The cost of designing, developing, and marketing a new pharmaceutical drug can literally exceed a billion dollars. Even millions more are invested in non-industry trials to demonstrate the efficacy — or lack thereof — of these drugs with certain medical conditions or clinical parameters. The process of getting FDA approval is another separate adventure in itself. Given the enormous effort in ensuring that drugs are safe and efficacious, it is curious that the same stringency is not applied in prescribing these drugs at the time of health care delivery.
Disclaimer: this is not a critique of health care professionals, but a discussion of some challenges surrounding medication reconciliation.
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The “New & Interesting” series is a biweekly compilation of select research findings, news articles, and random tidbits in bullet-point format. The entries are highly abbreviated, but provide links to the original articles or abstracts if you desire to read further.
General Articles
- Video games may cause kids to suffer finger and wrist pain (WebMD)
- Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine employed high-sensitivity MRI scanners to evaluate the effect of glucosamine on progression of knee osteoarthritis. They “did not find any evidence that glucosamine can prevent or slow joint damage in individuals with mild to moderate knee pain.” The results from the study resemble findings from an earlier meta-analysis that did not demonstrate substantive symptomatic benefit from the use of chondroitin. (WebMD)
- Universal health coverage in Massachusetts does not reduce visits to the Emergency Department (American Medical News)
Technical Articles
- Prophylactic administration of acetaminophen for febrile reactions at the time of vaccination reduces antibody responses to vaccine antigens in children (Lancet)
Just as time and money are valuable commodities for most people–and often in short supply–sleep can be a particularly scarce one for many. According to a study published in the October 30 edition of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, approximately 28% of U.S. adults do not get enough rest or sleep for at least 14 out of the 30 days in a month.
The data for the report originate from the 2008 BRFSS (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System), which involved a random-digit-dialed telephone survey of 403,981 U.S. adults (ages 18 or older) inquiring about their self-perceptions of restfulness or sleeplessness. One question asked, “During the past 30 days, for about how many days have you felt you did not get enough rest or sleep?” About 11.1% of respondents had insufficient rest or sleep for the entire month. This contrasts from the 30.7% who had no days of insufficient rest or sleep.
Where are the sleepiest people in the United States?
The sleepiest states include those with the highest percentage of respondents who reported 30 days of sleep deprivation for the last month. For those states where the percentages were equivalent, I further stratified them according to the percentage of respondents who reported sleeplessness for 14-29 days of the preceding month. Without further ado, here are the sleepiest states …
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The “New & Interesting” series is a biweekly compilation of select research findings, news articles, and random tidbits in bullet-point format. The entries are highly abbreviated, but provide links to the original articles or abstracts if you desire to read further.
General Articles
- Most powerful 9.4-Tesla MRI is stronger than the Large Hadron Collider (Wired)
- A blind patient regained sight via a tooth implanation into her eye. The procedure, a modified osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis (MOOKP), was performed at the University of Miami School of Medicine and is the first done in the United States. (U Miami)
- DARPA-funded study at Duke University to detect viral infections even before the development of symptoms (Duke Health)
- Smoking bans cut incidence of heart attacks by as much as 36% after 3 years (Reuters)
The “New & Interesting” series is a biweekly compilation of select research findings, news articles, and random tidbits in bullet-point format. The entries are highly abbreviated, but provide links to the original articles or abstracts if you desire to read further.
General Articles
- Comparison of health care systems from around the world. The BBC graphs the health care expenditures, life expectancy, infant mortality, and out-of-pocket spending in four different health care systems. The United States represents a private payer system. The United Kingdom has a universal, tax-funded system. France has a social insurance system, and Singapore has a dual system. (BBC)
Technical Articles
- Randomized trials have demonstrated that aspirin use reduces the risk of colorectal cancer. A recent study published by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital evaluated the relationship between aspirin and survival after a diagnosis of colorectal cancer. They found that regular aspirin use was associated with decreased mortality. (JAMA)
- Hospital-acquired MRSA from discharged patients is transmitted to nearly 20% of household contacts (Arch Intern Med)
- Training residents on patient simulators resulted in fewer catheter-related bloodstream infections in the ICU (Arch Intern Med)
