In The News This Week … August 10–16, 2008: Diabetes, Weight, Longevity, Cancer, Stroke, & Americans' Health & Healthcare

Talking About Diabetes

Research involving 91 adolescents with type 1 diabetes suggests that those who had their health-related quality of life assessed by their doctor showed improvements in their psychological well-being over the course of a year, with the teens generally reporting fewer behavior problems, improved self-esteem and mental health, and more quality time spent with their families. The exception to the finding was among those whose sugar control was poor at the outset of the study. The findings were published in the August issue of Diabetes Care.

Childhood Clumsiness & Adult Obesity

Research published on August 12 in the BMJ suggests that kids with poor hand control, coordination, and overall clumsiness are more likely to become obese adults. Researchers concluded, "Some aspects of poorer neurological function associated with adult obesity may have their origins in childhood." The findings were based on a study of participants in the UK's national child development study, which includes everyone born between March 3 and 9, 1958 and living in Great Britain.

Weight & Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

Don't take the following to suggest that we shouldn't be concerned about our weight, but findings published in the August 11/25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine show that things aren't so straightforward. Extrapolating figures from the nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) involving 5,440 people age 20 and over to calculate nationwide figures, researchers found that 23.5% (approximately 16.3 million adults) of normal-weight adults were metabolically abnormal, while 51.3% (approximately 35.9 million adults) of overweight adults and 31.7% (approximately 19.5 million adults) of obese adults were metabolically healthy. Obviously, the normal-weight individuals are still in the best situation, since to state the reverse, 76.5% of them were metabolically healthy.

Vitamin D Deficiency & Death Risk

Also from the August 11/25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine is a contribution that found that those with the lowest levels of vitamin D in their blood had a 26% greater rate of all-cause mortality. The findings were based on 13,331 nationally representative adults aged 20+ from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) linked mortality files. For more recent studies on vitamin D, see our news compilations from June 15 and July 6.

A Key to a Long Life: Running

A study published in the August 11/25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine concludes that running at middle and older ages is associated with reduced disability in later life and a notable survival advantage. "Reduced disability" included not only risk of heart disease, but of cancer and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Targeted Radiation for Metastases?

A report published in the August 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research concerning the use of targeted radiation therapy on a small number (29) of cancer patients with metastases has shown mixed results. In six patients, radiation stopped all tumor growth for anywhere between 10 months and 2+ years, while in another six patients, only the treated tumors grew, while in another six, untreated tumors remained and grew, and in eight patients, the treated tumors stopped, but new tumors appeared. Progression was amenable to further local therapy in 48% of patients. Regarding side effects, two patients experienced acute (radiation pneumonitis and nausea) and one experienced chronic (gastrointestinal hemorrhage) toxicity.

Genes & Colorectal Cancer

A report published online on August 14 in Science have found that people with an abnormality related to a gene called TGFBR1 were almost nine times as likely to develop colorectal cancer than those who did not have the trait. The gene variant is linked to cell growth in the colon. Researchers found that 10 to 21% of people with colorectal cancer and 1 to 3% of the general population have the trait.

Smoking & Stroke Risk in Young Women

An article published online on August 14 in Stroke warns that younger women who smoke have more than double the risk of stroke as nonsmokers. Specifically, they calculated those who smoked one to 10 cigarettes per day had 2.2 times the risk of nonsmokers, those who smoked 11 to 20 per day had 2.5 times the risk, those who smoked 21 to 39 per day had 4.3 times the risk, and those who smoked 40+ per day had 9.1 times the risk. The study used data from the Stroke Prevention in Young Women Study, a population-based case-control study of risk factors for ischemic stroke in women aged 15 to 49 years.

Americans' Eyesight

According to research published in the August issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, half of all Americans have a vision problem, mostly myopia (33.1%) or astigmatism (36.2%).

Veterans & Alcohol Problems

A contribution published in the August 13 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association has found that veterans who are younger, were previously heavy drinkers, or who were call-ups from the National Guard and Reserves were the most likely to increase their drinking and to develop alcohol-related problems after combat deployment (to Iraq and Afghanistan). Suggestions to explain the higher rates of alcohol-related problems among National Guard members and reservists included: they receive less training and support services than other arms of the military, they must transition from civilian life to a war zone, and their units are less cohesive. The findings were based on a survey of 48,481 participants in the Millennium Cohort Study, of whom 5,510 were deployed with combat exposures, 5,661 were deployed without combat exposures, and 37,310 did not deploy.

US Healthcare Costs

An Aon Consulting Worldwide survey of more than 70 leading healthcare insurers, representing more than 100 million insured individuals, and found that healthcare costs are expected to increase on average 10.6% in the next 12 months. Specifically, healthcare costs are projected to increase by 10.6% for HMOs, 10.5% for POS plans, 10.7% for PPOs, and 10.5% for CDH plans. The good news is that this is the smallest increase Aon has seen since the surveys began in 2001. Additionally, they found that prescription drug costs are expected to increase 9.2%, which is slightly lower than the 9.5% rate one year ago.

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