The first admission for syncope among healthy individuals significantly predicts the risk of all-cause mortality, stroke, cardiovascular hospitalization, device implantation, and recurrent syncope.
via Syncope-Related Risk of Death Linked to Age.
OK underwriters..pay attention.
Once the most common treatment for indolent non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, the combination chemotherapy known as CHOP is rapidly falling to the wayside in Germany – replaced by bendamustine (Treanda), frequently combined with rituximab (Rituxan), researchers reported here.
via New Combo Replaces CHOP for Lymphoma.
NOTE the commercial interests disclosures at the end of the original article.
A meta-analysis ordered by the agency and conducted by drugmaker Pfizer found a higher occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events — including death, MI, and stroke — with the drug than with placebo.
The FDA noted, however, that such events were uncommon in both groups, and the increased risk wasn’t statistically significant.
via Chantix May Up Heart Risk, FDA Warns.
Quitting smoking is good. Maybe quitting smoking without a pharmaceutical assist is better. Additional link to the FDA release follows.
People with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have subclinical arterial disease on par with that seen in patients with diabetes, researchers found.
Patients with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea have endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness, similar to patients with diabetes mellitus.
via Artery Damage Seen in Sleep Apnea.
Small study with some interesting findings.
A Mustang High School student is recovering from kidney failure after smoking synthetic marijuana. He is one of two patients in an Oklahoma City hospital with kidney failure because of synthetic marijuana.
via Synthetic marijuana causes kidney failure in 15-year-old Oklahoma teen | NewsOK.com.
Despite efforts to change the term to the slightly more accurate “nonadherent,” the word “noncompliant” remains firmly entrenched in the medical lexicon. No matter what it’s called, however, it’s an enormous problem. Experts estimate that some 50 percent of patients do not take their medicines as prescribed or follow doctors’ recommendations.
via When the Patient Is ‘Noncompliant’ – NYTimes.com.
Underwriting and mortality issue? I think so.
From 1995 to 2010, the median age-adjusted prevalence of diagnosed diabetes for all 50 states, the District of Columbia (D.C.), and Puerto Rico rose from 4.5% to 8.2% Linda Geiss, MA, of the CDC, and colleagues reported in the Nov. 16 issue of Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.
via U.S. Diabetes Prevalence Soars.
and MMWR link Increasing Prevalence of Diagnosed Diabetes — United States and Puerto Rico, 1995–2010.
Maybe the demise of Twinkies wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
lifeunderwriter.net 
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