News briefs from the journal Chest, June 2004
...COST OF COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA Researchers estimate the cost of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in ...sodes. Based on the 1997 US Census figures, which estimate a 1.9% incidence rate of CAP, translating to more than 5 million annual cases, researchers concluded...Doctors don't agree on diagnosis of uterine cancer
...national cooperative GOG set out to get a baseline estimate of the percentage of actual cancers found in hyste... only 39.8 percent of cases. The overall baseline estimate of women who also had cancer present in their corresponding hysterectomy specimen was 42 percent. ...Study measures risks of exclusive pipe smoking
...as socioeconomic status and alcohol use. To better estimate the risks associated with exclusive pipe smoking, Jane Henley of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed data from 138,307 men (15,263 current or former pipe users, and 123,044 men who had never used tobacco products) enrolled...World mental health surveys find mental disorders highly prevalent and often untreated
...in 14 countries (6 less developed, 8 developed) to estimate the prevalence, severity, and treatment of mental disorders. The surveys were conducted from 2001 - 2003 in the Americas (Columbia, Mexico, United States), Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine), the Middle East and Af...Benefits of screening for lung cancer with CT are not proven
...tients per thousand would die of lung cancer. This estimate is close to the established lung cancer mortality rate of 3.9 to 4.4 deaths per thousand found in studies that don't use CT to screen patients. Their findings call into question the growing practice of charging smokers for expensive CT scans to detec...When it comes to cancer prognosis, it's not just the tumor that matters
...prove the accuracy of computer-based programs that estimate survival so patients receive more accurate information on their chances for survival. Second, it will improve the validity of cancer research. For example, it may not be appropriate to include all cancer patients in a given drug trial, because comor...Patient safety study provides first national estimate of adverse events in Canadian hospitals
...tially preventable. Based on this, the researchers estimate there were 70,000 preventable adverse events acros...events." This research provides the first national estimate of adverse events across a range of teaching and community hospitals using methods comparable to rec...New study raises questions about the number of people in the UK who could be incubating vCJD
...ology. The study aimed to help health policymakers estimate the numbers of people who could become ill from vC...est risk group (those aged 10-30), the researchers estimate that about 3,800 individuals in the UK would test positive. Although the scientists are certain tha...Poor kids' health insurance situation changes often, affecting their medical care, study finds
...sometime in the last year. In all, the researchers estimate that 1.3 million low-income children went from being uninsured to being covered by public insurance programs during the year leading up to the survey. But then again, 4.6 percent of the children under 5, and an estimated 1.2 million children nationw...Matching method helps doctors successfully transplant higher-risk kidneys
... effectively. Wake Forest Baptist's approach is to estimate the function of a donated kidney and to match it with the needs of a potential recipient. "In the past, kidneys were matched exclusively by blood and tissue type," said Stratta. "Now, we are matching based on age, weight and kidney function. Someone ...Body fat and its role in breast cancer
...k of breast cancer in earlier studies. In order to estimate the relative risk of breast cancer in relation to general and abdominal obesity and evaluate whether HRT plays a role in this relationship, a study was conducted by Petra H. Lahmann, Ph.D. of the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbrck...Hospital gowns' benefits outweigh costs in intensive care unit
...nd taking off gowns. As a part of their efforts to estimate potential financial costs of not requiring gowns, the researchers used a new approach called colonization pressure to assess risk of infections spreading among patients. Colonization pressure on a patient is determined by calculating the percentage o...Obesity reversed in mice by destroying blood vessels that service fat cells
... contains a mile of blood vessels, according to an estimate quoted by Harvard Medical School Professor Judah Folkman, M.D., the first researcher to promote the concept that adipose tissue mass may be controlled by angiogenesis (the process of new blood vessel formation from established ones). Given their beli...Electromagnetic breast imaging tested as alternative to mammography
...ectrical charge. These properties help researchers estimate specific breast characteristics, which differ in normal and diseased tissue. "This study was the first stepping stone in our ongoing research to gain a better understanding of the electromagnetic properties of breast tissue," said Steven Poplack, M....Sleep apnea treatment could save lives & money by reducing auto accidents, according to researchers
...data from the National Safety Council were used to estimate collisions related to obstructive sleep apnea, plu...volved in motor-vehicle accidents. The researchers estimate that 980 of the 1,400 fatalities each year will be avoided with treatment, based on a 70 percent CPA...Hidden cost of depression in seniors: $9 billion in care from spouses, children
...s related to depression. And, it's a conservative estimate based only on hours of direct care, not including time spent driving to doctor appointments or the store, or other indirect services. "We feel we've been able to quantify for the first time what physicians and caregivers already know: that depressio...Untreated postmenopausal women with osteoporosis
...to 500 IU Vitamin D daily. The data were used to estimate the probabilities of having zero, one, or multiple spinal fractures within one year for patients having any number (0-13) of prevalent spinal fractures. Using these one year risk estimates, a simple Markov model was constructed to model the progress...Canadian doctors don't know costs of prescribed treatments
...y-three per cent of the doctors surveyed could not estimate the costs of their orders to patients within 25 per cent of the actual costs. And not only do they not know the costs, in many cases they are "wild" in their guessing, says Dr. Michael Allan, a professor in the U of A Department of Family Medicine an...Would it be worth it to pay for donated kidneys?
...ions of the procedure is so rare it's even hard to estimate the risk. "There really is very little physical harm done to the donor, and there is great benefit to the recipient," he says. "In balance, the benefit far outweighs the harm in donation." He has stronger concerns about the potential exploitation of......trials and may be available to the public soon. To estimate the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine in areas such as the United States where there are established screening programs, Sue J. Goldie, M.D., M.P.H., of the Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues constructed a computer model of the natural hi...