CLINICAL NEWS
Don’t Lose Sleep Over Surgeon’s Graveyard Shift
Rest assured that surgeons who
work the night before a daytime
procedure don’t cause their patients any harm – despite concerns
that sleep loss could negatively
impact daytime performance, according to a report published in The
New England Journal of Medicine.
38,978 patients were included in
the retrospective study: 19,489
patients who were treated by a
physician who worked from
12 a.m. to 7 a.m. the night before
a daytime procedure, and 19,489
patients who were treated by a
physician who had not worked after
midnight.
The risks of death, readmission, or
complication within 30 days after
the procedure were similar between
the control group (■) and postmidnight group (■):
Another Reason to Tie
the Knot…
Getting (and staying) married may
increase the chances of survival for
younger patients with acute myeloid
leukemia (AML), according to a report
published in Cancer.
In an analysis of data from 5,541
patients with AML younger than
65 years, compared with married
patients, the risk of premature
death was:
The report also found that insurance status and income affected the
chances of survival: Medicaid-insured
and uninsured patients had 21% and
23% higher risks of premature death,
respectively, and patients with household incomes higher than the national
median had a 9% lower risk.
“As physicians, we often emphasize
more of the biology of the cancer,
especially with the recent focus on personalized medicine,” said lead author
Luciano Jose Costa, MD, PhD. “But
we need to pay the same attention to
resources available to our patients, as
this greatly impacts their chances to
survive leukemia.”
Source: Borate U, Mineishi S, Costa LJ. Nonbiological factors affecting survival in younger
patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Cancer.
2015 September 14. [Epub ahead of print]
3,543 3,527
(18.2%) (18.1%)
20
15
10
1,385
1,287
(7.1%)
(6.6%)
5
222 224
(1.1%) (1.1%)
0
Death
Cutting Cost-Cutting
Readmission
Complication
Source: Govindarajan A, Urbach DR, Kumar M, et al. Outcomes
of daytime procedures performed by attending surgeons after
night work. N Engl J Med. 2015;373;845-53.
Fewer Americans are forgoing medical care because they
could not afford it, according to an analysis from the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In 2014, 1 in 20 Americans (or 4.4%) said they
skipped out on medical care they needed last
year due to cost. That’s down from 5.9% in 2013,
and the lowest percentage in 16 years, according
to the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey.
FOR SINGLE PATIENTS
23%
HIGHER
The survey, which was conducted among
people of all ages between January and March
2015, does not offer an explanation of why
fewer people are avoiding medical care because
of costs, but the decrease does coincide with
two significant changes in the American healthcare environment: increased access and affordability of health insurance under the Affordable
Care Act and the expansion of Medicaid in
some states.
4.4%
skipped out on
medical care due to cost.
Source: Clarke TC, Ward BW, Freeman G, et al. Early release of selected estimates based on data from the January-March 2015 National Health Interview
Survey. September 2015.
FOR DIVORCED PATIENTS
15%
HIGHER
FOR WIDOWED PATIENTS
16%
HIGHER
Digging for Evidence
of Leukemia
Examination of skeletal remains
from a woman alive during Europe’s
Neolithic Age suggests that she
battled a disease that is still prevalent today: leukemia.
Paleontologists believe that, at 7,000
years old, this may be the oldest case of the
blood cancer yet recorded.
A detailed CT-scan analysis of the 30- to 40-yearold woman’s bones, simply called G61, found “an
unusual loosening of the interior bone tissue” that
are home to blood-forming stem cells, suggestive of
leukemia, the researchers explained. None of the other
specimens found at the site showed this pattern.
Source: Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment
news release, August 31, 2015.
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