Kim’s public health blog

ABC World News (7/27, story 5, 2:05, Gibson) reported, “There’s a new study out today that shows that texting while driving is by far the most dangerous driving distraction. The 18-month study was conducted with long-haul truckers but researchers said the high risk associated with texting applies to all drivers.” Researchers found that while texting, drivers “are 23-times more likely to crash.” The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which compiled the research and plans to release its findings on Tuesday, also measured the time drivers took their eyes from the road to send or receive texts.

CDC – Obesity-related diseases account for nearly 10 percent of all medical spending in the United States or an estimated $147 billion a year, U.S. researchers said Monday. They said obese people spend 40 percent more — or $1,429 more per year — in healthcare costs than people of normal weight. For the study, Eric Finkelstein of the non-profit RTI International and researchers at the CDC and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality analyzed medical cost data from 1998 and 2006. They found U.S. obesity rates rose 37 percent between 1998 and 2006, driving an 89 percent increase in spending on treatments for obesity-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis.

Smokeless tobacco products, as used in Europe and North America, do not appear to increase cancer risk. A large meta-analysis has shown that snuff as used in Scandinavia has no discernible effect on the risk of various cancers. Products used in the past in the US may have increased the risk, but any effect that exists now seems likely to be quite small. [BioMed Central (2009, July 29].

For the first time, scientists have shown that chimpanzees in the wild become sick and die from the simian version of AIDS. The finding upsets a widely held scientific belief that chimpanzees, the closest relatives to humans, can get the virus that causes simian AIDS but without harm. The study was published July 23, 2009, in the journal Nature. Virologist Beatrice Hahn of the University of Minnesota led the study, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Minnesota and other institutions.

Just to confuse us once more about nutrition, “drinking milk can lessen the chances of dying from illnesses such as heart disease and stroke by as much as 20 percent.” While “cow’s milk provides calcium, potassium, protein, and vitamin D,” it also contains “sugars and saturated fat,” so it “is often portrayed as an unhealthy choice.” For their paper, researchers at the UK’s Cardiff University and University of Reading conducted an analysis of “324 studies of milk consumption as predictors of coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes.” They found that the “health benefits associated with the drink outweigh dangers.”

A new study of women’s contraceptive use around the world finds that sexually active 15–19-year-olds are more likely than their 20–49-year-old counterparts to use contraceptives inconsistently and, on average, experience a 25% higher rate of contraceptive failure. The study’s authors, Ann K. Blanc of EngenderHealth et al., believe that compared with adult women, adolescent women face more obstacles to consistent contraceptive use—including feeling embarrassed about seeking out contraceptives, not being able to afford them and not knowing how to use them correctly—and may be more likely to abandon a method and try another if they experience side effects, which often leads to gaps in contraceptive use.

Mathematical modeling can help inform public health policy in outbreaks such as the H1N1 pandemic, write members of the Pandemic Influenza Outbreak Research Modeling Team in Canada. Mathematical models have shown that small seasonal variations in transmission of the influenza virus can drive large annual surges in the disease.

From July 3 MMWR. You do not have to be middle aged to have chronic disease, they start early in many individuals, particularly Asthma, hypertension and arthritis. Prevention has to start soon after birth.

The new H1N1 influenza virus that emerged in Mexico in April 2009 ignited outbreaks as far away as the U.K. and Japan. Though H1N1 was neither as virulent nor as lethal as first suspected, the quick-mutating influenza virus should never be underestimated. Three Bloomberg School experts share their thoughts on what might happen, and what should happen, this summer.
http://magazine.jhsph.edu/2009/summer/features/special_flu_report/

It is not only the financial rewards of specialization that drive new doctors away from primary care, but according to new research from Loyola University, “unfavorable work conditions are associated with stress, burnout and intent to leave for primary care physicians,” said Dr. Anita Varkey, study author and assistant professor in the department of medicine, Loyola University. “These findings suggest that a chaotic clinic environment may further exacerbate this problem and potentially lead to lower quality of patient care due to physician turnover and lack of continuity in care.”