http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. People diagnosed with cancer are more than two-and-a-half times more likely to declare bankruptcy than those without cancer, according to a new study from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Researchers also found that younger cancer patients had two- to five-fold higher bankruptcy rates compared to older patients, and that overall bankruptcy filings increased as time passed following diagnosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-cancer-diagnosis-people-greater-bankruptcy.html Cancer Wed, 15 May 2013 16:45:29 EST news287855108 Studies have found that conditional cash transfer programs, in which governments pay citizens if they consistently practice societally beneficial behaviors, have improved pediatric health care and education in Mexico, increased HIV testing in Malawi, and reduced sexually transmitted infections in Tanzania. Public health researchers therefore investigated whether the idea could be applied to HIV risk behaviors among gay men and male sex workers in Mexico City. A new study reports not only that some members of those populations would change behavior for conditional cash payments, but the exact prices they would accept. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-incentive-price-hiv-mexico.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:31:28 EST news279199881 In order to study the effectiveness or cost effectiveness of treatments for recurrent cancer, you first have to discover the patients in medical databases who have recurrent cancer. Generally studies do this with billing or treatment codes – certain codes should identify who does and does not have recurrent cancer. A recent study published in the journal Medical Care shows that the commonly used data determinants of recurrent cancer may be misidentifying patients and potentially leading researchers astray. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-common-recurrent-cancer-broken.html Cancer Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:18:59 EST news276358731 Low-wage workers, who make up a large and growing share of the U.S. workforce, are especially vulnerable to financial hits that can result from on-the-job injuries and illnesses, according to a policy brief released today by researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS). The policy brief, "Mom's off Work 'Cause She Got Hurt: The Economic Impact of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses in the U.S.'s Growing Low-Wage Workforce," was released along with a white paper showing that such workplace injuries and illnesses cost the nation more than $39 billion in 2010. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-policy-impact-occupational-injuries-illnesses.html Health Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:48:48 EST news274628921 More people are better off thanks to the impact of an influx of direct-to-consumer advertising spending than they would be without those marketing efforts, according to a study recently published by Jayani Jayawardhana, an assistant professor in the University of Georgia College of Public Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-links-consumer-welfare-prescription-drug.html Medications Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:57:52 EST news273167855 An independent inquiry into the state of care for people with schizophrenia and psychosis in England is calling for a widespread overhaul of the system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-uk-people-schizophrenia-psychosis-falling.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 14 Nov 2012 06:24:53 EST news272096686 When it comes to cooking, grocery shopping and playing with children, American moms with full-time jobs spend roughly three-and-half fewer hours per day on these and other chores related to their children's diet and exercise compared to stay-at-home and unemployed mothers, reports a new paper by a Cornell University health economist. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-moms-daily-kids-diet.html Health Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:04:14 EST news265302248 The state funding of fertility treatment through public reimbursement policies has a direct influence on national birth rates. Lower levels of reimbursement are correlated with higher unmet needs for treatment, while more generous reimbursement policies increase access to treatment and may even make a measurable contribution to national birth rates. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-higher-reimbursement-positively-national-birth.html Other Mon, 02 Jul 2012 04:32:25 EST news260422336 A new study that tracked what Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD) costs Medicare during three distinct stages of patient care suggests that the government insurer could realize substantial savings through efforts to reduce the hospitalizations that occur before patients became permanent nursing home residents. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-pre-nursing-home-hospitalization-dementia-patients.html Health Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:37:17 EST news253273017 As scientists continue making breakthroughs in personalized cancer treatment, delivering those therapies in the most cost effective manner has become increasingly important. Now researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have identified new ways of doing just that, allowing more patients to benefit from this revolution in cancer care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-reveal-ways-personalized-cancer-therapies.html Cancer Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:04:20 EST news250531447 Previous studies have found that health outcomes improve during an economic downturn. Job loss means less money available for potentially unhealthy behaviors such as excessive drinking, according to existing literature on employment and alcohol consumption. A new study by health economist Michael T. French from the University of Miami and his collaborators has concluded just the opposite--heavy drinking and alcohol abuse/dependence significantly increase as macroeconomic conditions deteriorate. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-economy-alcohol-consumption.html Health Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:58:39 EST news237718521 Advance directives do have an impact on health care at the end of life, especially in regions of the country with high spending on end-of-life care, according to a University of Michigan study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-advance-palliative-medicare-end-of-life.html Health Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:50:58 EST news236965845 A study of the 5.3 million men and women seen in Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinics in a one-year period found that use of cocaine is predictive of open-angle glaucoma, the most common type of glaucoma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-cocaine-users-percent-glaucoma.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:26:25 EST news236517975 A new study in the Sept. 29, 2011, edition of the New England Journal of Medicine reports that nearly one in five nursing home residents with advanced dementia experiences burdensome transitions in the last 90 days of life, such as moving to a different facility in the last three days of life or repeat hospitalizations for expected complications of dementia in the last 90 days of life. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-dementia-patients-burdensome-transitions-days.html Health Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:42:14 EST news236454118 The estimates of the population without health insurance in the United States remained unchanged in 2010, as compared to 2009, reflecting the counteracting effects of not only the sluggish economic recovery but also the preliminary benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), says Timothy McBride, PhD, leading health economist and associate dean of public health at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-tug-of-war-economy-health-reform.html Health Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:03:44 EST news235213408 In an era of skyrocketing health-care costs and finite financial resources, health economists are increasingly called upon to determine which medical treatments are the most cost-effective. To do so, they compare the price of an intervention with the improvement it is expected to deliver. For example, a highly advanced cold medicine that costs $5,000 to deliver just one additional symptom-free day to the average patient would appear to be a less-wise investment than a new chemotherapy that costs $10,000 but delivers a year or more of life to most patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-stanford-ways-physicians-individualize-cost-effectiveness.html Other Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:32:10 EST news229710715 Birth defects are significantly more common in areas of mountaintop coal mining and are on the rise as the practice becomes more common, according to a study by researchers at Washington State University and West Virginia University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-large-birth-defects-mountaintop.html Health Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:35:52 EST news228047741