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TUESDAY, June 21, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Michigan hospitals saw a rapid decrease in the number of uninsured patients after ‘Obamacare’ helped the state expand Medicaid, researchers report.

The Healthy Michigan Plan, launched in April 2014, enrolled hundreds of thousands of low-income adults in Medicaid, the government health insurance plan, under the Affordable Care Act.

Within three months, the proportion of uninsured patients seen at the state’s 130 hospitals fell by nearly 4 percent. The proportion with Medicaid coverage rose more than 6 percent, University of Michigan researchers found.

“This is evidence that broader availability of insurance coverage for residents of Michigan is translating into coverage at the time when people are most in need of it — namely, when they are sick enough to be in the hospital,” said lead author Dr. Matthew Davis.

“The Healthy Michigan Plan appears to be shifting the balance for almost all Michigan hospitals, to have a higher proportion of patients who have insurance coverage,” Davis, a professor of health management and policy, explained in a university news release.

Overall, 94 percent of hospitals treated fewer uninsured patients. And 88 percent had more Medicaid-covered patients in the last nine months of 2014 than in the same period in the previous two years, the researchers said.

But even though more patients had coverage, hospitals did not have a sudden increase in non-elderly adult patients. There were actually slightly fewer hospitalizations statewide in the year after Medicaid expansion than in the two years before expansion, according to the study.

Some critics of Medicaid expansion feared hospitals would be swamped with pent-up demand for care, the researchers noted.

The study authors said that the findings confirm that Medicaid expansion helps relieve hospitals of the burden of caring for patients with little or no means to pay.

“When uninsured individuals are so ill they need to be hospitalized, it poses financial risks to them as well as to the hospitals that they’re admitted to,” said Davis.

“Medicaid expansion in 31 states and the District of Columbia has reduced that risk,” he added. “Meanwhile, uninsured individuals in states that haven’t expanded the program continue to face that risk — as do the hospitals there.”

The findings were published June 21 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has more on Medicaid.

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TUESDAY, June 21, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Lack of exercise is associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer and of death from the disease, two new studies suggest.

“Women may be overwhelmed with mixed messages about physical activity or exercise recommendations and opt to be inactive because they feel that they cannot meet the recommended amount of physical activity,” said Kirsten Moysich, senior author of both studies.

“Our findings suggest that any amount of regular, weekly recreational physical activity may reduce the risk for and improve survival from ovarian cancer, while a lack of regular exercise throughout adulthood is associated with an increased risk of developing and dying from ovarian cancer,” Moysich, a professor of oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, in Buffalo, N.Y., said in an institute news release.

In one study, the researchers analyzed data from more than 8,300 ovarian cancer patients and more than 12,600 women without ovarian cancer. Those who said they had done no recreational physical activity during their lives were 34 percent more likely to develop ovarian cancer than those who exercised regularly, the researchers found.

The link between inactivity and a higher risk of ovarian cancer was seen in both normal-weight women and those who were overweight or obese, according to the study. The findings were recently published online in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

The other study of more than 6,800 ovarian cancer patients found that women who were inactive in the years before the diagnosis were 22 percent to 34 percent more likely to die of the disease than those who had done at least some regular weekly exercise. Again, this was true in both normal-weight women and those who were overweight or obese.

The study was published online June 14 in the British Journal of Cancer.

“While the current evidence regarding the association between different amounts of physical activity and ovarian cancer remains mixed, our findings demonstrate that chronic inactivity may be an important independent risk and prognostic factor for ovarian cancer,” said Rikki Cannioto, first author of both studies and a research affiliate at the cancer institute.

Less than 45 percent of ovarian cancer patients survive five years, the researchers said in background notes. While these studies can’t prove that exercise would prevent these cancer deaths, they suggest regular exercise could be of benefit.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more on ovarian cancer.

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TUESDAY, June 21, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Lower activity of a specific gene may affect a person’s social behavior, including the ability to form healthy relationships, researchers say.

The OXT gene is involved in the production of oxytocin, a hormone linked with a large number of social behaviors in people. It’s sometimes referred to as the “love hormone.”

The University of Georgia team assessed more than 120 people, conducting genetic tests and assessments of social skills, brain structure and brain function.

The investigators found that those with lower activity of the OXT gene had a harder time recognizing emotional facial expressions and tended to be more anxious about their relationships with loved ones.

These low-OXT people also had less activity in brain regions associated with social thinking. And they had less gray matter in an area of the brain important for face processing and social thinking, the study found.

“All of our tests indicate that the OXT gene plays an important role in social behavior and brain function,” lead author Brian Haas, an assistant professor of psychology, said in a university news release.

These are preliminary findings and further studies are needed, but this research could lead to new and better treatments for a number of social disorders, Haas said.

The study was published June 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

More information

The American Psychological Association has more on oxytocin.

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MONDAY, June 20, 2016 (HealthDay News) — No amount of lead exposure is safe for children, and stricter regulations are needed to protect youngsters from this serious health threat, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says.

There’s growing evidence that even low levels of lead exposure previously considered safe can cause permanent mental, behavioral and school problems in children, according to the pediatricians’ group.

Identifying and eliminating lead sources before exposure occurs is the only reliable way to protect children from this danger, the AAP said. This requires stricter regulations, more federal resources and joint action by government officials and doctors, according to the updated AAP recommendations.

“We now know that there is no safe level of blood lead concentration for children, and the best ‘treatment’ for lead poisoning is to prevent any exposure before it happens,” Dr. Jennifer Lowry said in an academy news release. She is chair of the AAP Council on Environmental Health and an author of the policy statement.

“Most existing lead standards fail to protect children. They provide only an illusion of safety. Instead, we need to expand the funding and technical guidance for local and state governments to remove lead hazards from children’s homes, and we need federal standards that will truly protect children,” Lowry said.

The AAP added that new federal standards defining and testing for lead hazards in house dust, water and soil are needed. The group also wants to see laws that require removal of lead from contaminated housing and child care facilities, and that lead concentrations in water from school water fountains are not higher than 1 part per billion.

Until recently, children were considered to have a blood lead “level of concern” if they had a concentration of 10 or more micrograms per deciliter of blood. But evidence now suggests that problems begin at levels less than half that amount. Those problems can include lower IQ scores, poorer school performance, inattention, impulsivity, aggression and hyperactivity, the AAP said.

Protecting children from lead would save billions of dollars yearly in costs associated with lead exposure, the AAP said. For example, every $1 invested to reduce lead hazards in housing units would save society $17 to $221. The AAP said that benefit is comparable to that of childhood vaccines.

Even though lead is no longer used in gasoline, paint and many other consumer products, many sources of lead exposure still remain. For example, about 37 million U.S. homes have lead-based paint, according to the doctors’ group. The AAP said other sources include contaminated soil and water, and certain toys, hobby materials, dishware, vinyl mini-blinds and other items.

Pediatricians and other primary care providers should screen children for elevated lead levels if they are between 1 to 2 years of age and live in areas where 25 percent or more of housing was built before 1960, the AAP recommended.

The AAP also advises monitoring of children with blood lead concentrations of more than 5 micrograms per deciliter.

The recommendations were published online June 20 in the journal Pediatrics.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on lead.

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By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, June 20, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Close to 2 million U.S. children and teens may suffer concussions annually, say researchers who add that the prevalence of head injuries among American youth has been underestimated for years.

Using data from hospitals, doctor visits and athletic trainers, the investigators estimated between 1 million and 1.9 million concussions occur annually among kids aged 18 and younger due to sports and recreation injuries.

But more than half a million of these head injuries aren’t seen in emergency rooms or by physicians, which is why official tallies are usually too low, they noted.

“There is a lot of uncertainty in how many concussions from sports and recreation occur each year because many concussions are not reported,” explained lead researcher Dr. Mersine Bryan, a pediatrician at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital.

“Better surveillance for concussions due to sports and recreational activities is needed, so we can understand how kids are getting concussions and ways we can prevent concussions,” Bryan added.

These head injuries are often serious. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a blow to the head resulting in concussion can stretch and damage brain cells and create chemical changes in the brain.

For this study, researchers used three national databases to try to target the total number of childhood concussions. Other research has typically been limited to high school head injuries or ER visits, they noted.

They found that among children diagnosed with concussion, nearly 378,000 were seen by doctors; from 115,000 to 167,000 were treated in emergency rooms; and roughly 3,000 to 5,000 were hospitalized, the researchers found.

But between 500,000 and 1.2 million concussions were reported to certified athletic trainers, the researchers added. These accounted for 23 percent to 53 percent of sports- and recreation-related concussions among high school students, Bryan said.

Concussions were tagged as sports-related if medical records mentioned a sport, whether the injury was from a fall, collision or another mechanism. Head injuries were deemed recreation-related if they occurred in playground-type settings or during activities such as bicycling or skateboarding.

One brain specialist said that even these new estimates are likely way too low.

Dr. John Kuluz, director of traumatic brain injury and neurorehabilitation at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, said doctors’ coding errors on medical forms can result in questionable findings.

“The main problem I have with these estimates is that they are based on diagnostic codes,” he said. “Many doctors do not use the code for concussion. I see it time and again — they use a code like closed head injury, because it’s easier to click on.”

If researchers only look for the concussion code, they’ll miss a lot, Kuluz said.

A study published in May in the journal JAMA Pediatrics also found that many childhood concussions go unreported.

In that report, four out of five children were diagnosed at a primary care practice, not the emergency department.

Responding to that report, Dr. Debra Houry, a CDC injury specialist, said more must be done to track pediatric concussions treated outside the ER.

“Better estimates of the number, causes and outcomes of concussion will allow us to more effectively prevent and treat them, which is a priority area for CDC’s Injury Center,” Houry said.

Kuluz said that parents should suspect a concussion after a head injury “when their child is acting different in any way, when they are dazed or confused or dizzy — even if it’s short-lived.”

If you do suspect a concussion, take your child to an emergency room, he said.

But not every child with a bump on the head has a concussion, Kuluz said. “It’s okay to wait a day to see if the symptoms disappear. It’s not always necessary to rush your child to the emergency room,” he added.

“However, if symptoms persist or worsen, or if there is a change in their consciousness, their thinking or the way they act or are sleepy or vomiting, they should seek immediate attention,” Kuluz said.

Complete rest is essential after a concussion to help the brain heal, according to the CDC.

The report was published online June 20 in the journal Pediatrics.

More information

For more on concussion, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

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SUNDAY, June 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Heading out on a warm, sunny day? Don’t forget to cover up — with sunscreen.

“Everybody — and I mean everybody — needs sunscreen,” Dr. Jennifer Caudle a family medicine physician at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stanford, N.J., said in a university news release.

“Your ethnicity doesn’t matter; how easily you tan doesn’t matter. If you go out in the sun without sunscreen you are putting yourself at risk for melanoma, one of the deadliest forms of cancer,” she warned.

Sunscreens carry sun protection factor (SPF) numbers, which indicate how much protection they offer against the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. The higher the SPF, the greater the protection.

A broad spectrum sunscreen protects against both ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B, both of which can damage the skin and contribute to skin cancer, Caudle explained.

“And a lot of factors can affect sunscreen performance. Swimming and sweating can wash off some sunscreens and most people don’t use enough or reapply sunscreen often enough,” she said.

Many people don’t know how much sunscreen to apply.

“On average, about one ounce. That may not seem like a lot, but it’s enough to cover your palm or fill a shot glass,” Caudle said.

She added that you should reapply sunscreen at least every two hours for maximum protection even if the sunscreen label advises differently.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on sun safety.

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SATURDAY, June 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) — American seniors with diabetes are starting to live longer without disabilities, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed data from national surveys and found that adults with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes who were born in the 1940s generally became disabled at an older age than those born in the 1930s.

Still, the study also found that after age 50, those with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes had a shorter life expectancy before age 70 and more years of living with disability than those without diabetes.

“Over the past two decades, we have seen an increase in the length of good disability-free years of life in older Americans aged 50 to 70, both with and without diabetes,” said study author Dr. Barbara Bardenheier, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Our findings suggest that efforts to promote healthy lifestyles, advancements in the management of diabetes and other chronic conditions such as heart disease, and the increasing popularity of procedures such as hip and knee replacements have been successful in ‘compressing disability’ — reducing the number of years with disability into later years,” she said.

Whether the trend will continue remains to be seen, the researchers added.

The findings were published June 11 in the The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

“The chances of succumbing to type 2 diabetes are strongly connected to lifestyle. Smoking, an unhealthy diet, alcohol and physical inactivity can all take their toll,” said study co-author Dr. Edward Gregg, also of the CDC.

“Ultimately, prevention [of diabetes] will play an important role in achieving more years of healthy life free of disability,” Gregg said in a journal news release.

Dr. Evelyn Wong, from Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, wrote an editorial that accompanied the study. She explained that “this study is important as it highlights the success and advancements in the management of chronic conditions in the postponement of disability.”

However, she added, “future studies on the cost of this postponement of disability in light of the increasing prevalence of diabetes needs to be considered.”

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about diabetes.

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SATURDAY, June 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Intensive blood sugar control appears to reduce the risk of eye disease progression in people with type 2 diabetes, a new study says.

People with type 2 diabetes are at risk for the eye disease called diabetic retinopathy. This condition damages tiny blood vessels in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue in the back of the eye.

Researchers compared type 2 diabetes patients who received either intensive therapy or standard therapy to control blood sugar. To measure how well the therapy worked, people in the study had hemoglobin A1C tests. The A1C test estimates several months of blood sugar levels.

People are diagnosed with diabetes when their A1C is 6.5 percent or higher, the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease says. In general, the goal for people with type 2 diabetes is to have an A1C of less than 7 percent, according to the American Diabetes Association. But this goal can be changed, depending on someone’s individual health.

In the new study, participants on intensive therapy had average hemoglobin A1C levels of 6.4 percent when the research ended. The standard therapy group had A1C levels that averaged 7.7 percent, the researchers said.

The researchers checked the study volunteers’ eye health four years after treatment ended. At that point, A1C levels were almost the same — 7.8 for the intensive group and 7.9 for the standard group. The researchers found the risk of diabetic retinopathy progression for patients in the intensive therapy group was 6 percent. In the standard therapy group, that rate was 13 percent.

“This study sends a powerful message to people with type 2 diabetes who worry about losing vision,” said lead author Dr. Emily Chew. She is deputy director of the division of epidemiology and clinical applications at the U.S. National Eye Institute.

“Well-controlled [blood sugar] has a positive, measurable and lasting effect on eye health,” she said in an institute news release.

Previous studies have reported similar findings, the researchers said.

Almost 8 million people have diabetic eye disease in the United States. The eye condition is the leading cause of vision loss among working-age Americans, the researchers said.

The study was scheduled to be presented Saturday at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting, in New Orleans. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Eye Institute has more about diabetic retinopathy.

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Stop everything you are doing. Selena Gomez just debuted a brand new set of bangs, and if you’ve ever chickened out over getting fringe, this might just convince you to take the plunge. Simultaneously, this haircut documents what we can only assume is her millionth good hair day. Have you ever seen her with a hair don’t? Didn’t think so.

Gomez is currently on the East Coast for her Revival tour, and she was spotted last week wearing a much lighter hair shade (hey, it’s summer!), but apparently the makeover didn’t stop there.

The singer revealed her new ‘do in two very sexy snapshots for hairstylist Marissa Marino’s Instagram account.

RELATED: Behold: Selena Gomez’s Revival Tour Makeup Looks

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WEDNESDAY, June 8, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Among people with the common heart rhythm disorder known as atrial fibrillation, women are less likely than men to receive blood-thinning drugs, a new study reveals.

Blood thinners are important for people with atrial fibrillation because they help prevent stroke. Atrial fibrillation causes an irregular heartbeat.

In people with atrial fibrillation, blood doesn’t move from one part of the heart to the other as it should. Instead, the blood can pool and may clot. If a clot travels to the brain, it can cause a stroke. Blood-thinning drugs can help keep clots from forming, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

For the study, researchers reviewed data from nearly 1,600 people with atrial fibrillation. Among these patients, 55 percent of women were taking blood thinners, compared with 61 percent of men.

“The irony is that women have a higher risk of atrial fibrillation-related stroke, controlling for other risk factors such as hypertension [high blood pressure], diabetes, congestive heart failure, yet women are being undertreated,” said study investigator Dr. Mark Eckman. He is a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Cincinnati.

“There are some take-home messages. Doctors need to realize we have mental biases that women are healthier and at lower risk of stroke,” he said in a university news release.

“It’s the same story for coronary artery disease and risk of heart attacks. We think women are at lower risk and we ignore warning signs. Thus, when we are making decisions for blood-thinning therapy for patients with atrial fibrillation, we need to remember that women are at higher risk and we need to make sure we treat them aggressively enough to prevent stroke,” Eckman said.

The study was published recently in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more on atrial fibrillation.

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WEDNESDAY, June 8, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Many cancer patients can’t afford to see their doctor or take the medications they’ve been prescribed, a new study finds.

And the problem will likely only get worse as the cost of cancer treatments continues to rise, the study authors said.

“You can prescribe the best drug in the world, but if patients can’t afford it and they can’t get it, then it won’t be effective,” said study author Dr. Greg Knight. He is chief fellow with the University of North Carolina School of Medicine’s division of hematology and oncology.

“We saw a significant portion of patients in our study who were stretching their prescriptions or not coming to the doctor’s office,” Knight said in a university news release.

The researchers reviewed survey results from nearly 2,000 patients at the N.C. Cancer Hospital in Chapel Hill, N.C. The participants were all 18 and older, and had been diagnosed with cancer at least 90 days earlier.

The results showed that 26 percent of the patients said they had to pay more for medical care than they could afford. Of those patients, 18 percent said they didn’t fill prescriptions for medications and 11.5 percent said they didn’t go to doctors’ visits during the past year due to costs.

Missing a doctor’s appointment or not filling a prescription can be dangerous for cancer patients, the study authors noted.

“Patients with cancer can be on highly regimented therapy that can have significant side effects that need to be closely monitored,” Knight explained.

“These patients represent a particularly vulnerable population because of the treatments they are receiving, and require close monitoring for both response and known side effects of their treatment,” he added.

The study findings point to the need to help cancer patients locate and use support programs, the researchers said.

“From an intervention standpoint, I think the first priority is being able to identify these patients early, and the second is being able to bring all of the resources from public and private sources to patients, and intervene that way,” Knight said.

The study was presented Saturday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, in Chicago. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until they appear in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about finding and paying for treatment.

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