| Don't short-change other conditions during cancer care
Q: My dad was just diagnosed with cancer in addition to a heart condition and diabetes. Should cancer treatments now be his major focus for medical care? A: Like your father, many others who are older face other diseases when they are diagnosed with cancer. Experts estimate that more than half of patients diagnosed with cancer are dealing with another chronic condition such as hypertension, osteoporosis, lung disease, heart conditions and diabetes. In medical lingo, these secondary illnesses are tagged as comorbid, meaning they can form a type of partnership, each contributing toward poorer survival rates. Six out of 10 cancer cases are among those 65 years old or older, who often contend with two and more chronic conditions. As a result, this comorbidity factor will continue to run high among the elderly.
Pushing pills
In a single evening, you can see 15 or more advertisements for prescription drugs. Over the course of a year, you'll see about 16 hours of drug ads - far more time than you're likely to spend with your primary care doctor. The ads will help you decide whether your difficulty concentrating arises from insomnia, depression, restless leg syndrome, allergies, erectile dysfunction, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, high cholesterol, toenail fungus or social anxiety disorder. If you're like many people, you'll see something in one of those commercials that vaguely matches the way you sometimes feel. More important, you'll want to get your hands on the pill that makes you look and feel like the people at the end of the commercial: happy, successful, lucky, well-rested and free of horrifying mustard-colored lice-like creatures tearing up the tender skin underneath your toenails.
Hip Fractures Not Caused By Sedative Use After All, Study Suggests
Science Daily Benzodiazepine use was not shown to be associated with hip fractures after all, according to a new study from the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention (of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care). Previous epidemiological studies suggesting an association have been used to support legislation and policy decisions that limit access to these drugs among the elderly. These policies may need to be reexamined based on these new findings, which are being published in the Jan. 16 Annals of Internal Medicine. .
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