If regular mammograms really saved lives, they ought to show lower death rates in a big systematic study. But they didn’t, in the latest and biggest research study, published this week, on this once sacrosanct pillar of preventive medicine. The numbers say it all. Some 90,000 Canadian women were assigned by a coin flip into….
Continue ReadingPreventive Care
Jenny McCarthy Gets a Wider Audience for Her Misinformed Ideas About Vaccinations
Dr. Oz and his fuzzy-science peers will have more company later this year. Jenny McCarthy will be joining “The View,” the afternoon talk show that often deals with topical issues, and thinking people are wondering how long it will take before she spreads her contagious misinformation. McCarthy, as described by The Daily Beast, is a….
Continue ReadingGender Matters in Virtual Colonoscopy
Good news for women on the colonoscopy front: A study published in the journal Cancer found that women can wait five to ten years longer than men to be screened for colorectal cancer if they undergo an initial virtual colonoscopy. As we blogged earlier this year, colonoscopy is an invasive procedure whose risks for many….
Continue ReadingMobile Health Screenings Can Be Bad Medicine
An ounce of prevention might be worth a pound of cure, but applying that proverb too broadly is just bad medicine. Look before you leap is a much wiser approach to mobile medical screenings, as shown earlier this month in a story by Kaiser Health News and the Washington Post. Health-care facilities (mainly hospitals) seeking….
Continue ReadingAdult Vaccinations: Overlooked and Underappreciated
Despite the overwhelming evidence in favor of childhood vaccinations, there’s been a lot of buzz lately about their safety and scheduling. Lost in all that chatter is the fact that the rate for adult vaccinations is lower than that for children, and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), unacceptably low. We’re….
Continue ReadingMore Doubt Cast on the Value of Annual Checkups
The New York Times’ venerable health columnist Jane Brody recently wrote about the advisability of the annual physical checkup. It’s a topic we’ve covered, too, reaching mostly the same conclusion: In most cases, an annual doctor examination is a poor use of time, money and medical resources. As Brody points out, trying to figure out….
Continue ReadingYard Spray to Prevent Lyme Disease Flunks Out
Lyme disease, a bacterial illness transmitted by the bite of a deer tick, is a major health concern in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Health agencies are keen to prevent it, but some people believe that a government program to do so might be worse than the illness. The story is another example of how….
Continue ReadingThe Annual Physical Takes Another Hit
Health care experts have been saying for 30 years — ever since a Canadian comprehensive study — that the annual physical exam is useless and even counter-productive, turning up false alarms that subject patients to unnecessary and even dangerous further testing. Now an article by a physician journalist in the New York Times sums up….
Continue ReadingHow to Prevent Breast Cancer Is Still a Puzzle
Most of the recent media conversation about breast cancer prevention has concerned the topic of screening, and whether and when mammography is routinely appropriate. Last week, the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a National Academy of Science panel that advises government and the public on issues of health and medicine, garnered front-page headlines with its study….
Continue ReadingPSA Test for Prostate Cancer Hurts More than Helps
No healthy man should get the PSA blood test to screen for prostate cancer, says the influential US Preventive Services Task Force in a new, strongly worded recommendation. As readers of this blog know, this recommendation has been a long time coming. Prostate removal surgery, even in the most skilled hands, has a high rate….
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