NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk of serious infections, myocardial infarction (MI) and coronary heart disease (CHD), an analysis of Medicare claims data suggests. “Higher disease activity as measured by a panel of biomarkers was associated with higher rates of hospitalized infections, MI and CHD events. These findings add…
Articles by Natasha Yetman
U.S. Uninsured Rate Up by Most in Nearly a Decade
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The number of Americans without health insurance rose by 3.2 million people between 2016 and 2017, or 1.3% points to 12.2%, according to a Gallup poll released on Tuesday, the biggest jump in the uninsured rate in nearly a decade.1 Several factors likely contributed to the jump, Gallup said, including attempts by Republicans, who…
Health Secretary Nominee Indicates Support for Medicaid Overhaul
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Alex Azar, a former drug industry executive and lobbyist nominated to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, indicated on Tuesday he supported a Republican bid to overhaul Medicaid and again vowed to tackle high drug prices. Azar appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, which will ultimately decide whether to…
Obesity Linked with Disability After Joint Surgery
(Reuters Health)—People who undergo joint surgery, such as joint replacements for arthritis, are more likely to become dependent in the years following surgery if they are obese, researchers say. Further research is needed to know why this happens and how to prevent it, the study team writes in British Journal of Anaesthesia.1 “I think there’s…
Medical Jargon May Cloud Doctor-Patient Communication
(Reuters Health)—When patients misunderstand commonly used medical terms, communication and decision-making may suffer, U.K. researchers say. In a survey of London oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic patients, more than a third of participants did not know the meaning of such terms as benign or lesion and more than half could not define metastasis or lymph…
New Drug Approvals Hit 21-Year High in 2017
LONDON (Reuters)—U.S. drug approvals hit a 21-year high in 2017, with 46 novel medicines winning a green light—more than double the previous year—while the figure also rose in the European Union. The European Union (EU) recommended 92 new drugs, including generics, up from 81; and China laid out plans to speed up approvals in what…
Pedometers & RA: Does Increasing Physical Activity Decrease Fatigue?
Recent research examined the effectiveness of a pedometer-based intervention for managing fatigue in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). During the 21-week trial, RA patients using pedometers successfully increased their physical activity, with a greater than 30% decrease in the proportion of participants classified as sedentary. Patients also decreased their reported fatigue, and some reported improvements in function, pain, depressive symptoms and disease activity levels…
Many Doctors & Specialists Don’t Adhere to Fibromyalgia Diagnostic Criteria
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Generalist doctors, and even many specialists, have relatively poor knowledge of the American College of Rheumatology 1990 and 2010 fibromyalgia diagnostic criteria, according to results of a survey conducted in Canada. “Physicians do not have adequate and homogeneous knowledge of the fibromyalgia diagnostic criteria. Approximately half of physicians did not adhere to…
Vitamin D, Calcium Supplements May Not Lower Fracture Risk
(Reuters Health)—Older adults who take vitamin D and calcium are no less likely to break their hips or other bones than peers who don’t use these supplements, a research review suggests. Researchers examined data from 33 previous trials with a total of more than 51,000 people aged 50 or older who were living in the…
Updated Obamacare Enrollment Figure Dips to 8.7 Million
(Reuters)—About 8.7 million people enrolled in healthcare plans for 2018 using the federal Obamacare marketplace, according to updated government figures released on Thursday. The number represented a slight decline from the 2017 enrollment figure when about 9.2 million people signed up for health insurance policies from private insurers on the HealthCare.gov platform. It was slightly…
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