Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Obese Middle-Aged Women Face Unhealthy Future: Extra weight cuts chances for long, healthy life by nearly 80% study finds

TUESDAY, Sept. 29 (HealthDay News) -- If excess weight doesn't kill you by old age, it could make your life miserable in the form of chronic health problems and impaired mental fitness.
According to a new study, women who are obese in middle age are almost 80 percent more likely to have multiple health problems by the time they reach age 70.

"Those who gained weight [in adulthood] actually suffered reduced odds of healthy survival," said study author Dr. Qi Sun, a research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health's department of nutrition.

"The key message is that women really need to keep a healthy weight from early adulthood to midlife to enjoy a healthy and long life," he added.

Sun added, however, that the women in the study had nonetheless survived to their eighth decade, meaning they remained healthier than the general population.

The study findings were published in the Sept. 30 online edition of the journal BMJ.
Previous research had focused on how excess weight affects survival, rather than how healthy that survival looks in older adults, said Sun.

The new study is well-timed, given that the U.S. population is not only aging rapidly but ballooning rapidly. Two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, up from 14.5 percent in 1976, when this study started.

The study authors analyzed data on 17,065 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study. Volunteers were, on average, 50 years old when the study began with no major chronic conditions or major mental or physical problems.

Twenty years later, only about 10 percent of women had "healthy survival," and obese women were 79 percent less likely to have healthy survival than the slim minority.

Overweight as early as age 18 affected healthy survival the most, although women who were lean in their late teens who later gained weight still had lower odds of healthy survival, the study found.

Every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of extra weight lowered the odds of healthy survival by 5 percent, according to the study.

"We typically see this struggle not only in middle age but even as teenagers. If you struggle as a teenager, you're going to struggle for the rest of your life," said Eugenio Lopez, a registered nurse with the Texas A&M Health Science Center Coastal Bend Health Education Center in Corpus Christi.

And women may be starting out at a disadvantage, Lopez added.
"We typically see more women than men in diabetes programs. Women outnumber men 4-to-1 or 5-to-1," Lopez said. "They're genetically predisposed to hold more fatty cells than men are."
"The data is following common sense," added Dr. Mitchell Roslin, chief of the bariatric surgery program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "Why do people die? Of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and women die of colon and breast cancer. What has been linked to obesity? Breast cancer, colon cancer and cardiovascular disease."

SOURCES: Qi Sun, M.D., Sc.D., research associate, department of nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston; Eugenio Lopez, R.N., Texas A&M Health Science Center Coastal Bend Health Education Center, Corpus Christi; Mitchell Roslin, M.D., chief, bariatric surgery program, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Sept. 30, 2009, BMJ, onlineHealthDayCopyright (c) 2009


Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Small Businesses Urged to Prepare for Swine Flu: Advance Planning May Help to Minimize Disruptions, officials say

MONDAY, Sept. 14 (HealthDay News) -- With cases of H1N1 swine flu continuing to rise, U.S. health officials on Monday urged small businesses to prepare now to keep their shops running if the flu season turns severe.

"We need to make sure that operations and businesses continue on even as we go through the flu season," Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, said during an afternoon news conference.

The planning needs to start now, said Dr. Daniel Jernigan, deputy director of the Influenza Division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Plan now to prepare for the impact of influenza this fall and winter," he said.

Jernigan advised businesses to prepare for two different scenarios -- first if the H1N1 flu remains as mild as it has so far, and second if the virus should change and illness becomes more severe.

"Another key step for small businesses is to protect your workforce," Jernigan said. People should be encouraged to stay home if they are sick and not return to work until their fever has subsided for a day without using fever-reducing medication, he said.

"For most people that is three to five days away from work," Jernigan said. "Some small businesses will have to change their leave practices, but we think that's a good thing for this year."

Small businesses also need to take steps to maintain the continuity of operations, Jernigan said. "That means keeping your business going even during high levels of absenteeism," he said.
Karen Mills, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, said "being prepared for H1N1 is just part of good business."

"Having a plan is critical," she said at the news conference. "For small businesses, even having employees out for a few days can be a health concern and a bottom-line concern," she said.

Although the H1N1 flu tends to target children and young adults, small businesses may find themselves short on employees who have to stay home to care for someone with the flu.
According to the guidelines issued Monday, a small business plan should include the designation of a workplace coordinator responsible for H1N1 issues.

The plan should also:
Encourage sick workers to stay at home without fear of reprisal.
Find ways for workers to work from home.
Promote personal hygiene, such as frequent handwashing.
Encourage workers to get a seasonal flu shot.
Encourage workers to get the H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available.
Provide workers with information on flu risk factors.

If an employee does become sick at work, the employee should be moved away from other workers to limit infection until the worker can go home, according to the plan.

The H1N1 guidelines for small businesses are one of several guidelines issued by the U.S. government in recent weeks. Others included guidelines for schools, day-care centers, health-care workers and large businesses.

SOURCES: Sept. 14, 2009, teleconference with Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security; Karen Mills, administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration; Daniel Jernigan, M.D., M.P.H., deputy director, Influenza Division, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta HealthDayCopyright (c) 2009

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Spread the Knowledge: Influenza information

Due to the H1N1 flu and concerns about the 2009/2010 flu season, the EBSCO Publishing Medical and Nursing editors of DynaMed™, Nursing Reference Center™ (NRC) and Patient Education Reference Center™ (PERC) have made key influenza information from these resources freely available to health care providers worldwide.
The editorial teams will monitor the research and update these resources continuously throughout the upcoming flu season.

For Clinicians
From DynaMed
Pandemic (H1N1) 2009
Influenza
Influenza in adults
Influenza in children
Avian influenza
Influenza antiviral treatment and prophylaxis
Influenza vaccine in adults
Influenza vaccine in children
Influenza in long-term care facilities

For Nurses
From NRC
Influenza, Pandemic H1N1 2009
Influenza, Seasonal
Influenza, Seasonal, in Older Adults
Influenza: an Overview
Influenza, Seasonal, in Children and Adolescents
Influenza in Pregnancy
Avian Influenza (H5N1) in Children
Avian Influenza (H5N1)

For Patients
From PERC
Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Influenza:
English Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Farsi French German Hindi Italian Japanese Korean Polish Portuguese Russian Spanish Tagalog Vietnamese

Seasonal Influenza:
English Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Farsi French German Hindi Italian Japanese Korean Polish Portuguese Russian Spanish Tagalog Vietnamese
Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Influenza Vaccine
Seasonal Influenza Vaccine
Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Influenza Vaccine: Questions and AnswersPandemic (H1N1) 2009 Influenza Vaccine: Questions and Answers


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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

MLA 2009 Review

Video of 2009 Medical Library Association Annual Meeting
Honolulu, Hawaii

Created by Linda Uchida and An Hollowell, Hawai'i Pacific University, 2009