Health & Medicine
Health Watch: A Clear Sign for Diabetics
Diabetes can make blood sugar levels fluctuate, which is devastating to the kidneys, nerves, and eyes. Over time, the blood vessels that supply the eye can leak and even grow where they don't belong. Virtually everyone with diabetes eventually develops some diabetic retinopathy, as these changes are called, and many lose their sight entirely.
In this month's Diabetes journal, researchers found that patients who took the drug ruboxistaurin were less likely to lose their vision, even though the drug didn't actually slow the progression of the condition. "It's interesting to see that it may have some benefit," says Mayo Clinic ophthalmologist Jose Pulido, who was not involved in the study. Another trial is looking more closely at the drug's effects on vision. Meanwhile, Pulido says, the best thing for patients to do is keep tight control of blood sugar levels and blood pressure, to stop the condition from ever developing.
Health Watch: Look, Ma, No Hands. Yikes!
No matter what you think, that hands-free cellphone doesn't make driving any safer. A new study in the British Medical Journal finds that drivers using cellphones have four times the risk of being involved in car accidents that result in hospital visits, regardless of whether the driver was using a hands-free gadget or an old-fashioned cellphone. "There is accumulating evidence that it's really the conversation itself that's a major distracter," says Anne McCartt, vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Arlington, Va., and one of the study authors.
Health Watch: Asthma Drugs OK, At Least for Now
A Food and Drug Administration panel reluctantly agreed last week to keep three widely used asthma drugs on the market, despite evidence that the drugs increase risk of death in a small number of people. Both Serevent and Advair widen the lungs' air passages and reduce the risk of an attack when taken daily. Both carry black-box warnings, the FDA's most serious alert, because they have been found to worsen attacks in some patients, especially African-Americans. The panel stopped short of yanking the drugs, as it didn't have enough data to tell what was causing the problems. But the panel urged drug makers to investigate and asked the FDA to add a warning to a similar drug, Foradil. Some panel members said doctors shouldn't prescribe the drugs without also having patients use an inhaled corticosteriod, which reduces lung inflammation.
Health Watch: Gambling on a Costly Side Effect
Mayo Clinic researchers reported in the latest edition of the Archives of Neurology that a small percentage of Parkinson's patients became compulsive gamblers after taking certain drugs in the dopamine agonist class, especially Mirapex. The drugs mimic the effects of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which helps control body movement and reinforces the feelings of pleasure from a reward. Some patients lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. "These were not folks that had a gambling history," says psychiatrist Leann Dodd, the lead researcher.
Health Watch: It's Good for You. No, It's Bad for You
A review in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association of 49 prominent medical studies found that nearly a third were contradicted entirely or found to describe a smaller effect than originally thought. The study's author, clinical epidemiologist John Ioannidis of Greece's University of Ioannina, admits that, yes, in a few years another study could overturn his results. "Science is never final."
This story appears in the July 25, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.