Concerns Also Expressed About Impact of '08 Budget on Medicare Recipients in Need of Medical Rehabilitation Care CRYSTAL CITY, Va., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Researchers presented findings today at the State of the Science Symposium on Post-Acute Rehabilitation in Crystal City demonstrating that the setting for rehabilitative care directly influences the outcome for patients recovering from strokes, joint replacement operations, and other conditions. The findings highlighted the need for evidence-based research to drive public-policy decisions for Medicare recipients in need of post-acute rehabilitation services. Researchers also expressed concern about the impact of the proposed 2008 budget on Medicare beneficiaries who are in need of rehabilitative care to recover from a stroke, joint replacement surgery, hip fracture, and other illnesses. The findings were discussed at a press conference today at the opening of the symposium in Crystal City, Virginia. The symposium opened with remarks from Senator Bob Dole.
ASA: Stroke Symptoms in Women Often Atypical - CME Teaching Brief- MedPage Today
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 8 -- Women do not always show textbook examples of stroke symptoms to emergency department physicians, researchers said here.
In a study of more than 1,700 patients with confirmed stroke, women were 33% less likely than men to have any of the five classical warning signs as the chief complaint, said Julia W. Gargano, M.S., of Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Lonely Souls Susceptible to Alzheimer's Disease - CME Teaching Brief - MedPage Today
CHICAGO, Feb. 5 -- Older men and women who are lonely are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's-type dementia as their peers with good social networks, researchers have found.
The elevated risk for dementia among the lonely was unrelated to medical causes for Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia, suggesting that the social isolation may lead to dementia by another route, wrote Robert S. Wilson, Ph.D., and colleagues at Rush University here and the University of Pennsylvania.
Action Points
* Explain to patients who ask that the link between loneliness and increased risk for dementia is unclear, but may be related to behavioral changes brought on by dementia, or by changes in brain function caused by reaction to social isolation.
"The basis of the association of loneliness with Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline is uncertain," the investigators wrote in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. "One possibility is that loneliness is a consequence of dementia, perhaps as a behavioral reaction to diminished cognition or as a direct result of the pathology contributing to dementia."
First Time May Be Charm for Anti-Epileptic Drugs - CME Teaching Brief� - MedPage Today
GLASGOW, Scotland, Feb. 5 -- About half of adults with newly diagnosed epilepsy will have good control of their seizures with the first medication tried, and a majority of responders will be seizure free at the lowest dose, reported European investigators.
Action Points
* Explain to patients who ask this study indicates that either of two drugs -- controlled-release carbamazepine (Carbatrol) or levetiracetam (Keppra) -- is effective at preventing recurring seizures in adults who are newly diagnosed with epilepsy.
In a double-blind trial comparing Keppra (levetiracetam) with Carbatrol (controlled-release carbamazepine) in such patients, nearly three-fourths of those randomized to either medication were seizure-free on the last evaluated dose for at least six months, reported Martin J. Brodie, M.D., of the Western Infirmary here, and colleagues, in the Feb. 6 issue of Neurology.
Striking Disparities in ER Evaluation of Chest-Pain - CME Teaching Brief - MedPage Today
MILWAUKEE, Feb. 2 -- When patients with chest pain arrive at the emergency department, they may get profiled, before decisions are made on care, by race, female gender, and insurance coverage, found a national study by researchers here.
Action Points
* Explain to interested patients that although this study contributes to the growing literature on disparities in the provision of cardiac care, the study could not determine the clinical outcome of the disparities, or the cause or appropriateness of these differences.
A retrospective study of 7,068 patients, corresponding to more than 32 million such visits annually, found differences in who gets ECGs and x-rays as well as cardiac rhythm and oxygen saturation monitoring using pulse oximetry, said a study published in the February issue of Academic Emergency Medicine.
News - Guidelines to Address Support of Families in the ICU
DES PLAINES, IL -- February 1, 2007 -- Clinical practice guidelines on supporting families whose loved ones are patients in intensive care units (ICU) will be published in the February issue of Critical Care Medicine and available on the Society of Critical Care Medicine's website www.LearnICU.org.
This is the first set of guidelines that defines standards for incorporating families into decision-making and care for ICU patients. "The guidelines attempt to define evidence-based best practices for support of families in the delivery of patient-centered care in the ICU," says Judy E. Davidson, RN, FCCM, chairperson of the American College of Critical Care Medicine task force and the lead author of the guidelines. "It is now known that up to 80% of family members of ICU patients develop anxiety, depression and/or post-traumatic stress response related to their experience."