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After a rigourous review of literature, this task force made the following recommendations:

• Routine screening mammography in women aged 40 to 49 years is not recommended. The decision to start regular, biennial screening mammography before the age of 50 years should be an individual one and take patient context into account, including the patient’s values regarding specific benefits and harms.
  Grade: C recommendation (Means there is at least modest certainty for recommending against)
• Screening mammography in women aged 50 to 74 should be done every other year.
  Grade: B recommendation (Means there is at least moderate benefit for recommending this)
• Current evidence is insufficient to assess the additional benefits and harms of screening mammography in women 75 years or older
  Grade: I recommendation (Means we don’t have enough evidence to say for or against)
• The task force recommends against teaching breast self-examination (BSE).
  Grade: D recommendation (Means there is moderate to high certainty for recommending against)

USPSTF has no obligation to the Government or any entity regarding their recommendation. It is just based on latest body of evidence. One may think that how a screening test can be harmful. In fact the evidence concludes that risks are real. A test can trigger unnecessary further tests, like biopsies, that can create extreme anxiety and pain. And mammograms can find lesions that grow so slowly that they never would be noticed in a woman’s lifetime, resulting in unnecessary treatment.

However, if one have risk factors for breast cancer, such as, family hostory of breast cancer, nulliparous, late menopause, dense fibrocystic breast, etc, the risk of added testing may be weighed against finding cancer earlier. Such benefir-risk assessment should be done individually on patient-by-patient basis.

We hope such recommendations does not affect insurance coverage for yearly mammogram who may need it due to higher risks for breast cancer. Per the White House blog, Dan Pfeiffer, the deputy communications director, wrote that women who are currently getting mammograms under Medicare will continue to be able to get them. (Published in NY Times – November 19, 2009).

Only time will tell the real implications…

Source:

• USPSTF Recommendation Statement for Screening for Breast Cancer
• American Cancer Society: Breast Cancer
• NY Times: November 19, 2009 – “Screening Policy Won’t Change – US Officials Says”

=========

Latest update fro m New England Journal of Medicine (11/30/2009):

On Mammography – More Agreement than Disagreement. This article summarizes the conflict very nicely.

=========

Be concerned and participate in breast cancer walk promoting awareness about the disease.

The fatty buildup or plaque can break open and lead to the formation of a blood clot that seals the break. The clot reduces blood flow. When too little blood reaches the heart, the condition is called ischemia which is a reversible process. During ischemia, chest pain, or angina, may occur. The pain can vary in occurrence and be mild and intermittent, or more pronounced and steady. It can be severe enough to make normal everyday activities difficult. The same inadequate blood supply also may cause no symptoms, a condition called silent ischemia.

If a blood clot suddenly cuts off most or all blood supply to the heart, a heart attack results which if not treat immediately can lead of death of heart muscles that does not get the oxygen-carrying blood. The more time that passes without treatment to restore blood flow, the greater the damage to the heart.

Each year, about 1.1 million Americans suffer a heart attack. About 460,000 of those heart attacks are fatal.

Fortunately, we can prevent many of these heart attack from occuring. But this requires some proactive approach to improve health and wellbeing. We first need to understand all those risk factors. Some of the risk factors for heart attack are beyond your control, but most can be modified to help you lower your risk of having a first–or repeat–heart attack.

Factors you cannot control

• Pre-existing coronary heart diseases, including a previous heart attack, a prior angioplasty or bypass surgery, or angina
• Age-In men, the risk increases after age 45; in women, the risk increases after age 55.
• Family history of early heart disease-a father or brother diagnosed before age 55; or a mother or sister diagnosed before age 65.

Factors you can control

• Smoking.
• High blood pressure.
• High blood cholesterol.
• Overweight and obesity.
• Physical inactivity.
• Diabetes.

What should I do to prevent the heart attack? (Checklist)

• Get your blood work done periodically because this is the only way to know if you have high cholesterol or high sugars.
• Get your blood pressure check periodically because people usually does not have have any pain when you have high blood pressure. If you don’t get it checked, you may never know that you have high blood pressure.
• If you don’t already know, then find out if you parents had any history of heart disease or heart attack at an young age.
• Stop smoking if you have not already done so. (Also see Short Guide to Quitting Smoking, What products are there to help me quit smoking)
• Limit your intake of salt, fatty foods, concentrated sweets and sweetened beverages (Also see Weight Loss and Exercise can lower your blood pressure, )
• Eat breakfast daily which should consists of soluble fiber, bran, multi-grain and protein. Avoid energy-dense foods
• Be physically active for at least 45 minutes daily (Also see Tips on improving physical activity on daily basis)
• If you have diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol and you take any medications, please make sure to take them regularly. By controlling you sugars, cholesterol and blood pressure even with the medications can help you avoid you risk for heart attack

Additional Resources:

• Interactive Tutorial explaining the heart attack.
• Heart Risk Calculator
• The DASH Diet for Hypertension
• The New American Heart Association Cookbook, 7th Edition
• American Heart Association Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol Cookbook, 4th edition: Delicious Recipes to Help Lower Your Cholesterol

References:

• National Heart Lung and Blood Institute – Heart and Vascular Diseases
• American Heart Association

Get low cost books on cardiovascular disease and heart conditions at Valore college books.

Is it contagious?

This infection is contagious and can spread from human to human. However, at this time, it is not known how easily the virus spreads between people. Infected people may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick. You may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 7 or more days after becoming sick.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions. There have reported developement of pneumonia and respiratory failure from swine flu in very limited number of cases in past.

One should also be aware that the Cold (caused by another virus) also have similar symptoms as Flu (Refer to Cold vs Flu). Flu symptoms are usually more severe than cold.

Is there a treatment for Swine Flu?

There are antiviral medicines you can take to prevent or treat swine flu. There is no vaccine available right now to protect against swine flu.

What should one do to prevent it?

You can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza by

• Covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Washing your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. You can also use alcohol-based hand cleaners.
• Avoiding touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Trying to avoid close contact with sick people.
• Staying home from work or school if you are sick.

For more information:

• Swine Flu Infection Count in United States – (CDC)
• Swine Flu Video – (CDC)
• Swine Flu Public Service Announcements (CDC)
• Preventing the Flu: Good health habits can help stop germs (CDC)

Swine Flu Updates:

Source:

• CDC Swine Flu
• WHO Swine Flu

Adults age 20 and older who are overweight or obese (BMI > 25)

All adults: 133.6 million (66 percent) – ABOUT 2/3rd of U.S. Adults!
Women: 65 million (61.6 percent)
Men: 68.3 million (70.5 percent)

Adults age 20 and older who are obese (BMI > 30)?

All adults: 63.6 million (31.4 percent) – Nearly 1/3rd of U.S. Adults!
Women: 35 million (33.2 percent)
Men: 28.6 million (29.5 percent)

Prevalence of overweight or obesity in minorities

Among women, the age-adjusted prevalence of overweight or obesity (BMI > 25) in racial and ethnic minorities is higher among non-Hispanic Black and Mexican-American women than among non-Hispanic White women. Among men, there is little difference in prevalence among these three groups. Sufficient data for other racial and ethnic minorities has not yet been collected.

Non-Hispanic Black Women: 79.6 percent
Mexican-American Women: 73 percent
Non-Hispanic White Women: 57.6 percent

Non-Hispanic Black Men: 67 percent
Mexican-American Men: 74.6 percent
Non-Hispanic White Men: 71 percent
(Statistics are for populations age 20 and older.)

Studies using this definition of overweight and obesity provide ethnicity-specific data only for these three racial and ethnic groups.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents

While there is no generally accepted definition for obesity as distinct from overweight in children and adolescents, the prevalence of overweight* is increasing for children and adolescents in the United States. Approximately 17.5 percent of children (age 6 to 11) and 17 percent of adolescents (age 12 to 19) were overweight in 2001 to 2004.

Source:National Center for Health Statistics. Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans. Health, United States, 2006. Hyattsville, MD: Public Health Service. 2006.
http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/index.htm