US hospitals are exploring ways to buy “Obamacare” insurance plans for their sickest and poorest patients as they strain under the weight of tens of billions of dollars in uncompensated costs from the uninsured.
via US hospitals look to provide insurance for poor patients – FT.com.
High HbA1c levels were associated with increased risk for all-cause mortality and death from CVD, coronary heart disease, and cerebral infarction in general East Asian populations, as in Western populations.
via HbA1c and the Risks for All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in the General Japanese Population.
OSA is independently associated with DN in type 2 diabetes. eGFR declined faster in patients with OSA. Nitrosative stress may provide a pathogenetic link between OSA and DN. Interventional studies assessing the impact of OSA treatment on DN are needed.
All-cause mortality was 2.3-fold elevated among women and 2.0-fold higher among men with the psychiatric condition compared with the rest of Sweden after adjusting for other factors, they wrote.
In a prospective cohort study, patients whose eating habits were closer to the tenets of a Mediterranean diet had about a 50% reduced odds of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) over 7 years compared with those whose diets didn\’t resemble the fruit-and-vegetable-rich, low-saturated-fat diet, according to Minesh Khatri, MD, of Columbia University Medical Center, and colleagues.
The New DIETs (New Dietary Interventions to Enhance the Treatments for Weight Loss) Study is the first randomized trial that will compare how these four diets — none of which restrict calories — can influence body weight.
Obesity experts are anticipating answers on whether a vegan or vegetarian diet will offer better weight loss than a pescatarian or omnivorous one, experts told MedPage Today in the run-up to Obesity Week here.
After adjustment for the presence of coronary artery disease, testosterone therapy was associated with a greater risk of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, and ischemic stroke 3 years after angiography (25.7% versus 19.9%; HR 1.29, 95% CI 1.04-1.58), according to P. Michael Ho, MD, PhD, of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Eastern Colorado Health Care System in Denver, and colleagues.
via Testosterone Tx Tied to Worse Cardiac Outcomes.
How come the television commercials don’t tell you this information when they try to make you think you have a disease called Low T?
Annual prescriptions for testosterone increased more than five-fold from 2000 to 2011. In 2011, the total number of prescriptions numbered 5.3 million and make up a market of 1.6 billion, the authors wrote.
Never mind.
The U.S. already consumes 99% of the hydrocodone used in the world.
In 2010, Vicodin was the most prescribed medication in the U.S. with 131 million filled prescriptions. That same year, more than 16,000 people died of overdoses from narcotic painkillers, up from about 4,000 in 1999.
Bisphosphonate use was associated with significantly increased risks of atrial fibrillation and serious atrial fibrillation, researchers found.
A systematic review of randomized controlled studies and observational studies showed use of bisphosphonates was associated with a 27% increased risk of atrial fibrillation (95% CI 1.16-1.39) in observational studies and, in randomized controlled trials alone, with a 40% increased odds of serious atrial fibrillation (95% CI 1.02-1.93), according to Abhishek Sharma, MD, of Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., and colleagues.
An estimated 20% to 50% of commercial drivers have sleep apnea. That high proportion may be in part due to the sedentary nature of long-haul trucking that contributes to obesity as a risk factor for sleep apnea, according to a statement from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in support of federal legislation.
via Sleep Apnea Plays Role in Car Crashes.
Presented without the usual caustic comment.
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