Health & Medicine
Health Watch: But Don't Flee the Flu Shot
It's flu season again. Annual flu shots are believed to prevent illness and death in high-risk individuals such as the elderly. But a statistical analysis of more than 60 studies on flu immunization, published last week in the journal Lancet, shows that the usefulness of flu shots among the elderly may be modest. According to scientists in Italy, effectiveness of the shots in preventing the flu in all elderly averaged about 23 percent. Pneumonia and hospitalization for those vaccinated declined by 46 percent and 45 percent, respectively, while death from all causes dropped by as much as 60 percent. Results were better for elderly people living in long-term-care facilities. But for those living in the community, the vaccine was less effective: preventing about 26 percent of hospitalizations and 47 percent of deaths.
The results don't negate the need for flu shots. "Even for people who are at the highest risk of illness and complications, the elderly, the flu vaccine does improve their chances," says Rex Archer, president of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. Archer also said that flu shots reduce the amount of influenza virus circulating in the population, cutting the risk of illness for everyone.
Health Watch: An Oldie Drug Is Still a Goodie
A landmark study of schizophrenia drugs in last week's New England Journal of Medicine found that an older, generic pill, perphenazine, works just as well as four newer, more expensive drugs. Still, about three quarters of the participants stopped taking their particular drug because of side effects or they thought it was not working. Though patients usually do better with drugs, "they didn't work as well as one would hope," says lead author Jeffrey Lieberman of Columbia University.
Health Watch: Mixed News on Breast Cancer
Though the American Cancer Society estimates that breast cancer will kill more than 40,000 women this year, the mortality rate fell 2.3 percent each year between 1990 and 2002. "Almost everyone agrees that mammography and early detection have made the biggest impact," with newer treatments like tamoxifen also helping, says Patrick Borgen, chief of breast-cancer surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. While incidence of invasive breast cancer among women is barely increasing, it's rising 1.1 percent a year among men (who account for less than 1 percent of the 270,000 new cases this year). Possible causes: an aging population, environmental factors, and obesity. "Men get most of their estrogen from fat in their body," and male breast cancers tend to be influenced by estrogen, says Sharon Giordano, an oncologist at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Health Watch: Not So Wise Wisdom Teeth
Wisdom teeth seem to encourage gum disease, says Ray White, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at the University of North Carolina, who found that a quarter of the 400 20-somethings in his wisdom-tooth study had periodontal disease. What's up? The teeth are hard to brush and hospitable to periodontal bacteria. It's not just about your teeth. The infection has been linked to health problems like heart disease.
This story appears in the October 3, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.