Hispanics have more difficulty controlling diabetes than non-Hispanic whites
Results of an analysis of multiple studies show diabetes control is more challenging for Hispanics than non-Hispanic whites, according to researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues.
The results revealed that Hispanic patients with diabetes have approximately 0.5 percent higher levels on a test that measures blood sugar control, called the A1C test, than non-Hispanic white patients. The researchers noted the consistency of these findings across the studies.
An A1C test measures hemoglobin linked with glucose, or blood sugar, over a time period of two to three months. Higher A1C values indicate patients have difficulty controlling their blood sugar.
New Model Helps Identify What Works in Mental Health Treatment
In a race to achieve accountability and credibility, the mental health profession has looked to develop evidence-based treatments (EBTs)—psychotherapeutic procedures that have been shown in empirical research to work for the majority of patients.
The problem with EBTs, however, is that researchers often have multiple ways to measure improvement; things like reductions in symptoms, more harmonious relationships, or improved grades. Invariably, different ways of gauging outcomes yield inconsistent conclusions and this makes for a murky picture as researchers attempt to deem treatments as evidence-based or not.
But Andres De Los Reyes of the Institute for Juvenile Research and Alan Kazdin of Yale University believe they have developed a way to make sense of this information. In the February issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, they detail what they have dubbed “The Range of Possible Changes Model.”
Expert Available To Discuss Recent Diabetes Study
Last week it was reported that the National Institutes of Health abruptly halted part of a major study on diabetes and heart disease following an unexpected number deaths among patient enrollees. The study, which aimed at reducing blood sugar to normal levels in type 2 diabetics. The study included patients that were at especially high risk of heart attack and stroke, resulting in 257 deaths (as compared with 203 in the standard treatment group). Perhaps more alarming than the number of reported deaths: the NIH’s National Heart Lung and Blood Institute stressed they were unable to link the increased number of deaths in the survey to any drug, including Avandia.
“It is imperative for diabetic patients to take their condition seriously when it comes to controlling their glucose levels,” says Richard M. Goldfarb, MD and medical director of the Buck County Clinical Research Center. “Everyone knows a diabetic or has diabetic brother, boyfriend, uncle, or mother who eats that piece of chocolate cake first and pops a pill second.
Should Doctors Advocate Alternative Sources of Nicotine?
Should doctors suggest alternative sources of nicotine to people who are unable to give up cigarettes, asks this week’s BMJ?
Smoking currently kills over 100,000 UK citizens each year, predominantly from lung cancer, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, writes John Britton, Professor of Epidemiology at City Hospital, Nottingham. Currently 77% of UK smokers want to quit, and 78% have tried and failed, mainly because of nicotine addiction.
He argues that health professionals should strongly advise smokers to quit all nicotine use, and do all they can to support this. However, for those who try repeatedly and fail, or for those who are not ready to stop using nicotine, switching to a medicinal nicotine product is the logical best option.
PSA Testing Can Predict Advanced Prostate Cancer
A single prostate specific antigen (PSA) test taken before the age of 50 can be used to predict advanced prostate cancer in men up to 25 years in advance of a diagnosis, according to a new study published by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Lund University in Sweden. The findings, published in the online open- access journal BMC Medicine, should help physicians be able to identify men who would benefit from intensive prostate cancer screenings over their lifetime.
Previously, the team’s research has shown that a single PSA test at age 50 or younger could predict the presence of prostate cancer in men up to 25 years in advance of diagnosis. “This latest study is a unique, natural experiment to test whether we can predict advanced prostate cancer many years before it is diagnosed,” said lead author Hans Lilja, MD, PhD, a clinical chemist with joint appointments in the Departments of Surgery and Medicine at MSKCC.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men after lung cancer. This year, more than 230,000 new cases will be diagnosed, and according to the American Cancer Society, more than 27,000 men died from prostate cancer in 2006.
