Cheers: More heart help for women
Nearly 460,000 American women die each year from heart disease, stroke, or other cardiovascular diseases. Fortunately, a bipartisan group of legislators is aiming to reduce this terrible toll with the Heart disease, Education, Research and Analysis, and Treatment (HEART) for Women Act.
The legislation would, among other things, educate both women and doctors about the most effective prevention and treatment strategies and make low-income, uninsured women in all 50 states eligible for a federal screening program.
Jeers: Too many sleeping pills?
Sleeping pills can be superhelpful. But a nearly threefold increase in their use among an age group that doesnt usually need much help sleeping, 18 to 24-year-olds, seems like a wake-up call. The numbers, from a study by MarketScan Research Databases, indicate that roughly 1 in 65 young people now uses a sleep aid. And the pills popularity seems to be ageless: There was also a 50 percent increase in use among all adults under 45 during the past decade.
Jeers: The war on cancer needs financial aid
More than one in six Americans with cancer dont get the treatment they need due to unmanageable health-care costs, according to a report by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. A majority of these 2 million patients have insurance, but they cant afford the costs of deductibles and co-pays.
Jeers: Docs ignore kids obesity
One-third of American children have weight problems, but only one in three of them is diagnosed as obese or overweight. That means more than 8 million kids arent getting the early intervention they need to prevent diabetes, high blood pressure, and other weight-related ailments, according to a study by The MetroHealth System and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland. The good news: Increasing use of electronic medical records may help doctors flag at-risk children sooner.