I’ve been a fan of Dr. Ornish for a long time. His lifestyle focus to prevent and/or reverse atherosclerosis with diet, exercise, and stress reduction was clearly ahead of its time. Medicare will now pay for the Ornish and Pritikin programs. But am I the only one to realize that Medicare usually doesn’t start until age 65? Time for private health insurance companies to step up to the plate on this issue.
Medical News
Chronic HBV and Lymphoma Risk
Medical News: Chronic HBV Raises Lymphoma Risk – in Infectious Disease, Hepatitis from MedPage Today
Among individuals who were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), the adjusted hazard ratio for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was 1.74 (95% CI 1.45 to 2.09, P<0.0001), compared with those who tested negative, according to Eric A. Engels, MD, of the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Md., and colleagues.
Calcium Supplements and MI Risk – Listen and Learn
BBC News – Today – Calcium supplement effectiveness ‘pretty poor’
Here’s a pretty good interview on the calcium supplementation and MI risk for those of you who like to listen and learn.
Calcium Supplements and MI Risk
Calcium supplementation appears to increase the risk of myocardial infarction, a meta-analysis showed.
Among studies of patients with or at risk for osteoporosis, those who took calcium supplements were about 30% more likely to have an MI than those who did not, Ian Reid, MD, of the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and colleagues reported online in BMJ.
Among randomized controlled trials with patient-level data, the hazard ratio for MI with supplementation was 1.31 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.67). Among those with trial-level data, the relative risk was 1.27 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.59).
Strong Social Relationships and Mortality
Maintaining strong social relationships may help slow the approach of death, a meta-analysis showed.
In a pooled analysis of 148 studies, having strong social relationships was associated with a 50% greater likelihood of surviving through follow-up (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.42 to 1.59), according to Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and colleagues.
The magnitude of the association puts social relationships on a par with quitting smoking and beyond obesity and physical inactivity in terms of relationship with mortality, the researchers reported in the July issue of PLoS Medicine.
Childhood Cancer = Excess Mortality 25 Years Post DX
Conclusion Among a cohort of British survivors of childhood cancer, excess mortality from second primary cancers and circulatory diseases continued to occur beyond 25 years from diagnosis.
More on Vitamin D and Cogntive Decline
Conclusion Low levels of vitamin D were associated with substantial cognitive decline in the elderly population studied over a 6-year period, which raises important new possibilities for treatment and prevention.
Richard Lehman’s Journal Blog July 19, 2010
BMJ Group blogs: BMJ » Blog Archive » Richard Lehman’s journal blog, 19 July 2010
You don’t want to miss Richard’s comments on obstetric anal sphincter injury.
Low Vitamin D = Higher Parkinson’s Risk
In the first longitudinal study to explore this possible connection, Knekt and colleagues analyzed data from the Mini-Finland Health Survey, which was carried out between 1978 and 1980.
Participants provided information on socioeconomic background, medical history, and lifestyle; serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D were determined by radioimmunoassay.
Among the 3,173 participants included in the analysis, there were 50 incident cases of Parkinson’s disease during a 29-year follow-up.
A significant inverse association was seen between age- and sex-adjusted levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and Parkinson’s disease, with the relative risk between the highest and lowest quartiles of serum concentration of the vitamin being 0.35 (95% CI 0.15 to 0.81, P for trend=0.006).
The association persisted after adjustment for body mass index, leisure-time physical activity, month of blood draw, education, marital status, smoking, and alcohol consumption.
Participants whose serum concentration of the vitamin was at least 50 nmol/L had a 65% lower risk than those whose levels were below 25 nmol/L.
Low Vitamin D = Cognitive Decline
Low levels of vitamin D appear to be associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline among older people, according to researchers.
In an observational study conducted among more than 800 Italians ages 65 and older, severe vitamin D deficiency was associated with a 60% increase in the risk of substantial cognitive decline (by a standard measure), according to David Llewellyn, PhD, of the University of Exeter in Exeter, England, and colleagues.
The findings — if confirmed by further studies and randomized clinical trials — “open up important new possibilities for treatment and prevention,” Llewellyn and colleagues wrote in the July 12 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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