companies to reduce the price, but that is not immediate. This suit by the California may not only force the companies to reduce prices, but may also force them to disgorge some of their past profits.
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January 9, 2023
Like many of you, I saw Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapse on the field following a cardiac arrest. The cause was thought to be a condition called commotio cordis, in which the heart stops beating normally when struck at a vulnerable moment during the heartbeat cycle. I had never heard of this condition before, but have since learned it is not that uncommon in certain sports, such as hockey, baseball and lacrosse. It has led to a number of deaths on the field of play. It most often happens to young teen males and young men whose musculature over the heart is not fully developed. Organizations in charge of these sports have addressed the issue with changes in style of play and development of better protective equipment to prevent blows to this specific area. They have also attempted to develop a greater awareness of the condition, called for the presence of defibrillators on the sideline and more CPR training for coaches and officials. With a prompt CPR response and the prompt use of a defibrillator to return the heart to its normal rhythm, most athletes experiencing this event can survive with little, if any, impairment.
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January 5, 2023
More news on the exercise front. If you have a sedentary job that involves sitting for most of the day, that stretch of relative inactivity during the work day can undo the effects of a daily exercise program. Here is a quote from a longer article that appeared today in the Washington Post.
“New research shows exercise ‘snacks,’ which consist of brief spurts of exertion spread throughout the day, can improve metabolic health, raise endurance and stave off some of the undesirable changes in our muscles that otherwise occur when we sit too long.”
Just because you have a daily exercise routine, don’t get complacent and think that you have accounted for sitting for long periods while at your day job. Get up and move around there too.
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