NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL HEALTH NEWS
Read
more headlines and news stories on Allina.com.
- C. Difficile Infections Common in Hospitals
- Las Vegas Leads Country in Suicides
- AMA Backs Action Against Trans Fats, Texting While Driving
- Women's Mental Health Affects Stillbirth Risk
Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
C. Difficile Infections Common in Hospitals
The potentially deadly stomach bug Clostridium difficile is 6.5 to 20 times more common in U.S. hospitals than previously thought, according to researchers who surveyed 650 hospitals across the country.
They estimated that more than 7,100 hospital patients are infected with the germ on any given day, and that about 13 of every 1,000 patients have the bacteria, which is resistant to some antibiotics and is a recurring problem in hospitals and nursing homes, the Associated Press reported.
C. difficile bacteria are found in the colon and can cause intestinal problems that can be fatal, particularly to the elderly. About 70 percent of the 1,443 infected patients identified in the study were older than 60.
Researchers from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology presented their findings Tuesday at a medical conference in Florida.
"This study shows that C. difficile infection is an escalating issue in our nation's health-care facilities," lead investigator Dr. William Jarvis said in a news release, the AP reported.
He and his colleagues recommended that hospitals and nursing homes boost cleaning efforts, including the use of bleach, and quickly isolate patients who have C. difficile infections.
-----
Las Vegas Leads Country in Suicides
Residents of Las Vegas and visitors to the gambling mecca have a much higher suicide risk than people anywhere else in the United States, according to a study by researchers at Temple and Harvard universities.
The researchers analyzed patterns of suicide in Las Vegas over a 30-year period and found that: residents of the city are more likely to commit suicide than other Americans; visitors to Las Vegas have an even higher suicide risk than residents; and people who visit Las Vegas are twice as likely to commit suicide than visitors to other cities, United Press International reported.
The study was published in the journal Social Science and Medicine.
While more research is needed to pinpoint the reasons for the increased risk of suicide in Las Vegas, researcher Matt Wray of Temple said one cause could be "gambler's despair," which occurs when a visitor bets his house, loses and decides to commit suicide, UPI reported.
Among other possibilities, according to the study:
- People predisposed to suicide disproportionately choose Las Vegas to reside in or visit.
- There may be a "contagion" effect where people emulate the suicides of others.
- Las Vegas may act as a suicide magnet.
In addition, the city's rapid growth "may amplify social isolation, fragmentation and low social cohesion, all of which have long been identified as correlates of suicide," Wray said.
-----
AMA Backs Action Against Trans Fats, Texting While Driving
Government moves to ban artery-clogging trans fats and text-messaging
while driving have the support of the American Medical Association, the
nation's largest physicians' group decided Monday at its semiannual policy
meeting.
The AMA voted to back any state and federal efforts to ban the use of
trans fats in restaurants and bakeries, and also voted to lobby for more
state bans on text-messaging while driving or operating machinery. The AMA also wants doctors to educate patients about the risks of texting while
driving, the Associated Press reported.
A number of U.S. cities and fast-food chains already have outlawed or
eliminated trans fats, and there are numerous bans on text-messaging while
driving.
At its meeting, the AMA also agreed to encourage more doctors to practice in underserved communities, to increase the number of primary-care doctors, and to encourage physicians to play a stronger role in promoting policies to combat climate change, the AP reported.
-----
Women's Mental Health Affects Stillbirth Risk
Women with a history of serious mental illness are about twice as likely as other women to have a stillborn infant or babies who die within the first month of life, according to British and Danish researchers who studied almost 1.5 million births in Denmark between 1973 and 1998.
During that time, there were 7,021 stillbirths, United Press International reported.
"The risk of stillbirth for women with schizophrenia was twice as high than healthy mothers, while women with affective disorders were also more than twice as likely to give birth to stillborn babies," said lead researcher Dr. Kathryn Abel.
Abel and colleagues also found that women with other mental health problems -- including manic depression and drug and alcohol addiction -- had a higher risk of stillbirth and newborn deaths, UPI reported.
The study appears in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood -- Fetal and Neonatal Edition.
Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved.
Published on: 11/12/2008
|
