Aspirin
has been approved as a primary prevention measure against preventing a
first myocardial infarction. United
States Preventive Services Task Force, Update, 2002 Release.
In
the HOPE trial of over 10,000 patients, those taking the ACE inhibitor ramipril
had a 3.6% chance of developing diabetes versus 5.4% of those in the placebo group,
over a mean follow-up period of 4.5 years. JAMA 2001;286(15):1882.
In
this trial of 7705 postmenopausal women, raloxifene decreased the risk of heart
attack or stroke among the subgroup of women at high risk of cardiovascular disease.
However, among all women studied raloxifene had no effect upon hard cardiac events
or stroke. Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;287:847-857.
This
study of 295 women found that high dietary folate was associated with a decreased
likelihood of colon cancer. International Journal of Cancer 2002;97:864-867
In
this study of 92 couples, those who lived together prior to marriage were more
verbally aggressive with eachother and less supportive of eachother. Journal of
Marriage and Family 2002;64:180-192.
In
this study of 153 smokers, those who viewed ultrasound images of fatty plaques
in their arteries were four times more likely to quit smoking than those who just
received counseling. Preventive Medicine 2002;34:215-220
In
this study of 1092 people over an eight year follow-up period, high homocysteine
blood levels were positively associated with the development of Alzheimer's Disease.
Since certain B vitamins such as folate reduce homocysteine levels, it is postulated
that a diet rich in these vitamins may help prevent Alzheimer's. New England Journal
of Medicine 2002;346:466-468,476-483.
Direct-to-consumer
advertising by pharmaceutical companies in the United States increased from $791
million in 1996 to nearly $2.5 billion in 2000. New England Journal of Medicine
2002;346:498-505,524-531
This
study of 242 women aged 15 - 19 years old found that human papillomavirus infection
was contracted within 3 months of first sexual intercourse by nearly 25% of the
women, or nearly half of the 46% who contracted HPV during the 3 year follow-up
period. BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 2002;109:96-98
This
study of 7277 Dutch men and women over 55, the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflamatory
drugs (NSAIDS) was positively associated with an increased risk to suffer a relapse
of congestive heart failure. The reason may be related to NSAIDS causing fluid
retention and increased blood pressure. Archives of Internal Medicine 2002;162:265-270
Britain
is considering making Viagra an over-the-counter medication as part of its national
program to reduce the number of medications requiring a prescription. [news
article]
This
9 year study of nearly 11000 married men found that divorce combined with several
work stressors increased the rate of death 69%. Archives of Internal Medicine
2002;162:309-315 [news
article]
The
California Department of Health recently found that two different prostate health
herbal formulas contained prescription medications. One contained warfarin, the
other contained alprazolam. [news
article]
This
meta-analysis of 15 trials involving nearly 2200 patients found that over-the-counter
cough medications act primarily as a placebo. British
Medical Journal 2002;324:329-331
This
review found that many patients experience the opposite of the placebo effect
when taking a new medication, i.e. they experience negative side effects when
they take a placebo. This has been called the "nocebo" effect. Journal
of the American Medical Association 2002;287:622-627.
Drug-resistent
salmonella has been show to be transmitted from pigs to humans in Taiwan. The
pigs got the drug resistent salmonella from the inappropriate use of fluoroquinolones
in their animal feed. There is a great concern over the excessive, widespread,
routine use of antibiotics in animal feed, especially in the United States. New
England Journal of Medicine 2002;346:413-419 [news
article]