Two-thirds of Maryland voters support increasing the state’s tobacco tax, according to a new poll from the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative, the group that pushed the dime-a-drink tax on alcohol last General Assembly session.

The group says their poll by Opinion Works shows 65 percent endorse the idea of another $1 a pack tax on cigarettes while less than 30 percent oppose it. About 72 percent of Maryland voters like the idea of taxing cigars and smokeless tobacco at the same rate as cigarettes. (The phone poll of more than 800 people was conducted last week.)

The group believes increasing the tax will cut consumption and fund health care programs, especially among youth who have adopted the use of cigars, especially flavored one. As of 2010, 15.2 percent of adults and 14.1 percent of high school students in Maryland were smokers.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say smoking and secondhand smoke cause 443,000 deaths and $96 billion in related disease annually – or $10.47 per pack consumed if lost productivity is counted. The average price nationally for cigarettes is about $5.58.

“Increasing taxes on cigars and smokeless tobacco is a public health imperative,” said Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative, in a statement. “The people of Maryland strongly support this because they know doing so will reduce the use of these deadly products by young people.”

What DeMarco doesn’t have is the support of the leadership in Annapolis. The extra buck would bring the total in taxes to $3, among the highest in the nation. The tax has been raised three times in 1999, mostly recently in 2007.

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Categories: Business of health, Cancer, Consumer health
        

Have hip pain or soreness from degeneration or injury?

Sinai Hospital is offering free hip screenings Dec. 1 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at its Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics, 2401 West belvedere Ave, 5th Floor.

The evaluations will be performed by Dr. Michael Mont, an orthopedic surgeon and director of joint preservation and reconstruction.

To register or get more information, call 410-601-9355.

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Black Friday is coming, and the consumer organization Maryland Public Interest Research Group wants shoppers to avoid the dangerous toys.

In its 26th annual Trouble in Toyland report, the group says its lab testing has found choking and noise hazards, as well as many times the allowable limits of lead and phthalates, which can have adverse health impacts on growing kids.

“Choking on small parts, small balls and balloons is still a leading cause of toy-related injury. Between 1990 and 2009 over 200 children have died,” said Maryland PIRG’s Jenny Levin in a statement. “While most toys are safe, our researchers still found toys on the shelves that pose choking hazards and other toys that contain hazardous levels of toxic chemicals including lead.”
PIRG is offering tips for safe toy shopping on its website, www.toysafety.mobi.

Some of the toys that could pose problems are blocks, dolls and backpacks with popular characters on them.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission also has a list of potential hazards and recalled products at saferproducts.gov.

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Go ahead eat that candy. It may make someone like you more.

A new set of studies show that those who have a “sweet tooth” have more agreeable personalities. 

“It is striking that helpful and friendly people are considered ‘sweet’ because taste would seem to have little in common with personality or behavior,” said lead study author Brian Meier, associate professor of psychology at Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pa., in a statement.

“Yet, recent psychological theories of embodied metaphor led us to hypothesize that seemingly innocuous metaphors can be used to derive novel insights about personality and behavior,” he said.  “Importantly, our taste studies controlled for positive mood so the effects we found are not due to the happy or rewarding feeling one may have after eating a sweet food.”

The studies, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, found those who ate sweet food, as opposed to non-sweet or no food, were more likely to help another person in need. Another study found that those who like sweets are perceived to be more agreeable or helpful.

Do you like sweets? Are you agreeable?

Patuxent Publishing photo 

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Drunk driving is dropping a bit, but there were more than 112 million incidents of people getting behind the wheel after drinking in 2010, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A recent report found that there were almost 300,000 episodes a day, according to the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey, which is self-reported information.

“The four million adults who drink and drive each year put everyone on the road at risk,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, CDC director, in a statement. “In fact, nearly 11,000 people are killed every year in crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver.”

The study also found that men were responsible for 81 percent of the drinking in driving last year and young men aged 21 to 34 were responsible for about a third of all episodes despite that they were only 11 percent of the population.

About 85 percent of the drinking and driving also reported that they were binge drinkers, who drank four (women) or five (men) or more drinks during a short period of time.

CDC officials say drinking delays reaction times and reflexes, putting everyone in harm’s way. But they say there are effective strategies to prevent problems, including sobriety checkpoints, minimum legal drinking age laws and ignition interlocks for those convicted of alcohol-impaired driving.

For more information about drinking and driving and driving safety, go to www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety or www.cdc.gov/injury.

Patuxent Publishing photo of a mock drunk driving accident

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Categories: Consumer health
        

University of Maryland Medical System is holding a “Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day” today in University Plaza (Redwood and Paca streets) across from the University of Maryland Medical Center.

The event goes on until 3 p.m. today and offers cholesterol and blood pressure screenings, fitness activities, flu shots, HIV testing, smoking cessation and diabetes information, demonstrations and more for the kids.

The even is part of a national campaign aimed at prevention. It urges people to get involved in their health care and get their loved ones to do the same.

Five of the Maryland system of hospitals will be there:  the University of Maryland Medical Center, Maryland General Hospital, Kernan Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Hospital, University Specialty Hospital and Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital. Maryland Physicians Care and Radio One, Baltimore, are also sponsors.

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Federal regulatory officials have issued a recall on 131,300 pounds of ground beef products tainted with E. coli and manufactured by Kansas-based Tyson Fresh Meats Inc.

The recall includes 3-pound packages of generic label ground beef shipped to distribution centers in Maryland, according to the Department of Agriculture. The packages contain the code D-0211 LWI and were produced on Aug. 23.

All the products recalled  have a "Best Before" or "Freeze Before" date of Sept. 12, 2011.

USDA officials are worried consumers may have stuck the packages of meat in their freezer and are encouraging people to check dates on any frozen ground beef.

The Ohio Department of Health contacted federal officials Monday about the E. coli illnesses in Butler County.

E. coli is a bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and in severe cases kidney failure.

Here are some grocery stores where the meat was sold.

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Sinai Hospital has received a $1 million gift that it intends to put toward family violence prevention programs and other non-medical programs in the community.

The money came from the Moser Family Philathropic Fund and was intended for community outreach. The gift was made in memory of M. Peter Moser, a former Sinai Board of Directors member for 25 years and a trustee of Sinai’s parent company LifeBridge Health.

“Peter’s devotion to improving the health and well-being of our community was instrumental in shaping the mission of both Sinai Hospital and LifeBridge Health,” said Warren Green, president and chief executive officer of LifeBridge Health, in a statement. “This gift will ensure that those efforts continue and will serve as a lasting tribute to his memory.”

The programs funded with the gift will be named for Moser.

Hospital officials said community outreach is an important element of Sinai’s mission. For more information, visit www.lifebridgehealth.org.

The fund also gave $1 million in the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law to  support the Moser Ethics in Action Initiative Endowment to be established at the law school.

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Montgomery County health officials said they have confirmed two cases of measles and are looking for others who may have been exposed to the highly contagious virus.

These are the first cases since 2009, though state health officials warned last week about a passenger who rode an Amtrak train who may have been exposed to the virus. A non-Maryland resident who traveled to the state also was diagnosed in June with measles.

The two children arrived in the country Aug. 24 and were unvaccinated. They had not yet shown symptoms on Aug. 29 when they went to the Suburban Washington Resettlement Center at 8700 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring and possibly exposed others.

Those who have had measles or have gotten two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine are not at risk, nor are those born in this country before 1957. But parents of nfants, unvaccinated pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems who may have been exposed should call their health care providers. A preventive medicine may be needed.

Measles is spread through coughing and sneezing or contact with nose or throat secreations. Symptoms appear in two stages – a fever, runny nose and watery eyes and cough and then a rash on the third to seventh day.

It’s been virtually eliminated in this country because of the vaccine, but cases arise when people travel oversees or unvaccinated people come to the United States. School kids and citizen applicants are required to be vaccinated.

For more information on measles, go to http://www.cdc.gov/measles.

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Doctors always say that if you don’t smoke, eat well, exercise regularly and limit alcohol you’ll live longer. Now the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has put an actual statistic behind that advice.

A new study shows that those who engage in all four healthy behaviours were 63 percent less likely to die early, compared to those who did none of those things. Not smoking was the most protective, the CDC said.

“If you want to lead a longer life and feel better, you should adopt healthy behaviors– not smoking, getting regular physical activity, eating healthy, and avoiding excessive alcohol use,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, CDC director, said in a statement. The alcohol limited was two drinks a day for men and one for women.

Specifically, those who did all four healthy things were:

+66 percent less likely to die early from cancer,
+65 percent less likely to die early from cardiovascular disease and
+57 percent less likely to die early from other causes.

Researchers looked at data from the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey who were recruited from 1988 to 1994 and followed until 2006. The study, called Low Risk Lifestyle Behaviors and All-Cause Mortality: Findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III Mortality Study, was published in the American Journal of Public Health.

The study showed only a small percentage of U.S. adults has adopted such a healthy lifestyle. But the CDC pointed out that significant progress has been made on smoking.

Baltimore Sun file photo/Amy Davis

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Categories: Cardiovascular Health, Consumer health, Healthy Living, geriatrics
        

Baltimore City is reporting that there is a increase in rabid bats this summer – through August 12, animal control has captured 183 bats and 12 of them have tested positive for rabies.

In all of 2010, 222 bats were seized and 11 had rabies, according to the Baltimore City Health Department.

Rabies is most commonly found in wild animals including raccoons, foxes, skunks and bats, and the virus is transmitted in the saliva, usually through bites. Those who are bitten, scratched or have contact with animals that may be rabid need to immediately wash the wound and seek medical attention.

“Rabies is preventable when medical care is obtained shortly after exposure. Once clinical symptoms develop, however, rabies is nearly always fatal,” Dr. Oxiris Barbot, commissioner of health, said in a statement.

The last human case of rabies in Maryland was in 1976, though a few people die of rabies every year in the United States. In July, a city resident was treated for exposure after the person sought help for a wounded, feral cat that tested positive for rabies.

Each year around the state a few hundred animals test positive for rabies and up to 900 are vaccinated as a precaution. Earlier this month, for example, some Harford residents were vaccinated after their apartment complex became infested with bats.

City officials recommend wearing gloves when handling an animal that has been in a fight or is bleeding, securing garbage cans with lids to keep wild animals out, sealing openings through which bats or other animals could enter a home or using screens, confining wild animals that do get inside and calling for help, avoiding unfamiliar animals, vaccinating pets and recognizing the signs of rabies including aggressiveness or lethargy and frothing at the mouth.

Associated Press photo

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Categories: Consumer health
        

When children see cartoons and other targeted advertising for unhealthy foods they tend to nag their parents for it.

Given the growing obesity epidemic, some researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health decided to examine this “nag factor” and how mothers were coping.

The results, published in the August issue of the Journal of Children and Media, found 64 mothers of children ages 3 to 5 listed three categories of nagging: juvenile nagging, nagging to test boundaries and manipulative nagging.

The mothers cited 10 strategies for dealing with the nagging: giving in, yelling, ignoring, distracting, staying calm and consistent, avoiding the commercial environment, negotiating and setting rules, allowing alternative items, explaining the reasoning behind choices, and limiting commercial exposure.

A little over a third of the mothers suggested the best method was limiting commercial exposure and another third suggested explaining the reasons for making or not making certain purchases. Giving in was not considered a good strategy.

The researchers said the study could lead to more research and new policies aimed at nagging.

Do you have a problem with junk food nagging? What are your strategies? 

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Categories: Consumer health, Diet and exercise
        

Calorie counting matter a lot when people are trying to control their weight, so some researchers decided to see how accurate the stated calories on restaurant boards are.

The researchers, lead by Lorein E. Urban at Tufts University, discovered that overall they aren’t far off. But individual foods had the wrong information. Some were understating calories and some were overstating, indicating poor portion control, especially at sit down restaurants but also at some fast food places.

They looked at 42 restaurants and 269 food items in three states, according to a study published in the July 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Americans get a little more than a third of their calories in restaurants.

Of the 269 items, 108 had energy contents at least 10 calories higher than the state amount and 141 had energy contents at least 10 calories lower. Nineteen percent of those with higher calorie counts were off by more than 100 calories, and those one tended to be found in the sit-down restaurants.

About 10 percent of food items from all restaurants were off by 289 calories or more.

The authors concluded the overall numbers support more legislation requiring menu labeling to aid consumer decisions, but the accuracy of individual items could jeopardize efforts of some to lose weight.

Not sure if this would make people trust the menus more or less.

Associated Press photo

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Categories: Consumer health, Diet and exercise
        

The U.S. News and World Report rankings are out, and Johns Hopkins tops the list again.

It was followed by Massachusetts General in Boston and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Of 5,000 hospitals examined, 17 were at the top or near the op in 16 specialties. And 140 ranked in at least one specialty.

In adult categories, Hopkins ranked #3 in Cancer, #3 in Cardiology & Heart Surgery, #3 in Diabetes & Endocrinology, #1 in Ear, Nose & Throat, #3 in Gastroenterology, #3 in Geriatrics, #2 in Gynecology, #3 in Nephrology, #1 in Neurology & Neurosurgery, #2 in Ophthalmology, #5 in Orthopedics, #1 in Psychiatry, #4 in Pulmonology, #15 in Rehabilitation, #1 in Rheumatology, and #1 in Urology.

In pediatric categories: #9 in Cancer, #26 in Cardiology & Heart Surgery, #8 in Diabetes & Endocrinology, #12 in Gastroenterology, #10 in Neonatology, #12 in Nephrology, #3 in Neurology & Neurosurgery, #11 in  Orthopedics, #9 in Pulmonology, and #9 in Urology.

The University of Maryland Medical Center was nationally ranked in 9 categories: #22 in Cancer, #31 in Cardiology & Heart Surgery, #29 in Diabetes & Endocrinology, #38 in Ear, Nose & Throat, #47 in Geriatrics, #27 in Nephrology, #28 in Orthopedics, #20 in Pulmonology, and #44 in Urology. It was high performing in 3 others.

Union Memorial was nationally ranked in three categories: #33 in Cardiology & Heart Surgery, #50 in Diabetes & Endocrinology, and #34 in Orthopedics. It was high performing in 8 other categories.

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center was nationally ranked #13 in Geriatrics and high performing in 8 other categories.

Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital was nationally ranked #6 in Psychiatry.

Several other area hospitals got high marks for many of their specialties. See the full list from the region here.  

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Categories: Consumer health
        

After a case of measles was identified last month, state health officials notified the public to be on the look out for symptoms. But no new cases have surfaced, the officials said today.

The case was unusual. The last one in the state was in 2009. And officials at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene feared others were exposed to disease as the infected person traveled from place to place.

And while the state may have dodged a bullet this time, officials want residents to stay alert and get vaccinated if they haven't been already -- most kids are given two sets of shots for measles as part of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

"With measles outbreaks in nearby states, this is hardly the moment to be complacent," said Frances Phillips, deputy secretary for public health services, in a statement. "Every Marylander should be up-to-date on measles vaccination."

The state and local health departments investigated illnesses that could have been measles, including some among those who were potentially exposed. But none turned out to be measles after lab testing.

There have been cases in other states, however. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a high number of cases this year in Utah, New York, Minnesota and Virginia.

Quick identification is needed to control the spread of the highly contagious viral illness, officials said. It's spread through coughing, sneezing and contact with nose, mouth and throat secretions from infected people.

Symptoms first appear as a fever of 101 degrees or more, runny nose, watery red eyes and a cough. Then on the third to seventh day, a rash appear on the face and moves down.

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Categories: Consumer health
        

The federal government is cracking down on claims manufacturers of sunscreens can make about its products.

But at least one consumer group says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is not going far enough.

Under new guidelines, sunscreens labeled SPF 15 or higher are the only ones that may say that they reduce the risk of skin cancer and early skin aging. Sunscreens with a lower SPF will be required to carry a warning saying it has not been proven to reduce the risk of skin cancer.

The FDA is also telling consumers sunscreen has to be regularly applied to work and that they still must limit their exposure to the sun.  The agency is barring the use of terms such as waterproof, sweatproof and sunblock.

Sunscreens will also not be allowed to go above SPF 50 under the new guidelines because the FDA said there is no evidence that SPF values that are higher provide anymore protection from the sun.

Consumer advocacy organization the Environmental Working Group criticized the new guidelines saying they didn't go far enough. They said many products will be allowed to call themselves a "broad spectrum" sunscreen even though some may not provide enough protection, the group said in a statement.

The group also said ingredients such as oxybenzone, retinyl palmitate and other ingredients should be banned from sunscreens because they can be toxic.

The group recently came out with its own sunscreen guide.

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Categories: Consumer health
        

The Environmental Working Group is out with its sunscreen guide, as usual, they don’t recommend a lot of the products – only one in five.

There are not federal safety guidelines, so that left the group to do its own analysis about what is safe and effective. In all, the group rated more than 1,700 sunscreens, lip balms, and SPF moisturizers and makeup.

On the list of sunscreens the researchers liked included such brands as Alba, Badger, Kiss My Face and Sun Bunnies. Some ingredients they liked included zinc, titanium dioxide and avobenzone. They also like water-resistant creams that were 30 SPF.

Some things they didn’t like were oxybenzone, Vitamin A and added insect repellent. They also didn’t like sprays, powders and any SPF above 50 because they were dangerous or ineffective.

Of course, they also recommended staying out of the sun.

See the whole report here.

AP photo

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Categories: Cancer, Consumer health, Environmental health
        

Officials at the Baltimore City Health Department have issued two more violation notices to two businesses for selling children’s jewelry items with too much lead.

“These products were found to be extremely high in lead content. Excess lead levels in children can severely impair development and can even cause death,” said Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot, in a statement. “The health department will continue to look for children’s products with high lead levels so parents can shop with confidence, knowing toys sold in the city are safe.”

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission published more stringent standards on lead content in children’s product in August 2008, and children’s jewelry items containing 300 parts per million or higher were subsequently banned. 

These companies were selling jewelry in excess of the limit:

+A Dollar, 200 E. Pratt St., was selling a blue flower ring with 13,000 parts per million of lead and a ring charm containing 70,000 parts per million.

+Beauty Lane, 7621 Harford Road, was selling a Rhinestone Girl chain & Rhinestone Girl charm with lead content of 18,500 parts per million and 20,900 parts per million. The store was also selling a pink star ring with 34,700 parts per million.

Photos courtesy of the Baltimore City Health Department

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Many metro areas around the country, including Baltimore-Washington, have made improvements in air quality in the last year, but half the nation still has unhealthy level of air pollution, according to the annual State of the Air report from the American Lung Association.

The bad air that some 154.5 million people breathe contains ozone (smog) or particle pollution (soot) from smokestacks and tailpipes that can cause early death, asthma exacerbations, coughing and wheezing, heart attacks, strokes and emergency room visits.

The good news, the lung association said, was that in the last year all metro area surrounding the 25 cities most polluted by ozone showed improvement – Baltimore-Washington-Northern Virginia, with 8.4 million people, is No. 14 on this list, up a spot from last year. And all but two of the 25 cities most polluted with year-round particle pollution improved. Only 11, however, of those most polluted by short-term spokes in particle pollution saw improvement.

“State of the Air tells us that the progress the nation has made cleaning up coal-fired power plants, diesel emissions and other pollution sources has drastically cut dangerous pollution from the air we breathe,” said Charles D. Connor, American Lung Association president and chief executive. “We owe our cleaner air to the Clean Air Act.”

The lung association decried efforts in Congress to weaken the act, which the Environmental Protection Agency credits with saving more than 160,000 lives last year.

The group used the color-coated air quality index that warns the public of bad air quality days used by the EPA. It considers ozone and particle pollution, the most widespread types of air pollution. The data in the report, which can be found at stateoftheair.org, is from 2007-2009.
The cleanest cities were Honolulu and Santa Fe-Espanola, N.M. Most of the dirtiest were cities in California, lead by Bakersfield and Los Angeles-Riverside.

In Maryland, Baltimore City and Garrett County were the only two areas without a failing grade for high ozone days. And only Harford and Frederick made the list of cleanest counties for short-term particle pollution.

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Categories: Cardiovascular Health, Consumer health, News roundup
        

The Maryland General Assemby had a busy session, passing a collection of health-related bills.

Top of the list was establishing the framework for the health care exchanges that will go into effect in 2014 under federal health care reform. The state set up the basics of a market where the uninsured will go to buy coverage. The state has been moving aggressively to get all the pieces in place – and to get all the federal grant money it can.

Another bill pushed by the O'Malley administration was a prescription drug monitoring program that would require doctors to check a database before writing new scripts for pain medications. The state has seen a huge jump in the number of opiate addicts – particularly young people who abuse oxycodone. The bill, which passed, aims is to cut down on “doctor shopping” among those addicts. Here's a Sun story on the subject.

Also passed were bills that aim to track and curtain the use of unnecessary medical procedures including heart stents. This comes after an investigation into stent use at St. Joseph Hospital. And the state will now study how it could distribute medical marijuana and allow sick people to use medical necessity as a defense. The legislature also raised the alcohol tax to 9 percent from 6 percent though most of the money won’t go to health causes.

They miss anything this year?

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Many hospitals are making efforts to improve the quality of care but there isn’t consensus on how to measure the progress, says Dr. Peter J. Pronovost, Johns Hopkins patient safety expert.

In the April issue of the journal Health Affairs, Pronovost calls for more attention to the accuracy and reliability of the measures. Without this, patients can’t be sure any improvements have been made.

“There is bipartisan support behind efforts to start paying for value rather than volume,” Pronovost said. “This is great, but we act as if there's a whole library of reliable outcome measures for us to use, and the fact is that serious work needs to be done to create them. We can't shrink from doing this science. We need to be guided by it.”

Pronovost said there are still shortcomings in hospital quality and patients are still being needlessly harmed. This is increasing health care costs.

And past efforts at assessing improvement have not always proven consistent or useful.

Pronovost said some hospitals measure overall death rates but they are not always a reflection on the quality of care. And other research that compared four different measurement services found that they reported the same data differently – 43 percent of hospitals showed higher-than-expected mortality in one metric and lower-than-expected in another.

He and a fellow researcher called for the creation of an independent agency to create standardized measures. “The goal is to make the process of determining quality standard and transparent, and make data meaningful for consumers and usable by clinicians, ultimately improving patient outcomes,” Pronovost said.

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Categories: Consumer health, Health care professionals
        

What recession? Plastic surgery procedures increased nearly 10 percent from 2009 to 2010, according to the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

There were more than 9.3 million surgical and non-surgical procedures in 2010, at a cost of almost $11 billion, according to a study conducted by the group.

Close to half the patients were aged 35-50.

“In my own practice, I’ve seen a major increase in demand by men -- the study showed an increase overall of 88 percent since 1997 -- breast lifts and generally a bigger caseload proving that beauty is recession proof,” said Dr. Grant Stevens, chairman of the media relations committee of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

He said requests for liposuction, eyelid surgery and tummy tucks were the most requested surgical procedures. Botox was the most requested non-surgical procedure. Getting more popular are laser procedures, including laser hair removal, and chemical peels and breast reduction.

About 19 percent of the patients were ethnic minorities, he said. Normally plastic surgery is the domain of white women.

Have you thought about plastic surgery?

McClatchy Tribune photo of a Botox procedure

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Want to avoid taking drugs for your maladies because you don’t like the side effects, or you just don’t like taking medicines? Men’s Health has some DIY suggestions for all sorts of common problems like insomnia and headaches. Some of the proposed fixes, found in the April issue, are below. They mostly seem harmless. Let us know if they work:

+Instead of cough syrup, use honey: Take 2 teaspoons of buckwheat honey, the darker kind with more antioxidants, to coats the throat. It should relieve irritation that causes coughing. And it should help avoid  dizziness that can come with DM, cough medicine’s active ingredient.

+Instead of NSAIDs or acetaminophen for lower back pain, use the Warrior Pose: Yoga poses can be therapeutic as well as strengthening. The poses can decrease or eliminate the need for pain meds, which can cause liver and gastrointestinal troubles.

+Instead of painkillers for frequent headaches, get more sleep: Avoid multiple active ingredients and decrease use of pain pills that can cause overuse headaches. Instead get consistent sleep can desensitize the areas of the brain associated with cranial pain.

+Instead of antidepressants for mild depression, try retraining your brain: Try a technique that is focused on controlling your negative reactions to thoughts and emotions by viewing them objectively. It’s called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. It shifts awareness back on your body and its emotions.

Continue reading "Home remedies for common ills offered by magazine" »

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Those hands-free electronic water faucets that seem to be in every public bathroom may not be that great at keeping us germ free after all.

A study of newly installed fixtures at Johns Hopkins Hospital showed the faucets were more likely to be contaminated with a common and hazardous bacteria than the old fashioned faucets with separate handles for hot and cold water.

“Newer is not necessarily better when it comes to infection control in hospitals, especially when it comes to warding off potential hazards from water-borne bacteria, such as Legionella species,” Dr. Lisa Maragakis, senior study investigator, said in a statement. “New devices, even faucets, however well intentioned in their make-up and purpose, have the potential for unintended consequences, which is why constant surveillance is needed.”

The new faucets did cut daily water use by more than half, said Maragakis, director of hospital epidemiology and infection control at Hopkins Hospital and an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. But, for example, they also had Legionella growing in half of the water samples from 20 faucets near patient rooms. That compares with 15 percent of the cultures from 20 of the old faucets in the same patient care areas.

Legionella isn’t harmful to most people, but can sicken those with compromised immune systems in hospitals. The Hopkins researchers had aimed to determine how often the new faucets had to be treated to protect vulnerable patients when they discovered the higher rates of bacteria. They’ve notified other hospitals and plan to work with manufacturers to remedy the problem.

Researchers aren't completely sure why there is higher bacterial growth in the new faucets, but it may be because standard water disinfection methods at the hospital didn’t work well on the complex components. They may have more surface area for bacteria to grow.

The finding will be presented April 2 at the Society for Health Care Epidemiology’s annual meeting.

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Categories: Consumer health
        

The House passed a bill to ban BPA from infant formula containers by 2014, putting Maryland closer to becoming the third state to ban the chemical in the containers. The Senate is still considering the measure.

The state last year banned BPA in sippy cups and baby bottles.

The measure was strongly pushed by some environmental and health advocates and a pair of lawmakers, Del. James Hubbard, D-Prince Georges, and Sen. Brian Frosh, D-Montgomery.

“Babies and children are especially sensitive to toxic chemicals, and this legislation will protect them from a toxin known to have serious health risks. I'm glad the Assembly has supported this important children's health initiative,” Hubbard said in a statement.

Maryland PIRG Public Health Associate Jenny Levin said the advocacy group was pleased with the vote, and urged the General Assembly to consider some of the other 1,400 chemicals with “probable links to cancer, birth defects, reproductive impacts and other health problems are still in use today.”

The federal government expressed “concern” more than a year ago about the effects of bisphenol A, or BPA, on infants and recommended limiting exposure. But it has not banned the chemical, prompting action in states including Maryland.

The lawmakers and PIRG point to other scientific studies that link BPA to a host of health maladies including cancer and endocrine and reproductive troubles. It leaches into food and liquid from some plastics and the lining of cans and even some coated paper receipts.

Think the state should keep going with bans?

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Looking for a healthy breakfast on the go? Health magazine has sized up the options at fast food joints and come up with a Top 10 list (They considered calories, fat and sodium, as well as portion sizes and the amount of fresh and unprocessed ingredients like fruits and veggies.)

They also made some picks for eating at home, and noted a couple of things to avoid at the drive-through.

1 .Spinach Florentine Breakfast Wrap from Così: Calories 334; Fat 21g (sat 8g); Protein 24g; Carbohydrate 21g; Fiber 11g; Sodium 516mg

2. Protein Artisan Snack Plate from Starbucks: Calories 370; Fat 19g (sat 6g); Protein 13g; Carbohydrate 36g; Fiber 4g; Sodium 470mg

3. Berry Topper Ideal Meal from Jamba Juice: Calories 300; Fat 4.5g (sat 0.5g); Protein 9g; Carbohydrate 59g; Fiber 7g; Sodium 85mg (for 12 ounces)

4. Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal from Au Bon Pain: Calories 280; Fat 4g (sat 1g); Protein 8g; Carbohydrate 56g; Fiber 7g; Sodium 10mg

5. Scrambled Egg Whites, Chicken Sausage and Fruit from Denny’s: Calories 230; Fat 9g (sat 0g); Protein 19g; Carbohydrate 19g; Fiber 3g; Sodium 447mg

Continue reading "Health magazine looks at good fast-food breakfasts" »

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Consumer health, Diet and exercise
        

It’s National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, and mental health experts from Sheppard Pratt Health Systems are offering some free events and a screening.

Today from 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m., there will be a “Love Your Tree” poster exhibit, recognition ceremony and reception.  The posters were made by middle, high school and college students on the theme of confronting narrow ideals about beauty and embracing body diversity. The posters will be on display during February.

On Thursday from 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m., there will be a family information and support panel that will offer specialist from the Center for Eating disorders and some parents of children who are in various stages of treatment for their eating disorders.

Confidential screenings by a licensed professional will be offered through Friday. Call 410-938-5252 to schedule.

All of the event will be at the Conference Center at Sheppard Pratt, 6501 N. Charles St. in Towson. Space is limited, so RSVP by contacting Kate Clemmer at 410-427-3886 or kclemmer@sheppardpratt.org. Get more information at www.EatingDisorder.org.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Three out of four devices recalled in the last five years because of serious risks were given an expedited review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or were exempt from review, according to a new study.

The report says that medical devices are either given a premarket approval, which requires clinical testing and inspections, or they are put through the speedier 510(k) process because they are deemed similar to a device already on the marketed and are considered to have low or moderate risk.

Diana M. Zuckerman, of the National Research Center for Women & Families in Washington, and her colleagues looked at device recalls from 2005 to 2009 and determined which approval process was used or if they were exempt from FDA review.

They found 113 recalled devices that could cause serious health problems or death. Twenty one (19 percent) had the more rigorous review and 80 (71 percent) had the expedited one and eight were exempt. They also found some that by law should have gone through the tougher review. The most common high-risk device recalled was heart related.

The report authors said the 510(k) review has been criticized by public health advocates, other federal agencies and medical journals. The courts have also noted shortcomings in the process. But the authors said Congress hasn’t given the FDA enough funding to give the higher scrutiny to every device.

The report, posted online and planned for the June 14 issue of Archive of Internal Medicine, concluded that Congressional action or major regulatory changes were due.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cardiovascular Health, Consumer health
        

According to a new survey, most adults who ride in the back seat don’t wear their seat belt.

There’s been a huge push – and a lot of legislation – to get people to buckle up in the front seat. But the campaign doesn’t seem to have translated to the back, according to LeaseTrader.com, a car leasing site that conducted the survey.

Officials polled more than 1,000 men and women around the country who rode in the back seat of a car at least 25 times in 2010.

Among those in state with rear-seat restraint laws – including Texas, Washington, Minnesota and California – men said they wore their belt 14.3 percent of the time. Women reported they wore their belt 18.4 percent of the time.

In states with no law – including Illinois, Arizona, Tennessee, Nebraska and Pennsylvania – the percentage was 9.6 percent for men and 16.3 percent for women. The same people said they wear a seat in while in front of the car 75.2 percent of the time. (Maryland has no back-seat law for adults.)

The reasons for not wearing a belt in the back included forgetting (63.2 percent), felt it wasn’t necessary (13.4 percent), didn’t think it was the law (9.8 percent) and felt safe without it (8.6 percent).

“What’s most disturbing is that in this day and age of always-on news coverage and awareness, there is no excuse why more people aren’t wearing seat belts in all parts of the vehicle,” said Sergio Stiberman, chief executive and founder of LeaseTrader.com, in a statement. “Whether it’s the local television news or an online news source, we see daily images and stories of people getting hurt while driving or riding in a vehicle which should serve as a reminder of why it’s important to buckle up.”

Baltimore Sun file photo/Algerina Perna

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Motorcycle helmets can keep the brain safe, but Johns Hopkins researchers now say they also protect the spine too.

There has been a myth persisting for 25 years that wearing a helmet while riding causes spine injuries, said the study leader, Dr. Adil H. Haider, an assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. It was based on a faulty study, he said, and helmets have only gotten lighter and sturdier since then.

And lobby groups have used it to help undo helmet laws. Just about every state used to require helmets forty years ago, but now only about 20 do.

But this new research “debunks” the myth, Haider says.

“Using this new evidence, legislators should revisit the need for mandatory helmet laws,” he said in a statement. “There is no doubt that helmets save lives and reduce head injury. And now we know they are also associated with a decreased risk of cervical spine injury.”

The new study, published online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, shows riders wearing helmets were 22 percent less likely to suffer a cervical spine injury – an injury that can result in paralysis. The data on more than 40,000 collisions between 2002 and 2006 came from the National Trauma Databank.

It also showed risk of traumatic brain injury for those wearing helmets dropped by 65 percent and odds of death decreased by 37 percent.

The journal article says motorcycle use has gone up sharply in the last decade, and injuries since 1997 have increased by about 5,000 a year. Fatalities have nearly doubled.

Baltimore Sun file photo/Barbara Haddock Taylor

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Last year during the H1N1 flu pandemic, we heard from a lot of area workers who were compelled to get flu shots by their employers -- but they were pretty much all health care workers.

Health care workers work with vulnerable populations, so it makes sense that the bosses would consider vaccinating everyone. And health care workers don't have the best record. Historically, only half of the health care work force gets a vaccination.

State and federal governments made sure the health care workers were among the first in line when there were shortages of the H1N1 vaccine, though officials made it clear that they were not requiring the shots.

But this year, I was surprised to hear from workers who said they were being required to get vaccinations -- and these people don't work in health care. These are professionals who might see clients, but not patients. Perhaps the bosses were thinking about employee absenteeism?

Have you been compelled to get a vaccination? Think your boss should be allowed to require you to?

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Baltimore has seen a number of lost lives due to fire and carbon monoxide poisonings this year and state and local officials are passing along tips in hopes of preventing anymore this winter.

Governor Martin O’Malley and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake joined fire officials this week to promote safety during the winter months when fires are more common.

Holiday decorations and unsafe home heating are fire hazards this time of year. Generators and other appliances can also cause carbon monoxide poisoning if unmonitored, the officials said.

There have been 69 fire deaths across the state this year. The good news is that this is a slight decline from the comparable period last year.

O'Malley and Rawlings-Blake reminded people of home energy assistance information that can help people with their heating bills. Baltimore City residents can also get smoke alarms from their local fire department.

Here are some other tips that were passed along.

Heating Safety

• Keep anything that can burn at least three-feet away from heating equipment.

• Have a three-foot “kid-free zone” around open fires and space heaters.

• Never use your oven to heat your home.

• Have a qualified professional install stationary space heating equipment, water heaters or central heating equipment according to the local codes and manufacturer instructions.

• Have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional.

• Turn portable heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed.

• Always use the right kind of fuel, specified by the manufacturer, for fuel burning space heaters.

• Make sure the fireplace has a sturdy screen to stop sparks from flying into the room. Ashes should be cool before putting them in a metal container. Keep the container a safe distance away from your home.

• Test smoke alarms monthly.

Preventing Christmas Tree Fires

• Do not place your tree close to a heat source, including a fireplace or heat vent.

• Be careful not to drop or flick cigarette ashes near a tree.

• Do not put your live tree up too early or leave it up for longer than two weeks.

• Keep the tree stand filled with water at all times.

• Never put tree branches or needles in a fireplace or wood-burning stove for disposal.

• When the tree becomes dry, discard it promptly. The best way to dispose of your tree is by taking it to a recycling center or having it hauled away by a community pick-up service.

Holiday Lights

• Inspect holiday lights each year for frayed wires, bare spots, gaps in the insulation, broken or cracked sockets, and excessive kinking or wear before putting them up.

• Use only lighting listed by an approved testing laboratory.

• Do not link more than three light strands, unless the directions indicate it is safe.

• Connect strings of lights to an extension cord before plugging the cord into the outlet. Make sure to periodically check the wires - they should not be warm to the touch.

• Do not leave holiday lights on unattended.

Holiday Decorations

• All decorations should be nonflammable or flame-retardant and placed away from heat vents.

• Never put wrapping paper in a fireplace.

• If you are using a metallic or artificial tree, make sure it is flame retardant.

Candle Care

• Avoid using lit candles. If you do use them, make sure they are in stable holders and place them where they cannot be easily knocked down. Never leave the house with candles burning.

• Do not go near a Christmas tree with an open flame - candles, lighters or matches.

Smoke Alarms

• Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, including the basement. Many fatal fires begin late at night or in the early morning. For extra safety, install smoke alarms both inside and outside sleeping areas. Since smoke and many deadly gases rise, installing your smoke alarms at the proper level will provide you with the earliest warning possible. Always follow the manufacturer’s installation instructions.

• If your smoke alarms are hard wired, that is wired into the electrical system, you will need to have a qualified electrician do the initial installation or install replacements. For battery powered smoke alarms, all you will need for installation is a screw driver. Some brands are self adhesive and will easily stick to the wall or ceiling where they are placed. For all smoke alarm installations, be sure you follow the manufacturer’s instructions because there are differences between the various brands. Call your local fire department (on a non-emergency telephone number) if you have problems installing a smoke alarm.

Protect Yourself and Your Family from CO Poisoning

• Install at least one carbon monoxide alarm with an audible warning signal near the sleeping areas and outside individual bedrooms. Make sure the alarm has been evaluated by a nationally recognized laboratory, such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL). Carbon monoxide alarms measure levels of CO over time and are designed to sound an alarm before an average, healthy adult would experience symptoms. It is very possible that you may not be experiencing symptoms when you hear the alarm. This does not mean that CO is not present.

• Have a qualified professional check all fuel burning appliances, furnaces, venting and chimney systems at least once a year.

• Never use your range or oven to help heat your home and never use a charcoal grill or hibachi in your home or garage.

• Never keep a car running in a garage. Even if the garage doors are open, normal circulation will not provide enough fresh air to reliably prevent a dangerous buildup of CO.

• When purchasing an existing home, have a qualified technician evaluate the integrity of the heating and cooking systems, as well as the sealed spaces between the garage and house. The presence of a carbon monoxide alarm in your home can save your life in the event of CO buildup.

Escape Planning

• Draw a home escape plan and discuss it with everyone in your home.

• Practice the plan at night and during the day with everyone in your home, twice a year.

• Know at least two ways out of every room, if possible. Make sure all doors and windows leading outside open easily.

• Have an outside meeting place (like a tree, light pole or mailbox) a safe distance from the home where everyone should meet.

• Practice using different ways out.

• Teach children how to escape on their own in case you can’t help them.

• Close doors behind as you leave.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Know someone who has trouble seeing? A specialist at Greater Baltimore Medical Center has some gift ideas.

Dr. Janet Sunness, medical director of GBMC’s Hoover Low Vision Rehabilitation Services, says electronic readers and smart phones can offer medical benefits as well as enjoyment.

One out of every 6 Americans age 70 and older has some kind of visual impairment, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. And more than a million age 40 and older are blind. Another 2.4 million are visually impaired. Causes are age-related diseases such as macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.

“The number of Americans at risk for developing vision problems as a result of one of these diseases is increasing as the baby boomer generation ages,” said Dr. Sunness in a statement. “However, many individuals living with these conditions are making use of technology to help them adapt.”

She said e-readers – such as the Kindle and Nook -- are now much less expensive than the standard low vision video magnifiers.

They have high resolution screens with adjustable text size. Many also have high contrast letters. The Kindle also has a text-to-speech feature, meaning it can read books or other media out loud and can magnify the words up to 5 times the size of newsprint.

The iPhone also has a camera feature that can be used as a magnifier and contrast enhancer, she said. It also has a voice control. The iPad also can play pre-recorded books.     

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer health
        

In a surprise move, the Senate passed a food safety bill on Sunday that will become the first overhaul in decades.

The Washington Post reports that the measure fixes a technical glitch that almost scuttled the legislation. The Senate had added fees on companies that recall tainted food, but tax measures cannot origniate in that chamber.

The House is expected to pass the bill and President Obama is expected to sign it.

The measure had wide support from business and consumer groups, though there was some threat of a filibuster in the Senate.

Many groups pointed to new estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention   that found 1 in 6  people get food poisoning a year, and 3,000 die.

The new legislation calls on businesses to come up with measures to prevent contamination, and new testing, rather than relying on government inspectors to catch tainted food in the factory. The measure does also call for more inspectors.

Some meat and egg products will be exempt because they are the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Think this bill will make food safer?

Associated Press photo of spinach after the 2006 E. coli. outbreak

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Earlier this week, a carbon monoxide leak in a Pikesville house killed two people and sent 11 to the hospital.

The gas is insidious because it’s odorless and colorless and victims in buildings with no carbon monoxide detector don’t know there is a problem. It comes from fuel-burning devices such as a fireplace, water heater or boiler.

To avoid being a victim yourself this winter, take a look at some information from the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and the American College of Emergency Physicians.

+Carbon monoxide (CO) builds up in enclosed spaces and poisons those who breathe it. It kills more than 500 people a year and is the leading cause of accidental poisoning death in the country.

+It poisons people when red blood cells up CO faster than oxygen, blocking oxygen from the body and damaging tissue.

+A person’s health and the length of exposure impact the damage. Most people do not have symptoms from prolonged exposure at levels about 1-70 parts per million. Above that, symptoms may include headache, fatigue and nausea. At 150-200 ppm there is disorientation, unconsciousness and death. Extreme levels can cause death in 15 minutes.

Continue reading "Protect yourself from carbon monoxide poisoning" »

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Family members who have kids with specials needs may need a little extra help in picking out good toys for them. So, the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Parents’ Choice Foundation have come up with a holiday gift list.

Officials at the groups say the same factors apply to good toys for these kids as for any kids: safety, educational value and age-appropriateness and cost. On top of that, the toys should meet therapeutic goals and they should balance a child’s developmental age with his or her chronological age. Avoid toys that put a child in a win or lose situation, they say.

“It is possible to find many good toy options for children with special needs in any toy store,” Elisa Mintz Delia of the Kennedy Krieger Institute said in a statement.  “Many reasonably priced toys found at a variety of stores will engage and entertain children with special needs, as well as serve as learning and skill-building tools.”

The Kennedy Krieger Institute, which works to improve the lives of kids with disorders of the brain, spinal cord and musculoskeletal system, and Parents’ Choice Foundation, which focuses on children’s media and toys, test and review toys and have come up with some suggestions:

+Curious George Discovery Beach Game. This seek-and-find board game promotes visual and visual motor skills, thinking skills and socialization, they said.

+Hedbanz. This guess-the-card game encourages thinking skills, socialization and communication.

+Bubble Talk. A caption-photo-matching game fosters thinking skills, socialization and communication.

+Bop It Bounce. An electronic instructional game helps build gross motor skills and sensory motor skills.

+U- Build Connect Four. A piece-assembly game develops thinking skills, fine motor skills, visual skills and visual motor skills.

+B. Spinaroos. An interlocking-block game supports visual, fine motor and visual motor skills.
For more information and tips on shopping, go to the Parents’ Choice Foundation Holiday Gift Guide.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Consumer health
        

I asked the folks at the Baltimore Health Department about other caffeine-alcohol drinks -- which are not banned like Four Loko and the like.

(If you missed it, the city and Howard County joined a bunch of other cities and states in following warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and state health officials in banning caffiene-infused alcohol drinks because they say the drinks pose a special health risk.)

I got this response: 

It looks as if Vincent Van Gogh Double Espresso vodka has about 10 mg of caffeine per 1.7 oz – substantially less than the products the FDA is banning.

A recipe for a rum and cola - 5 oz. of cola and 1.5 oz. of rum.  This is a fairly typical size and contains roughly 14.5 mg of caffeine and 0.6 oz. of alcohol, assuming the rum is 40 percent ABV[alcohol by volume]. Irish coffee, containing 6 oz. of coffee, 1.5 oz. of whiskey, a teaspoon of brown sugar and cream.  Assuming the whiskey is 40 percent ABV, your drink will have something like 90 mg of caffeine and 0.6 oz. of alcohol.

Comparatively, one 23.5 oz. can of Four Loko at 12 percent ABV has 156 mg of caffeine and 2.82 oz. of alcohol. 

So to get a "Four Loko effect" with a rum and cola, you'd have to drink 4.7 rum and colas.  This would have the same alcohol content as a Four Loko, but the caffeine content (at only 68.15 mg) is still less than half the caffeine in one can of Four Loko.
 
For Irish coffee, you'd would need to drink a little less than two to get the same caffeine level as a Four Loko.  But to truly equal a Four Loko, you would have to pour at least twice as much whiskey into each serving.

So, anyone for 5 rum and Cokes?

Los Angeles Times photo

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Baltimore's health commissioner has decided to ban caffeine-infused alcohol drinks such as Four Loko on the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's determination that the drinks are unsafe. (read the baltimoresun.com story here.)

The ban, which takes effect Thursday at 5 p.m., gives the city the ability to fine retailers and bars that still sell the drinks.

Those merchants already needed to take the stuff off the shelves because of the FDA ban and because of an agreement with Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot made with retailers.

Four Loko's maker Phusion Projects said it should have all its drinks off shelves by Dec. 13.

These drinks are specifically listed in the ban: Four Loko, Core High Gravity HG Green, Core High Gravity HG Orange, Lemon Lime Core Spiked, Moonshot, FourLoko, Joose and Max.

The ban does NOT impact on other drinks where caffeine is naturally occuring such espresso vodka. It also doesn't impact craft beers or mixed drinks.

Is this fair? Do you drink Four Loko and how does it impact you?

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Consumer health
        

The public may demand information about their doctors be made public, but new research questions whether consumers actually use it to choose their care.

A paper published on the online version of the British Medical Journal, BMJ.com, two experts say it may not be realistic to assume the public will use performance data to choose health care providers, and so, drive improvements in quality.

The researcher, Martin Marshall and Vin McLoughlin from the Health Foundation, suggest ways to improve the information to optimize its effect.

They conducted their research during the last two decades in several countries. They said it’s clear consumers want information but rarely search for it and often don’t understand or trust it.

They suggested making clear the sources are trusted, the information is of interest to specific users and presented in a visually attractive way. The data needs to be simple enough to understand, and perhaps,  balanced with personal stories.

“In this paper, we present a significant challenge to those who believe that providing information to patients to enable them to make choices between providers will be a major driver for improvement in the near or medium term,” the researcher wrote. “We suggest that, for the foreseeable future, presenting high quality information to patients should be seen as having the softer and longer term benefit of creating a new dynamic between patients and providers, rather than one with the concrete and more immediate outcome of directly driving improvements in quality of care.”

So, do you seek out information about your health care providers?

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Consumer health
        

The pressure is on makers of those energy-alcohol drinks. The Food and Drug Administration has issued warning letters to manufacturers. And Maryland officials have been trying to get them off the shelves.

The officials consider being “wide-awake drunk” a public health threat.

Have you been wondering what’s so bad about Four Loco and other drinks so popular with teens and college students? St. Joseph Medical Center’s Powered by ME! Program has put together a fact sheet.

“Information is our best weapon to combat this dangerous new trend,” said Mike Gimbel, director of the program, in a statement. “Alcohol-caffeine drinks produce a false sense of alertness so kids don’t realize how drunk they are. They feel alert enough to drive. It’s a wide-awake drunk. There’s a need for education to prevent health emergencies. Even if these drinks are banned, we know that kids have been mixing energy drinks with alcohol on their own. There are even recipes on the Internet.”

To see the fact sheet, go to Poweredbymemd.com. Or, ask for a copy to be mailed by calling 410-337-1477. Gimbel is available to speak at community group meeting as well.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Consumer health
        

It’s been 25 years, but there’s still Trouble in Toyland. The annual report about dangerous and toxic toys was released today -- in time for the holidays.

The consumer group Maryland PIRG took toys to the lab for testing. Officials said many are choking hazards or contain toxic chemicals.

“Choking on small parts is a leading cause of toy-related injury, causing fifteen deaths in the last three years,” said Jenny Levin, Maryland PIRG public health associate, in a statement. “We are concerned that the 30-year-old small parts standard is not protective enough. Children can and have choked on parts that are larger than the standard.”

She said there has been progress in the past two year on toy safety, as changes have been made at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. But she said the government agency needs more authority over chemicals. The group says there is no requirement that toys be tested or labeled.

PIRG pointed to agency data that found toy-related injuries caused more than 250,000 trips to the emergency room for children and 12 deaths last year.

The report, as well as toy buying tips, can be found at www.toysafety.mobi.

Findings from the report include:

+In 2009, many toys and other children’s products containing more than 0.1 percent of phthalates were banned in 2009. But the group found children’s products containing concentrations of phthalates up 30 percent.

+Small parts in toys for children under three were banned, but there are still toys available that pose choking hazards.

+Lead and other metals have been severely restricted in toys in the past two years, but the group found toys with metals for sale.

Reuters photo of toy included in PIRG report

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 3:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Consumer health
        

The end of the year is fast approaching, and many people still have money in their flexible spending accounts, those pots of tax-free money workers set aside for health expenses. They are use-it-or-lose-it, so get spending.

Here are some ideas on how from Save Smart, Spend Healthy, a national campaign to educate consumers on the value and proper use of FSAs:

+Review the list of eligible expenses. Many items may be eligible that you haven’t thought about.

+Check to see you have medications and supplies you need. This can include (for now) over-the-counter medications and prescriptions. It also can include medical supplies such as contact lenses and solution, glasses and bandages. Make sure you consider the expiration dates when you buy them.

+Schedule routine appointments. This includes routine check-ups at the doctor, dentist and optometrist. It also can include specialists such as a chiropractor or acupuncturist.

+Get a flu shot and vaccinations. Are you up to date?

+Invest in your wellness. Wellness programs such as smoking cessation expenses are eligible, and so is weight-loss counseling with a letter of medical necessity.

+Log your miles. You can be reimbursed 16.5 cents for mileage to and from eligible medical, dental and vision appointments.

And if you plan to sign up again, which you typically have to do each year during open enrollment, make sure you’re aware of changes. Top of the list: Over-the-counter drugs will require a prescription.

Associated Press photo

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Say what you will about airplane food – or the complete lack of it – but don’t complain about greasy, unhealthy fare in the airport.

Apparantly, they are changing their french fried ways. During the last decade there has been a dramatic increase in low-fat vegetarian options at airport restaurants, according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Some 82 percent of restaurants in the busiest airport now offer at least one low-fat, cholesterol-free option. Ten years ago, just 57 percent offered such a healthful choice.

Of course, some airport still favored cheeseburgers and other less nutritious food, especially Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Chicago O’Hare International, and Ronald Reagan Washington National.

The committee looked at 18 major restaurants in more than a dozen states. Tops were Detroit’s Wayne County Airport (96 percent with at least one healthy option), San Francisco International Airport (95 percent) and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport tied for third with Newark Liberty International.

Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, which underwent a major overhaul of concessions a few years ago, had a score of 79 percent, to rank No. 10.

Have you eaten in an airport lately? Pleasantly surprised?

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Want to learn about staying or getting healthy?

Johns Hopkins Medicine’s is holding its annual day-long conference at the Hilton Baltimore Hotel aimed a female consumers called A Woman’s Journey this Saturday. It’s 32 seminars lead by Hopkins doctors and professionals that focused on preventing disease and maintaining good health.

Some topics: Fit at 50 and Beyond, Use and Abuse of Supplements, A Menu for Skeletal Health, A Pain in the Neck, Predictors of Heart Disease in Women, Night Noise and Saving Your Voice.

The keynote speaker is Laurie Singer Sievers. She’s a network television news producer and widow of journalist and ABC News “Nightline” executive producer Leroy Sievers, and she’ll talk about being his caregiver while he battled cancer. She continues to write for her husband's “My Cancer” blog, now called “Our Cancer.”

The registration fee is $105, or $85 for students. Participants get to choose four seminar and meals are included, as is a 50-page program. For more information or to register, go to http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/awomansjourney/baltimore/.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer health
        

Halloween is coming, and thanks to celebrities – specifically Lady Gaga – many girls may want to extend their costumes to their eyes.

In her “Bad Romance” video, Lady Gaga appeared to have larger-than-life eyes. And while her eyes were computer generated, the “circle” colored contacts are available online from Asian manufacturers for about $20-$30, with or without vision correction.

But not only are they illegal, they can permanently damage your eyes and even make you go blind, said Dr. Elliott H. Myrowitz, an assistant professor and chief of Optometric Services at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. He's joining a chorus of doctors, organizations and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in warning consumers off these products.

He specializes in complex contact lense fittings, and said he’s not seen an uptick in people coming in for treatment of infections and other problems from these circle lenses. But he has seen infections from people not caring properly for their lenses. He worries a dangerous trend may be emerging.

So, now seems like a good time to remind people to follow some basics of contact lense care:

+Do not buy your contacts online without a doctor’s prescription. The FDA considers them medical devices. Dr. Myrowitz said you need a doctor to make sure the lenses fit properly and won’t damage your eye.

+Do not share lenses, keep them for longer than the recommended length of time, sleep in the lenses or reuse cleaning or storing solution. Do wash your hands before handing the lenses, change your case periodically and rub them with disinfectant before storage – no matter what the bottle of solution says.

+If your eyes are red and sore or your vision is not normal for more than an hour after you remove your lenses or there is a discharge, get to your eye doctor as soon as you can. Infections caught early are easier to treat. Those allowed to fester can lead to tough infections and even permanent damage that requires a cornea transplant.

So, the message from Dr. Myrowitz is: Take proper care of your lenses. And Halloween lenses aren’t worth the risk.

Anyone have an experience with lenses that can drive his lesson home?

Associated Press photo 

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It’s Halloween season, but not all the blood is fake.

During pumpkin carving time, it’s not uncommon to cut more than the orange gourd. But the folks at the Greater Chesapeake Hand Specialists have some advice for staying out of the emergency room. 

“Most of us end up at the hospital at least once or twice in October repairing cut tendons and nerves from a pumpkin carving mishap,” says Dr. Chris Forthman, a surgeon at the practice’s Lutherville and Westminster offices. “These mishaps often result in three to four months of rehabilitation to restore function to the damaged hand and fingers.”

Here’s what the specialists say:

+Pick a Good Work Environment -- Carve a clean, dry, and well-lit area. Also make sure that your hands, the knife and the cutting surfaces remain free of excess liquid or other pumpkin grime. Moisture is often a factor in slipping and accidental injury.

+Have a Responsible Adult in Charge -- “I’ve seen far too many teens ruin their hands with accidental knife injuries,” said Dr. Forthman. “Pumpkin carving can be a fun and creative outlet for some adolescents, but there must be good oversight and a healthy respect for the blade. A split second error in judgment can alter the course of a promising kid’s athletic, musical, or other interests.”

Continue reading "Carve pumpkins, not hands, for Halloween" »

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A new report in Men’s Health is not giving Baltimore much to smile about.

The report ranks the cities with the worst teeth. Baltimore came up as No. 4. Only St. Louis, Philadephia and Newark, N.J. were worse.

Considered for the rankings were the cities' community water fluoridation, the percentage of people who saw a dentist in the past year or have had their teeth extracted, the percentage of households using dental floss, money spent on oral hygiene products and the number of dentist offices per capita.

The best teeth were found in San Jose, Calif.; Fargo, N.D.; and Boise, Idaho.

The ranking may be surprising because the state really began paying more attention to the lack of care for poor urban kids in 2007, when 12-year-old Deamonte Driver from Prince George's County died after an infection in an untreated tooth spread to his brain.

Academic, industry and government leaders banded together to win aid for local health centers,  streamline the Medicaid program and send hygienists into the community to provide screenings. They won agreements from dentists to treat poor children.

But perhaps the adults aren't getting the messages, or the care they need? Maybe it'll take another generation of education and care? Maybe the economy has ended money for programs?

Maybe flossing just isn't Baltimore's thing?

See the full rankings, featured in the November issue of Men's Health on newstands Oct. 19, on the next page.

Continue reading "You may brush, but your neighbor might not" »

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Want to get a deal on a new designer outfit, and benefit the Greater Baltimore Medical Center HealthCare system?

Volunteers from GBMC will be modeling 25 casual and fancy outfits in a fashion show today from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the Civiletti Conference Center, in the lobby level of the Physician’s Pavilion East building. The clothes are for sale as part of the Fall Nearly New Sale.

The sale has gained a following over the decades, hospital officials say, with hundred of people lining up hours before the sale starts to get the discounts of all kinds of apparel.
 
All the proceeds go to GBMC system – some $250,000 annually. The sale will run Oct. 23-25, 27-28 and 30.

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Turns out two wheels are safer than four when it comes to off-road riding, a hobby that’s on the rise around the nation, according to new research from Johns Hopkins.

Those involved in four-wheel all-terrain vehicle (ATV) crashes are 50 percent more likely to die of their injuries than those riding off-road motorcycles, such as those used in Motocross, according to the research to be presented this week at the American College of Surgeon’s 2010 Clinical Congress.

The researched showed ATV crash victims were 55 percent more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit and 42 percent more likely to be placed on a ventilator.

 “There’s a belief that four wheels must be safer than two,” said Cassandra Villegas, a research fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Surgery Trials and Outcomes, in a statement. “But we found the opposite. People involved in ATV crashes are more likely to die or suffer serious trauma.”

Because off-road riding, frequently on rough terrain, in on the increase, Villegas wanted to look at safety issues. She found injuries in general also are on the rise: 150,900 in 2007, versus 92,200 in 2000, Villegas said. Researchers looked at data on nearly 60,000 injured riders.

They weren’t sure lack of helmets was a huge contributing factor in the disparity of injuries, though more states have motorcycle helmet laws and more actually wear them. They said weight of the ATVs and the lack of protective clothes ATV riders wear could be factors. Researchers are hoping, in any case, that ATV makers use the data to design safer vehicles.

Do you ride? Wear proper protection?

Getty Images photo of an ATV

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The new system give a little tug on your right or left finger through the steering wheel when you need to turn. The University of Utah researchers stress that this is not meant to enable more cell phone talking while driving, which they say is unsafe. There’s just a lot of background noise to tune out – from crying children, to the radio to street sounds.

It’s just, perhaps, a better way to ensure that drivers follow directions and don’t create unsafe situations from sudden lane changes, etc. It could also be a better system for those hard of hearing.

The system could also be adapted to a walking cane for blind people.

“It has the potential of being a safer way of doing what's already being done – delivering information that people are already getting with in-car GPS navigation systems,” said the study's lead author, William Provancher, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Utah, in a statement.

It works when drivers put their fingers on a bad that gently grips the skin and moves it when a turn is coming.

The researchers tested the system by having people driver simulators while talking on a cell phone and not talking while using a GPS system and the new touch system. Drivers talking on cells followed directions more of the time on the new system. 

Think this would make roads safer and make directions easier to follow, or just encourage bad behavior while driving? Would it be more or less necessary since many states -- like Maryland (Oct. 1) -- do or will require a hands-free device to talk on your cell phone?

Photo courtesy of the University of Utah

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The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will begin offering free seminars for Maryland residents focusing on adult long-term care in September.

The first session is Sept. 2 in Baltimore City at 1910 N. Broadway, 21201 in Room 148. Next is a session Sept. 13 at the Howard County Health Department, 7178 Columbia Gateway Driveway in Columbia.

The sessions run from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. and require registration because seating is limited.

They will cover subject such as how to get ready for nursing home care, how to protect assets and still get care, how to determine the right kind of coverage and what questions to ask, planning for financial independence and protecting inheritance. There will be no product solicitation and trained Medicaid staff will be available for long-term care questions.

To register or get more information, email Sylvia J. Beall, senior Medicaid eligibility trainer at beallsj@dhmh.state.md.us or call 410-767-3071.

See dates for other seminars on the next page.

Continue reading "State offers long-term care seminars for residents" »

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A new poll from Anglie’s List, which provides consumer reviews of contractors, shows people like their dentists even if they don’t always listen to them.

Eighty percent of members responding to the poll (1,229 people) this month said they had a high level of trust in their dentists.

 “Dentists consistently rank in the top five most popular service providers – across all of our 500 categories, including plumbers and remodelers,” said Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks in a statement. “People really like to talk about their dentists.”

But almost a quarter said they weren’t following their dentist’s orders on brushing. They brushed only once a day. Almost a third said they sometime lie to their dentist about it.

Hicks said maybe dentists should remind people about good oral hygiene.

And because trust is a two-way street, he said people should also check up on the dentist before they go.

She advises asking about billing and appointment policies and concerns about their teeth, making sure the dentist is a member in good standing of the American Dental Association and has no complaints on Angie’s List (of course), making sure the dentist can meet special needs and talking about proper sedation types if necessary.

Associated Press photo

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Want to be the first to know what's going on?

Subscribe to The Sun's text alerts. There are eight categories, including news, weather, entertainment and sports.

The weather alerts, for example, will let you know when there are heat or air quality advisories. The news alerts will tell you the latest on the health and evironment fronts.

And, if you sign up for the alerts, you can enter to win a Droid X. Sign up for text alerts here.

Droid X photo courtesy of Verizon/AFP/Getty

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It’s time of year when parents are out shopping for lunch boxes and notebooks, and a pair of environmental health organization have come out with a guide to PVC-free school supplies.

The groups say many products are made with “toxic plastic," polyvinyl chloride.

They cite a new analysis by the Environmental Working Group that found Americans are exposed to up to 1,200 times more dioxin – a toxic chemical that can leach from PVC – than the Environmental Protection Agency deems safe. The amount of dioxin infants are exposed to is up to 77 times higher than the level EPA says is harmless to the endocrine and immune systems.

That chemical and others in PVC are linked to chronic problems in children that include learning and developmental disabilities asthma, obesity and cancer.

“We strive to make our homes a healthy and safe environment for our children to grow up in.  But what about the eight hours they spend in school each day?” Mike Schade, PVC Campaign Coordinator for the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, many school supplies are composed of PVC, the poison plastic.  This plastic can contain a toxic stew of phthalates, lead, cadmium, and organotins—it’s a recipe for disaster.”

Phthalates, which make the plastic flexible, are banned by federal law in toys but not school supplies. Congress is considering legislation called the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 to impose tighter regulation on chemicals in consumer products. 

Some tips from this group and Maryland PIRG include: avoiding backpacks with shiny plastic designs that often contain PVC and may contain lead; using cloth or metal lunchboxes to avoid PVC; using cardboard, fabric-covered or polypropylene binders and avoiding 3-ring binders that often are made of PVC.  

See the full report here.

Baltimore Sun file photo/John Makely

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Categories: Consumer health
        

The medicine cabinet is getting more threatening.

There has been a 400 percent increase in substance abuse treatment admissions for people abusing prescription drugs, according to new government data.

The study was conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration from 1998 to 2008 for those 12 and older. The increase spanned every age, gender, race, ethnicity, education and employment level and region.

Among the findings: There was a tripling of pain relieve abuse among those patient who needed treatment for opiate dependence.

The data “highlights how serious a threat to public health we face from the abuse of prescription drugs”, said Gil Kerlikowske, national drug policy director, in a statement. “The spikes in prescription drug abuse rates captured by this study are dramatic, pervasive, and deeply disturbing.”

The non-medical use of prescription drugs is now the nation’s second-most prevalent form of illegal drug use, said Pamela S. Hyde, administrator of the substance abuse agency.

A recently released national drug control strategy outline steps to curtail this fast-growing drug problem.

They include increasing prescription drug take-back and disposal programs, educating doctors about opiate painkiller prescribing, expanding prescription drug monitoring programs, addressing doctor shopping and pill mills, cracking down on illegal internet pharmacies and rouge pain clinics that ignore appropriate prescription practices. 

What do you have leftover in your bathroom cabinet?

AFP/Getty photo

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Categories: Consumer health
        

Heading to the beach or just going for a walk in the sunshine? Think all you need to do is check the SPF on your sunscreen?

The Environmental Working Group has come out with its latest version of its sunscreen offenders list. These are the sunscreens that contain ingredients that can be harmful to your health or don't work as promised.

The non-profit group looked at 500 beach and sports sunscreens and, in the end, recommend only 8 percent. Some offered a "false sense of security" from sunscreens with an SPF of 50 or higher, and others contained oxybenzone, which the group says is linked to cancer and reproductive problems, or vitamin A, which has recently been linked to accelerated development of skin tumors and lesions. 

The group said wearing a hat and shirt in the sun should be "your first line of defense," then using one of their recommended sunscreens. None of the top picks were familiar brands, such as Hawaiian Tropic, Banana Boat and Neutrogena.

The guide is here. You can look at all the products and why they are good or bad, and search for your product. Some top brands were Badger, California Baby and Loving Naturals and Soleo Organics.  

There's also a list of tips. The highlights: choose lotions over sprays and powders, choose SPF 30+ over SPF 50+ and pick zinc or titanium dioxide over oxybenzone.

Your brand turn out to be good or bad? Will you switch?

AP photo

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Categories: Consumer health