http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The nation's more than 2,900 nonprofit hospitals are facing new requirements to qualify for federal tax-exempt status under the Affordable Care Act, including producing a Community Health Needs Assessment that identifies local health needs. With obesity affecting more than one-third of adults and 17 percent of children in the United States, the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance released five research-based, consensus recommendations today to help guide nonprofit hospitals in developing programs that address obesity in their communities. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-obesity-alliance-nonprofit-hospitals-chb.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:38:26 EST news286533490 Bariatric surgery is a well-documented treatment for obesity that leads to considerable weight loss and health improvement, but is the surgery successful in the long run in reducing costs associated with medical care for obesity? A team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and School of Medicine recently undertook a multi-year analysis of health insurance claims data to examine this question and found that although the procedure's success rate is well documented, it does not have a similar impact on health care costs. The findings were released in the February 20 online edition of the journal JAMA Surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-bariatric-surgery-impact-medical-obesity.html Surgery Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:00:04 EST news280598099 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer are two of the most important smoking-related diseases worldwide, with a huge combined mortality bur¬den. Many consider the presence of COPD itself to be an independent risk factor for lung cancer. Others argue that smoking contributes to both COPD and lung cancer. A recent study published in the January 2013 issue of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's (IASLC) Journal of Thoracic Oncology, concludes that COPD is not an independent risk factor for lung cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-copd-independent-factor-lung-cancer.html Cancer Sat, 15 Dec 2012 15:25:39 EST news274807533 Commonly prescribed sleeping pills/sedatives may increase the risk of contracting pneumonia by as much as 50% and increase the risk of dying from it, suggests research published online in the journal Thorax. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-widely-sedativessleeping-pills-linked-fatal.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:30:02 EST news273947791 GPs and other primary care professionals need to warn parents about safely storing medicines and other hazardous household products in an effort to cut the number of poisonings among pre-school children, a study has said. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-advice-parents-poisoning-toddlers.html Health Mon, 03 Dec 2012 06:56:08 EST news273740101 Two studies from UNICEF, forming The Lancet Series on equity in child survival, health, and nutrition, provide compelling evidence for the strategic importance of focusing global health improvement efforts on the poorest and hardest to reach children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-unicef-highlight-importance-equity-maternal.html Health Wed, 19 Sep 2012 18:30:04 EST news267291141 (HealthDay) -- Among patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC), those with pre-existing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) for longer than five years have an increased mortality risk, according to a study published online Aug. 1 in Cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-long-term-diabetes-ups-pancreatic-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:27:15 EST news264259581 Treatment with glucose-lowering thiazolidinedione drugs in patients with Type 2 diabetes appears to be associated with an increased risk of diabetic macular edema (a complication that may affect vision) at 1-year and 10-year follow-up evaluations, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-thiazolidinedione-patients-diabetes-diabetic-macular.html Diabetes Mon, 11 Jun 2012 16:01:45 EST news258649293 Noting the "unprecedented opportunity" provided under the Affordable Care Act, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, and other recently enacted federal laws, the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System today unveiled a community-based plan to enhance health and reduce spending by improving care for chronically ill patients and targeting quality improvement efforts to conditions that can yield the greatest benefit in a relatively short time. The Health Improvement Community initiative proposed by the Commission has the potential to help those who most need more coordinated care and save $184 billion in health spending over the next 10 years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-commission-unveils-health-billion-decade.html Health Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:39:03 EST news254633934 Researchers from Indiana University and the Regenstrief Institute have developed an automated system to help enable pediatricians to focus on the specific health needs of each patient in the short time allotted for preventive care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-iu-regenstrief-automated-aims-child.html Health Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:58:26 EST news253799899 Organizations in the Chicago area report an increase of health-improvement and wellness programs according to a survey conducted in September 2011 by Aon Hewitt in partnership with Rush Health. The survey results will be released at the 9th annual Employer Symposium at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago on Thursday, March 22. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-employer-sponsored-wellness.html Health Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:56:31 EST news251632575 (Medical Xpress) -- A new study published in the British Medical Journal suggests that people who have been diagnosed with heart disease and placed on a daily aspirin dose are at an increased risk of a heart attack if they stop taking the aspirin. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-daily-aspirin-routine-heart.html Cardiology Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:39:19 EST news230485149