Growth hormone illegal for off-label anti-aging use, study warns
...l." Despite the fact that the vast majority of HGH prescriptions should be for children, 74 percent of HGH prescriptions in 2004 were for people 20 and older, and 44 percent were for people 40 to 59. Sales of HGH in 2004 ...Diabetes and depression can be a fatal mix
...e levels, and to have more lapses in filling their prescriptions for oral hypoglycemic, lipid-lowering, and high blood pressure medications. People with depression and diabetes were also more likely to have three or more heart disease risk factors, such as smoking, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle, compared to p...Sensors, a smart dose of medicine for cancer treatment
...ts receive the prescribed dose of radiation. "IMRT prescriptions are based on very complex computer simulations, so it is important to validate these simulations by verifying exactly how much radiation is reaching the patient and where it is landing," says Aleksandar Jaksic, INVORAD project coordinator at Ireland'...Children overprescribed antibiotics for sore throat
...broad-spectrum antibiotics. Unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions are not benign: they increase the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, expose patients to adverse drug events, and increase costs. Perhaps unique among upper respiratory tract infections, clinicians have good, objective criteria in the form o...Clinical decision system helps reduce inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing
...whether the modest decrease in total antimicrobial prescriptions and more substantial reduction in macrolide use induced by the CDSS intervention was sufficient to lessen selection of resistant pneumococci and other bacteria in community populations. Decreased prevalence of resistant organisms may not necessarily ...Most NSAIDs raise risk of death after heart attack
...r a first acute heart attack. Researchers tracked prescriptions of selective COX-2 inhibitors and other NSAIDs after discharge, their dosages, and for how long they were prescribed. At some point after discharge, patients were treated as follows: 3,022 (5.2 percent) were treated at least once with rofecoxib (V...Get With The Guidelines program dramatically improves care
...ge, as well as use of beta blockers, ACE inhibitor prescriptions for heart attack patients upon discharge, smoking cessation counseling and cholesterol-lowering therapy in appropriate patients. The control group is baseline data (the initial information collected prior to the implementation of an intervention) o...Fewer heart failure patients die when hospitals make efforts to improve care
...akes doctors and nurses stop to make sure that all prescriptions have been written and educational sessions have been conducted before the patient goes home. But it also helps patients get a sense of responsibility for what they must do at home to stay out of the hospital for as long as possible. After developing...Warning labels on high-risk drugs inconsistently heeded by doctors
...are) and colleagues found that 42 percent received prescriptions for drugs with Black Box Warnings (BBW), the Food ...mbulatory care settings, approximately 1.4 billion prescriptions are written per year," said Anita Wagner, assistant professor at DACP. "Until now, there has been no...Prescription drug coverage: An essential service or fringe benefit?
... at their patterns of physician visits, filling of prescriptions and hospital admissions during the cost-sharing pe....38 more physician visits per month and 0.50 fewer prescriptions filled per month during the cost-sharing period than during the free period. In addition, among pati...Patients with Hepatitis C using more healthcare resources
...etween 1998 and 2000, from $78 per $100,000 in new prescriptions to $259. "The study documents accelerating use of healthcare resources by patients with HCV," the authors report, with average annual increases of 25 to 35 percent for the primary outcomes of interest, "indicating that the future burden of HCV infect...Threat of avian influenza pandemic grows, but people can take precautions
...ctivity against most H5N1 strains. However, giving prescriptions for these drugs to individual patients in advance of a pandemic may divert the limited supplies of these medications from people who need them. Many health care centers, including Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have pre-emptively restricted prescri...Toward the future of cancer prevention
...n Trial. But men and women haven't flocked to get prescriptions for either agent because, as Lippman points out, these two large-scale trials indicated that some serious side effects came along with preventive benefits. "This stand-off between agent risks and benefits has raised a major focus of cancer prevention...Use of gastric acid-suppressive agents linked with increased risk for diarrhea infection
...r 100,000 in 2004. During this period, the rate of prescriptions of antibiotics has decreased and that of proton pump inhibitors has increased. After controlling for certain variables, current use of proton pump inhibitors was associated with nearly 3 times the rate of CDAD; use of H2-receptor antagonists was asso...Suicide risk does not increase when adults start using antidepressants, study finds
...y records for more than 65,000 patients who filled prescriptions for antidepressants from 1992 to 2003. Deaths by suicide were determined from death certificates and suicide attempts were identified from hospital discharge data. Group Health researchers found that the number of suicide attempts fell by 60 percent...Psychotropic drug prescriptions for teens surge 250 percent over 7 year period
Psychotropic drug prescriptions for teenagers skyrocketed 250 percent between 1994...nder 18. The study is one of the first to focus on prescriptions to adolescents, rather than children in general. The study shows that by 2001, one in every ten of...Genes' influence on common drugs may affect health-care quality, cost
... patients, making it possible to avoid unnecessary prescriptions and to minimize the costs of hospital treatments for adverse reactions." In an editorial in the same journal, Deepak Voora, M.D., chief medical resident, and Brian F. Gage, M.D., associate professor of medicine, assert that guidance from primary-care...Patients prescribed long-term corticosteroids often do not receive therapy to prevent osteoporosis
...chers obtained information about the participants' prescriptions during their clinic visits, by reviewing medical records and sometimes by telephone. Twenty-eight (80 percent) of the patients were not taking bisphosphonates at the time they were referred. "The low rate of bisphosphonate use prior to referral and ...Landmark hypertension study launches extensive physician and patient education program
...a very good thing." In the past 20 years, however, prescriptions for newer, more costly medications began replacing...LLHAT. Analyses of prescribing trends suggest that prescriptions for diuretics have slowly begun to rise since the study ended and clinical guidelines have encourage...Researchers provide dose of education to lower blood pressure
...osts. Analyses of prescribing trends suggest that prescriptions for diuretics have slowly begun to rise since the study ended and clinical guidelines have encouraged the use of diuretics either alone or in combination with other blood-pressure lowering medications. "The guidelines were simplified and strengthened...