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Almost two-thirds lacked this type of service within past year, study found. Most American teens don't receive the appropriate amount of preventive health services, even though this type of care can establish good health behaviors and discourage damaging behaviors that can affect teens for the rest of their life, a new study finds. The University of California, San Francisco, researchers analyzed data gathered from almost 8,500 adolescents, ages 10 to 17, who took part in the Medical Expenditure Survey, a national survey of families and medical providers. The UCSF team focused on several aspects of preventive care for adolescents, including the extent to which they'd received care in the past year, whether they received counseling about various health issues, and whether they had any time alone with their health-care provider. The study found that only 38 percent of these young people had a preventive health visit in the past year. "The results were pretty shocking to us.

Harvard study suggests earliest intervention may reduce risk. Babies who gain weight quickly during the first six months of life may be more prone to obesity as toddlers, Harvard researchers report. "We need to start our preventive methods when children are much younger," said study author Dr. Elsie M. Taveras. "Even in the first couple of weeks of life, we can start guiding parents about how to prevent rapid weight gain in their infants." While past research has established a link between birth weight and obesity, the impact of factors such as length of gestation, height and lifestyle of the mother were often not considered. The researchers tracked 559 children who were part of Project Viva, an ongoing study of pregnant women and their children. The babies were measured for weight and height at birth, at 6 months and again at the age of 3. After adjusting for factors such as the babies' length, researchers found that those who increased their body-mass index (B

Problem blood pressure fell with no long-term effects, study concludes. Using a catheter-based technique to deactivate nerves in the kidneys -- a process called renal denervation -- could help people with tough-to-treat high blood pressure, a new study suggests. About 30 percent to 40 percent of the world's population has hypertension and about 5 percent to 10 percent of those have resistant hypertension. There's a link between hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system (serving the kidneys) and the progression of high blood pressure, as well as chronic kidney disease and heart failure, according to background information in a news release on the study. The research included 45 patients with resistant hypertension, defined as having a systolic blood pressure of 160 mmHg, while taking three or more antihypertensive medications, including a diuretic. Some of the patients underwent what's known as "percutaneous radiofrequency catheter-based treatment" and were t

Risk appears the same for bare metal or drug-eluting devices, study found. Despite initial concerns that stent thrombosis, a blood clot inside a stent, is more common with the drug-eluting device, there appears to be no difference in the clot risk for either drug-eluting or bare metal stents, a large new study found. After a heart attack, many patients undergo a treatment called angioplasty, which opens the blocked coronary artery that caused the attack. With many of these procedures, the stent, a metallic mesh tube that props open the narrowed artery, is also inserted and left in place. "We had a thrombosis rate of 3.3 percent over a year, which sounds high, but these are patients with acute [heart attacks] getting a stent," lead researcher Dr. George Dangas, an associate professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, said during a Sunday morning teleconference at the American College of Cardiology's annual scientific sessions in Orlando, F

Relaxin cuts shortness of breath and trimmed hospital stays, phase 2 study concludes. The hormone relaxin reduces shortness of breath and cardiovascular death in people with heart failure who also have high blood pressure, according to a phase 2 trial conducted in eight countries. The study included 234 people who, within a few hours of arriving at a hospital, were randomly assigned to receive an intravenous infusion of a placebo or varying doses of relaxin -- 10, 30 100 or 250 micrograms/kilogram (µ/kg) -- a day. Shortness of breath improved in 40 percent of those who were given 30 µ/kg, compared with 23 percent of those who received the placebo. After 60 days, fewer people given 30 µ/kg of relaxin had died from a cardiovascular cause or had to be readmitted to the hospital because of heart or kidney failure than in the placebo group: 2.6 percent compared with 17.2 percent. After 180 days, there were no cardiovascular deaths in the relaxin group at this dosage, but 14.3 percent of the

Isolating damaged heart tissue does not produce better outcomes, study finds. A surgical procedure called ventricular reconstruction that doctors hoped would improve symptoms in people with heart failure does not seem to work, a new study has found. The hope was that by isolating the damaged part of the left ventricle -- the chamber of the heart that pumps blood to the body -- people would see an improvement in symptoms and exercise capacity, and there would be fewer deaths and hospitalizations as well. "There has been interest among certain proponents in using a surgical approach to treat ventricular remodeling that can occur after heart attacks through left ventricular volume reduction surgery," said Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study. "However, evidence of safety and efficacy for this surgical approach was lacking." But the new study findings "demonstrate that the ad

Specialists are concentrating in areas with high doctor/patient ratios, experts say. THURSDAY, March 26 ( HealthDay News ) -- Certain rural and urban areas of the United States may soon face shortages of access to surgical care, especially for underserved and aging populations, a new study warns. Researchers found that surgeons are moving to areas with already established medical communities, a trend that could lead to shortages in some local areas, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest. Though the federal government offers incentives to persuade primary care doctors to practice in underserved areas, no such program exists for general surgeons. "Our data shows that, over the past decade, surgeons moved more frequently than all other physicians and tended to relocate to areas with higher concentrations of established physicians," Thomas C. Ricketts, co-director of the Health Policy Institute of the American College of Surgeons and a University of North Carolina professor,

Data collection aims to aid in recognizing, treating rare but real condition. THURSDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- New details about the symptoms and outcomes of a relatively rare but potentially life-threatening condition called broken heart syndrome have been collected by U.S. researchers into a registry of people treated for the syndrome. Two-thirds of the 70 people in the new registry -- nearly all postmenopausal women -- had suffered an extremely stressful emotional or physical event just before they arrived at a hospital with heart attack-like symptoms. About 20 percent of them were critically ill and required emergency room treatment to keep them alive, but all had a full recovery, the researchers said. "It can be difficult for cardiologists and emergency room physicians to diagnose and manage patients with broken heart syndrome," Dr. Richard Regnante, an interventional cardiology fellow at The Miriam Hospital in Providence, R.I., and lead author of the study, said i

Certain variants weaken lungs' defenses against free radicals, researchers say. THURSDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- Variations in several genes can influence children's lung growth and function, as well as how vulnerable they are to secondhand smoke, say University of Southern California researchers. "Many factors can affect lung function and growth, including genetic variation and environmental exposures such as tobacco smoke and air pollutants," study lead author Carrie Breton said in a USC news release. "We wanted to determine whether specific gene variations would have measurable and predictable effects on lung function growth and susceptibility to environmental insults," she said. "We looked at a class of genes known to be involved in antioxidant defense, the glutathione-s transferase (GST) genes. Overall, we found that variation in several of the GST genes was important. This was particularly true for children of mothers who had smoked during p

Triple negative growths 3 times more likely regardless of age, weight, study finds. WEDNESDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- Black women are three times more likely than women of other races to develop aggressive breast cancer, a U.S. study finds. The United States has the highest rate of cancer in the world. Black women have a lower overall rate of breast cancer than white women, but when black women do get breast cancer, it's often more advanced when it's diagnosed, is more likely to return after treatment, and has a less favorable outcome. In this study, Boston University School of Medicine researchers analyzed data on 415 breast cancer cases. They looked at clinical features such as patient age, weight and race/ethnicity, and pathological features including the "triple negative" pattern -- tumors that lack expression of the estrogen receptor, the progesterone receptor, and the HER2 gene. "The odds of having a triple negative tumor were three times higher for b

Several cases of inappropriate shocks from appliances have been reported. WEDNESDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- A literally shocking tale of the potential dangers of do-it-yourself home repairs for people with implanted defibrillators comes from cardiologists in Denmark. "We recently cared for a patient who, after receiving an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, was readmitted shortly after hospital discharge because of two shocks delivered while the patient was showering," said a report in the March 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. There was no apparent physical reason why the device, which delivers a shock to restore normal heart rhythm if an arrhythmia occurs, should have gone off, but analysis "raised suspicion that electrical noise had caused an inappropriate ICD discharge," the report said. So the physicians sent an electrician to check the wiring of the house. "It was found that it was due to improper installation of wiring in the p

Cognitive problems also might be linked to right hemisphere thickness, study finds. WEDNESDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- A thinning in the right hemisphere of the brain may be associated with a higher risk for depression, U.S. researchers report. The study included 131 people, aged 6 to 54, including those who did and did not have a family history of depression. Brain scans revealed that those with depression in their family history had a 28 percent thinning of the right cortex, the brain's outermost surface. No thinning was seen in those with no family history of the disorder. The degree of thinning was on par to the loss of brain matter typically seen in Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia patients, the researchers said in a news release from Columbia University Medical Center. "The difference was so great that at first we almost didn't believe it," study first author Dr. Bradley Peterson, director of child and adolescent psychiatry and director of MRI rese

Study found having 'gone under' more than once by age 3 seemed to raise risk for problems. TUESDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Children who have had anesthesia two or more times by the age of 3 may be at a higher risk of developing learning disabilities later, new research suggests. Although this is the first human study to indicate such an association, it's still unclear if the anesthesia is the culprit, or if some other factor is at play. "We don't want to alarm parents," said Dr. Robert Wilder, lead author of a study appearing in the April issue of Anesthesiology. "We have an association here between kids who received two or more anesthetics in surgery and an increase in learning disabilities, but we don't have clear causality that it was the anesthetics that caused the learning disabilities." "Even if I knew for a fact that anesthesia might be increasing the risk for learning disabilities, my advice would still be, if your kid needs to

Most cervical cancers arose from strains covered by the shot, study finds. TUESDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- The majority of invasive cervical cancers in New Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s contained DNA from human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) and HPV type 18 (HPV18), says a new study. It also found that women diagnosed with HPV16- or HPV18-positive cancers were an average of five years younger than those diagnosed with cancers associated with other HPV types. The HPV vaccine (Gardasil) protects against infections caused by HPV16 and HPV18, so the new findings may have implications for future cancer screening programs, the researchers said. The researchers analyzed U.S. data in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registry and identified 1,213 cases of in situ cervical cancer diagnosed between 1980 and 1999, as well as 808 cases of invasive cervical cancer diagnosed between 1980 and 1999 in New Mexico. HPV16 DNA was found in 53.2 percent of invasive cervical cancers, HPV1

Even men genetically predisposed to disease benefit from eating fish, study finds. TUESDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Omega-3 fatty acids could help protect men against advanced prostate cancer, researchers report. Eating fish at least once a week may reduce the risk of developing advanced prostate cancer even if one is genetically predisposed to developing the disease, but more work is needed to see if the association is real, the researchers said. "Eating a healthy diet that includes dark fish and other sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids may decrease risk of more advanced prostate cancer even if one has a cox-2 genetic predisposition to the disease," said lead researcher John S. Witte, a professor in the Institute for Human Genetics, Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. The report is published in the April issue of Clinical Cancer Research. For the study, Witte's team studied 466 men with aggressive prostate cancer a

Finding could prevent fatal arrhythmias by limiting meds in those with risk factor. MONDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Fourteen common genetic variants associated with a risk factor for sudden cardiac death have been identified by researchers who analyzed genetic data from more than 13,000 people. The gene variants they identified influence the QT interval measured on electrocardiograms (EKGs) routinely used by doctors to assess patients' heart health. The QT interval is the time from the beginning of electrical activation of the heart to the end of electrical relaxation, according to background information in a news release about the study. The researchers said their findings, published online in Nature Genetics, could help prevent heart arrhythmia and prevent sudden cardiac death by limiting the use of medications that affect QT interval in people with these 14 gene variants, which are located in 10 different gene regions. "It is well-established that prolongation of the Q

And those fats, called triglycerides, may contribute to heart risk, study says. MONDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Many Americans have higher-than-recommended levels of the blood fats called triglycerides, and most aren't making the lifestyle changes necessary to bring those levels down, a study finds. "Clearly, the focus in this country has been on cholesterol levels," said Dr. Earl S. Ford, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and lead author of a report in the March 23 Archives of Internal Medicine. "But there are a fair number of studies that suggest that triglycerides have a role in cardiovascular disease." While just about everyone knows about the link between cholesterol and heart disease, few Americans seem concerned about triglycerides, which are the most common kind of fats in the body -- and in food. Triglyceride levels aren't nearly as big a concern as cholesterol levels. While the journal report states that, "increasin

While many patients are nervous, doctors say it isn't as scary as some believe. SUNDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- As part of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, Americans are being urged to schedule a colonoscopy to check for this common and highly preventable type of cancer. But many people are too nervous or scared to have the important screening test, which is recommended if you're age 50 or older or have a family history of colorectal cancer. A colonoscopy isn't as scary as some people believe, says Dr. Dale Burleson, a colorectal surgeon at Baylor Medical Center at Frisco. The most difficult part of the procedure may be the preparation, when patients take a laxative pill or drink to "flush" the colon. This is necessary to make sure the colon is as clean as possible so that the doctor gets the best possible view of the colon. The preparation isn't "nearly as bad as it's made out to be. It only takes a few hours. By the time you're ready for

Finding in rats holds promise against kidney disease, too, experts say. SUNDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- Certain proteins found in the yellow garden pea appear to help lower blood pressure and delay, control or even prevent the onset of chronic kidney disease, at least in rats, a Canadian study has found. "What we seem to have here is sort of a natural approach to treating this disease, as opposed to the normal pharmacological approach," said the study's lead author, Rotimi E. Aluko, an associate professor in the department of human nutritional sciences at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. "We're talking about an edible product, not a drug, which can help to reduce blood pressure and, at the same time, reduce the severely negative impact of kidney disease." Aluko and his colleagues were to present their findings Sunday at the American Chemical Society's national meeting in Salt Lake City. The study was underwritten by several Canadian governmen

Experts offer advice on keeping skin safe from harmful rays. SATURDAY, March 21 (HealthDay News) -- Spring brings warmer weather and more outdoor time for most Americans, and along with that comes the need to protect the skin from the sun. Before heading out, suggests the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, remember to: * Avoid peak sun hours. The rays are strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., so staying indoors during these times is the best protection. * Wear the right sunscreen every day. Use products labeled for broad-spectrum protection -- to help block ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) rays -- and with a minimum sun protection factor (SPF) of 30. Slather on sunscreen about 20 minutes before going in the sun, using about an ounce (the size of a shot glass) to cover your entire body. Reapply every two to three hours spent outdoors. Also, use lip balm with an SPF rating. * Wear the right clothing. A typical cotton T-shirt offers protection equivalent to

Offers of water, formula supplementation cut likelihood new mothers will achieve goals. FRIDAY, March 20 (HealthDay News) -- Hospital practices such as providing formula or water to supplement breast-feeding significantly reduce the number of mothers who breast-feed only, U.S. researchers report. They analyzed national survey data from 1,573 mothers who gave birth in a hospital to a single infant in 2005. The women were asked retrospectively about their breast-feeding intentions, infant feeding practices at one week, and hospital practices. The study found a significant difference between the numbers of mothers who said they intended to exclusively breast-feed and those who actually did so one week after giving birth. Among first-time mothers, 70 percent said they intended to exclusively breast-feed, but only 50 percent did so one week after giving birth. The data suggests that more than 400,000 infants a year are born to mothers in the United States who intend to exclusively breast-fe

Rat study suggests pleasurable endorphin release ends as drinking gets heavier. THURSDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that when it comes to getting pleasure from alcohol, less may be more. Experiments in rats suggest that a low or moderate amount of drinking releases "feel-good" brain chemicals called beta-endorphins, but this activity tapers off with heavier drinking. "Drinking the low amounts of alcohol is associated with mild euphoria, decreased anxiety and a general feeling of well-being, while drinking high amounts of alcohol is associated with sedative, hypnotic effects and often with increased anxiety," said study author Christina Gianoulakis, a professor of psychiatry and physiology at McGill University and Douglas Mental Health University Institute, in Montreal. The bottom line: "If after consumption of about two drinks of alcohol an individual does not experience the pleasant effects of alcohol, he or she should stop drinking,&q

Fallout from 2 studies, pro and con, has experts in a quandry. THURSDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- In the wake of yesterday's publication of two major studies on the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to detect prostate cancer -- one finding that it didn't save lives and another finding that it did -- American men may be wondering if the test is still worth taking. The studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, probably won't end the long controversy surrounding a blood test that millions of men have routinely been taking for years. While an elevated PSA reading may indicate a life-threatening cancer, it may also detect much slower moving tumors that would never cause death. Because doctors cannot yet tell the difference, treatments are often ordered that can impair men's quality of life -- causing many experts to worry that the PSA test is overused. The American Cancer Society, for one, does not currently recommend routine PSA screening for all men

'Epidural hematoma' is a blood clot between the brain and the skull. THURSDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- Actress Natasha Richardson died from a blunt impact to the head after falling Monday on a beginner's ski slope in Canada, the New York City medical examiner said Thursday. The cause of death, which was ruled an accident, was "epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head," said medical examiner spokeswoman Ellen Borakove, the Associated Press reported. An epidural hematoma is a blood clot that pools between the brain and the skull. The 45-year-old, award-winning Richardson, who died Wednesday at a hospital in New York City, reportedly suffered the head injury after falling during a private lesson at a resort in Quebec. Richardson seemed fine after she fell, but about an hour later, she complained she didn't feel well. She was hospitalized Tuesday in Montreal and later flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, where she died, the AP reported. Until t

Doctors acknowledge that the PSA test is a far from perfect tool. WEDNESDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) -- Two new studies offer conflicting views on the value of screening men with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to check for prostate cancer. But at least one leading oncologist says this much seems to be clear: A younger man with a strong family history of prostate cancer should pay attention to a PSA test, while an older man with known medical problems can probably avoid the exam. That assessment comes from Dr. Gerald Andriole, chief urologic surgeon at the Washington University Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis, and lead author of one of the two papers on major PSA screening trials being released Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine. But the reports are far from the final word on the issue of PSA screening, because there's a significant debate on the subject among the experts who know the most about it. Uncertainty is the prevailing mood, as demonstrated by th

The natural medical adhesive might be applied using inkjet printer technology, researchers say. WEDNESDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) -- Using such unlikely partners as marine mussels and printer inkjet technology, researchers say they've come up with medical adhesives that can be used with greater precision, promote faster recovery and reduce scarring. Currently, sutures and synthetic adhesives are used to join tissue together after a patient has surgery, a team at North Carolina State University explained. But sutures can cause complications such as discomfort, infection and inflammation. According to background information in the study, there are also concerns about the toxicological and environmental effects of synthetic medical adhesives. Finally, these adhesives don't break down in the body and may cause inflammation, tissue damage and other problems, the researchers said. However, the NC State team noted that adhesive proteins found in the glue of marine mussels are both