Americans believe wounded Iraq war veterans are not receiving high quality medical care in US
As part of the ongoing poll series, Debating Health: Election 2008, a recent survey by the Harvard Opinion Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Harris Interactive® finds that a majority of Americans (62%) believe that wounded Iraq war veterans do not receive high quality care in military and Veteran’s Administration (VA) hospitals once they return to the U.S. Similar majorities feel that veterans requiring rehabilitation care and mental health care do not receive high quality care (62% and 65% respectively). This survey follows a number of recent news stories on the quality of health care provided to Iraq war veterans.
Americans who have a close family member who is serving or has served in the military are just as likely as Americans with no military connection to say that wounded Iraq veterans do not receive high quality care in military and VA hospitals (64% versus 59%). These Americans with a military connection are slightly more likely than other Americans to say Iraq veterans do not receive high quality rehabilitation (65% versus 57%) and mental health care (68% versus 61%).
The quality of medical care that wounded soldiers receive on the front lines in Iraq has gotten more favorable news coverage than the care that war veterans receive in the U.S. Many reports have noted that wounded soldiers who would not have survived their injuries in previous wars are surviving today due to the high quality medical care they receive in Iraq. Although more Americans feel that wounded soldiers get high quality care on the front lines in Iraq (47%) than they do in military hospitals once they return to the U.S. (31%), a nearly equal percentage (43%) feel they do not get high quality care on the front lines. Ten percent said they do not know.
Culture-specific asthma education has benefits
Educating asthma sufferers in a way that is specific and appropriate to their individual and cultural needs can make a positive difference in their quality of life, researchers have found.
“Culture-specific programs, in comparison to generic education programs or usual care, were effective at improving asthma related quality of life for adults and asthma knowledge scores for children and parents,” Emily Bailey told Reuters Health.
However, “There is not enough evidence at this stage to say that culture-specific programs will show an improvement for asthma exacerbations,” said Bailey, of Menzies School of Health Research in Queensland, Australia.
Chlorinated pesticides may raise diabetes risk
Using certain chlorinated pesticides puts a person at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and the greater the exposure, the greater the risk, researchers from the National Institutes of Health report.
The researchers studied more than 31,000 licensed pesticide applicators participating in the Agricultural Health Study. Licensed pesticide applicators use more potent formulations of the chemicals than are found in products sold for use in the home or garden, the researchers note.
Five years after enrolling in the study, 1,176 had developed type 2 diabetes. Among the 50 different pesticides the researchers looked at, half were chlorinated, and 7 of these were tied to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. They are: aldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, dichlorvos, trichlorfon, alachlor, and cyanazine.
Leg bypass surgery outcome poor in diabetics
Patients with diabetes fare worse than their non-diabetic counterparts after leg bypass surgery to restore restricted blood flow to the legs due to hardening of the leg arteries, Swedish researchers report.
They found that survival free of amputation after leg bypass surgery for severely reduced blood flow to the legs (i.e., critical limb ischemia) is lower in diabetics than non-diabetics, and death associated with this procedure is also higher among diabetics.
Dr. Jonas Malmstedt of Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm and colleagues note that patients with critical limb ischemia usually require leg bypass surgery to prevent amputation. They also point out that there is a lack of population-based studies involving diabetics.
U.S. reports 5 baby deaths from usually mild virus
A virus that typically causes a mild infection killed at least five babies in the United States last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
The virus was involved in an unusually high number of severe infections in newborns last year, but the CDC said it was not certain of the reason.
Coxsackievirus B1, or CVB1, is part of a group of viruses called enteroviruses. It usually does not cause serious infections but can cause more severe and potentially life-threatening illness in newborns.
Sleep apnea tied to post-op trouble: study
People who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea are at increased risk of experiencing complications after elective surgery, researchers report.
In obstructive sleep apnea, the back of the throat collapses periodically during sleep, and breathing stops for a few moments until the patient wakens enough to resume breathing.
Dr. Dennis Hwang at North Shore Long Island Jewish Health Systems, New Hyde Park, New York and colleagues studied 172 patients with features of sleep apnea who were being assessed prior to elective surgery. The patients underwent home nighttime oximetry to measure the amount of oxygen in the blood and to establish the incidence of “oxygen desaturation,” which is used to assess the extent of sleep apnea episodes.
Byrne, Feist join ‘Red Hot’ AIDS compilation
David Byrne will join indie rockers including Feist, Sufjan Stevens and the Decemberists on the new “Red Hot” charity album for AIDS research.
The former Talking Heads frontman will collaborate on two tracks with the Dirty Projectors, a combo headed by prolific singer/songwriter Dave Longstreth.
“I’d been told more than once that we should all work together, and it seems the suggestion was fated to be realized,” Byrne wrote on his blog (http://journal.davidbyrne.com), adding that he revived lyrics he wrote in “maybe ‘75 or ‘76” for the project.
McDonald’s cooking oil trans fat-free in U.S., Canada
McDonald’s Corp has switched to cooking oils free of trans fats in all of its restaurants in the United States and Canada, Chief Executive Jim Skinner said on Thursday.
The restaurants made the switch over the past few months, he said.
By the end of the year, McDonald’s pies and other baked goods will also be free of trans fats, Skinner told the company’s annual meeting.
Malnutrition often missed in hospitalized elderly
Many doctors and nurses may fail to recognize certain key signs of malnutrition in older hospital patients, according to a study conducted at a hospital in Australia.
Researchers found that of 100 elderly patients at a major Melbourne hospital, 30 percent were malnourished, while 61 percent were at risk of becoming so. However, their doctors and nurses often failed to recognize two major risk factors for malnutrition—recent weight loss and waning appetite.
While 59 patients had recently lost weight, only 19 percent of these cases had been recognized by the hospital staff. Of 57 patients with appetite loss, staff recognized 53 percent of cases.
Less TV, more breakfast helps teens keep weight off
Eating breakfast, skipping snacks and cutting down on TV and computer time may help adolescents maintain a healthy weight after being treated for obesity, new research from France shows.
Teens who adopted these habits—and ate fewer calories while getting more of their energy from protein—were more likely to have kept the weight off two years after the conclusion of a weight-reduction program, Dr. Marie Francoise Rolland-Cachera of the University of Paris and colleagues found.
While certain behavior strategies are known to help formerly obese adults stay slim, such as monitoring one’s weight and food intake, less is known about the characteristics that distinguish adolescents who lose weight and keep it off, the researchers note.
