American Health Options

Remove Diabetes Drug Avandia From Market

admin — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:55:08 +0000

SATURDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) — The blockbuster type 2 diabetes drug Avandia raises users’ odds for heart attack and heart failure and should be removed from the market, according to confidential U.S. government reports. The New York Times on Saturday reported on documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that find that if people [...]

U.S. requires new warnings for asthma drugs

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:55:10 +0000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health officials on Thursday called for new warnings on certain asthma drugs to help reduce overall use of these medications, saying the medicines should not be used unless taken in combination with other inhaled drugs. The Food and Drug Administration said its review of the drugs — long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs) that include [...]

First Oral Medications For MS Show Promise

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:06:10 +0000

Two new drugs — both oral, rather than injected — may soon be available to combat multiple sclerosis. Three studies, all being published early online Jan. 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine, find that the new drugs — fingolimod and cladribine — reduce relapse rates in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). Both drugs [...]

Is the US swine flu epidemic over?

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:22:53 +0000

If the U.S. swine flu epidemic isn’t over, it certainly looks as if it’s on its last legs. While federal health officials are not ready to declare the threat has passed and the outbreak has run its course, they did report Friday that for the fourth week in a row, no states had widespread flu [...]

Medication Adherence Varies Between Races

admin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:27:24 +0000

Elderly black Americans use fewer medications than whites and are more likely to skip taking their meds, a new study finds. It included 100 black and 100 white patients, aged 60 and older, who were interviewed at the start of the study, and again six months and one year later. Overall, whites used more medications, had more [...]

How to Protect Yourself from Swine Flu

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:10:30 +0000

The new swine flu is scary, no doubt about it. But here’s the information you need to better understand the illness and the ways you can protect yourself and your family from infection. Understanding the Swine Flu Virus Human influenza, or the “flu,” is a viral infection that usually occurs seasonally and is transmitted between people. The [...]

U.S. panel to weigh safety of AstraZeneca’s Crestor

admin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:06:32 +0000

U.S. regulators see benefits to using an AstraZeneca Plc cholesterol drug in a vast new group of patients but will ask outside advisers to probe various safety issues, documents released on Friday said. AstraZeneca wants permission to promote the Crestor drug, for preventing heart disease in people with normal cholesterol levels but other risk factors based [...]

Number of US diabetics to double in 25 years

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:53:32 +0000

The number of Americans with diabetes will nearly double over the next 25 years, rising from 23.7 million in 2009 to 44.1 million in 2034, according to a study by the University of Chicago. In the same period, medical costs associated with treating the disease will triple from 113 billion dollars to 336 billion dollars, even [...]

CDC warns: Holiday could bring more swine flu

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:58:10 +0000

ATLANTA – Let us give thanks — and pass the Purell. Your family might be sharing more than turkey and pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving. Swine flu may also be on the table — and at crowded airports and shopping malls. Just as the pandemic seems to be waning around the country, some health officials are worried that [...]

Weight May Not Drive Racial Disparities in Colon Cancer

admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:58:11 +0000

MONDAY, Nov. 23 (HealthDay News) — Body weight and co-existing health problems don’t explain why black colon cancer patients have lower survival rates than whites, U.S. researchers say. In an effort to determine why blacks have lower survival rates than whites for nearly all cancers, including colon cancers, investigators have explored a variety factors, such as [...]