Today's Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Pre-hospital EKG worthwhile for chest pain: study
Wed,25 Jul 2012 02:08 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Having paramedics do field EKGs in patients with chest pain instead of waiting until they get to the hospital hasn't caused undue delays in San Diego, California, researchers said Wednesday. In fact, patients whose EKGs showed they'd had a serious heart attack were brought in faster after the city equipped its ambulances and fire trucks with machines to do the test. Pre-hospital EKGs are recommended by medical groups because they cut the time it takes hospitals to get heart attack patients the care they need, with every minute saving heart tissue. ... Full Story | Top |
Medicaid expansion in U.S. states found to cut death rates
Wed,25 Jul 2012 02:01 PM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - State expansions of the Medicaid health insurance program for poor Americans reduced adult mortality rates by more than 6 percent compared to states that did not broaden eligibility for their plans, according to a study released on Wednesday. The findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine could fuel a political furor over new plans for a nationwide expansion of Medicaid that erupted after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling to uphold President Barack Obama's healthcare law in late June. ...
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Widespread use of prescription steroids draws worry
Wed,25 Jul 2012 01:20 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many Americans are on oral steroids for years without getting therapy to minimize the extra fracture risk that accompanies the potent drugs, according to a new study. Based on a decade's worth of national surveys, researchers found more than 2.5 million adults in the U.S. take the drugs - a rate that trumps all existing estimates from other countries. Oral steroids such as prednisone are often used to treat inflammatory diseases like arthritis or immune system disorders. ... Full Story | Top |
CPSC bans sale of Buckyballs magnetic toys, cites hazard
Wed,25 Jul 2012 01:00 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ordered a halt to sale of Buckyballs magnetic toys on Wednesday, calling them a serious hazard in the panel's first stop-sale order in 11 years. The commission ordered distributor Maxfield and Oberton Holdings of New York to halt sales because injuries to children who had swallowed them had continued to rise, the CPSC said in a complaint. "Notwithstanding the labeling, warnings and efforts taken by (Maxfield and Oberton), ingestion incidents continued to rise because warnings are ineffective," the CPSC said. ... Full Story | Top |
Doctors call for new U.S. painkiller labels to stop abuse
Wed,25 Jul 2012 11:14 AM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators should change the prescription guidelines for opioid painkillers to prevent more people abusing the powerful and addictive medicines, urged a group of medical and public health experts. Thirty-seven doctors, researchers and public health officials signed a petition to the Food and Drug Administration, asking it to revise the prescription label for opioid painkillers. ... Full Story | Top |
Depression during pregnancy tied to preemie births
Wed,25 Jul 2012 11:03 AM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who have depression symptoms during pregnancy may be more likely to deliver early, a new study suggests. Researchers found that of more than 14,000 pregnant women, those who screened positive for possible clinical depression had an increased chance of preterm birth: 14 percent delivered before the 37th week of pregnancy, versus 10 percent of other women. The findings, reported in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, do not prove that depression directly leads to preterm birth. ... Full Story | Top |
Drugmakers Lilly, Bristol weather patent cliffs
Wed,25 Jul 2012 09:50 AM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co beat profit forecasts and vowed to bounce back by 2015 from its steep patent cliff due to cost cutting and new medicines, while rival U.S. drugmaker Bristol-Myers signaled it is weathering its own painful patent expirations as well as expected. But hopes for 2012 deteriorated at British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, which on Wednesday warned that full-year sales will be flat as pressure on drug prices intensifies in Europe due to government austerity measures aimed at curbing healthcare costs. Its shares fell 1.3 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
Half of heart patients don't stick to their meds
Wed,25 Jul 2012 08:57 AM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Just half of people who are given a prescription to prevent heart disease continue to get their medications refilled over time, according to a new review of several studies. And among people who have already had a heart attack, one out of every three fails to continue getting their prescription refilled. "Even if these estimates were half as great, the cost of nonadherence is substantial," the group, led by Dr. David Wald at Queen Mary, University of London, writes. ... Full Story | Top |
Superbug resistance follows seasonal drug use
Wed,25 Jul 2012 08:56 AM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Bacteria - including the MRSA superbug -may be more resistant to our most powerful antibiotics after a winter spurt of prescriptions, says a new study. "Antibiotic use tends to go up in the winter months because they are inappropriately prescribed and that usually shows up a few months later in hospitals in the form of antibiotic resistance," said Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan, who led the new study at Princeton University, New Jersey. ... Full Story | Top |
Slovak PM says to buy or expropriate private health firms
Wed,25 Jul 2012 07:49 AM PDT
Reuters - BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovakia unveiled plans on Wednesday to buy out or expropriate its two private health insurers, judging that reinstating a unified state-run insurer would save the government cash that now goes into insurers' and other private sector pockets. A forced buyout would be an unprecedented move in the euro zone country's history and Prime Minister Robert Fico said the move would be very carefully carried out to avoid trouble in court as he expected investors to fight his plan. ... Full Story | Top |
World's first dengue vaccine beats three virus strains
Wed,25 Jul 2012 07:17 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - The world's first vaccine against dengue fever, being developed by French drugmaker Sanofi SA, protected against three of the virus's four strains in a keenly awaited clinical trial in Thailand. Sanofi said on Wednesday the proof of efficacy was a key milestone in the 70-year quest to develop a viable dengue shot, adding the results also confirmed the safety profile of its vaccine candidate, which could reach the market in 2015. Other drug companies are also working on dengue vaccines but Sanofi's product is several years ahead. ... Full Story | Top |
Wheels could wobble on Britain's outsourcing drive
Wed,25 Jul 2012 07:11 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - National outrage at the failure of G4S to provide the security it promised for the London Olympics is a blow to the British government's drive to outsource more services as it battles to cut public spending and slash debt. Outsourcing, or the use of private firms to provide public services, had been expected to surge under Britain's coalition government. But its image as a leaner, slicker alternative to the traditional public sector has been badly tarnished by recent headlines. ... Full Story | Top |
All UK kids to get AstraZeneca's nasal flu vaccine
Wed,25 Jul 2012 06:11 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is to extend its seasonal flu vaccination program to all children, free of charge, becoming the first country in the world to do so, the Department of Health said on Wednesday. Children will get AstraZeneca's nasal spray vaccine rather than injections under the new scheme, which is expected to cost more than 100 million pounds ($155 million) a year and cover to up to 9 million children once it is fully established. The roll-out is likely to take some time, however, since the drugmaker will not have the capacity to deliver enough new vaccine until 2014 at the ...
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All kids to get AstraZeneca's nasal flu vaccine
Wed,25 Jul 2012 05:43 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is to extend its seasonal flu vaccination programme to all children, free of charge, becoming the first country in the world to do so, the Department of Health said on Wednesday. Children will get AstraZeneca's nasal spray vaccine rather than injections under the new scheme, which is expected to cost more than 100 million pounds a year and cover to up to 9 million children once it is fully established. The roll-out is likely to take some time, however, since the drugmaker will not have the capacity to deliver enough new vaccine until 2014 at the earliest. ... Full Story | Top |
EU regulators charge Lundbeck, others over generics
Wed,25 Jul 2012 02:51 AM PDT
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators charged Danish drugmaker Lundbeck, German peer Merck and seven other firms with blocking the entry of cheaper generic medicines into the market in a move that could lead to fines for the companies. The European Commission said on Wednesday the tactic breached EU antitrust rules. It also warned of further action against French drugmaker Servier and several generic rivals in the coming days for a similar offence, related to another medicine. Reuters had reported on Tuesday that the EU watchdog would act against Lundbeck and Servier. ... Full Story | Top |
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