July 2020
Risk for Heart Failure Increased for Women Taking β-Blockers
Women taking β-blockers for hypertension have an increased risk for developing heart failure when they present to the hospital with acute coronary syndrome, according to a study published online July 10 in Hypertension. Raffaele Bugiardini, M.D., from the University of Bologna in Italy, and colleagues examined whether the effect of β-blocker therapy varies according to the...
Flu Vaccine Cuts Cardiovascular Mortality in Adults With Diabetes
Influenza vaccination may improve outcomes in patients with diabetes, according to a study published online July 9 in Diabetes Care. Daniel Modin, from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and colleagues used a nationwide register to identify patients with diabetes (defined as use of glucose-lowering medication) during nine consecutive influenza seasons (2007 to 2016). Cardiovascular outcomes...
FDA Requiring Labeling Changes for Opioid Pain Medicines, Opioid Use Disorder Medicines Regarding Naloxone
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced it is requiring that labeling for opioid pain medicine and medicine to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) be updated to recommend that as a routine part of prescribing these medicines, health care professionals should discuss the availability of naloxone with patients and caregivers, both when beginning and...
Characteristics of Fibroid Tumors in Black Women - Dr. Kim Langdon
Uterine leiomyomata (UL) are commonly known as fibroids and are the most common pelvic tumor in women. They are benign, smooth muscle tumors that arise from one muscle cell and thus the tumor is multiple clones of one cell. By 50 years of age, 70% of white women and 80% of black women have had...
Dr. Wendy McDonald: Fibroid Awareness Month and Black Women
July is fibroids awareness month, and given the health disparities associated with fibroids, it is important that we bring awareness to this condition during this time of the year. In particular, African American women and women of African descent have the highest lifetime risk of developing fibroids. According to a study published in the American...
Insulin Resistance May Add to Racial Disparity in Breast Cancer Prognosis
Tumors from black women with invasive breast cancer have higher expression of the insulin receptor June 1, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Insulin resistance is one factor mediating part of the association between race and poor prognosis in breast cancer, according to a study published online May 12 in Breast Cancer Research. Emily J. Gallagher, M.D., from...
LV Hypertrophy May Explain Racial Disparities in Heart Failure
Some of the excess risk for heart failure explained by higher prevalence of malignant LVH in blacks. A “malignant” subphenotype of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) with minimal elevations in cardiac biomarkers is associated with an increased risk for heart failure, with some of the excess risk for heart failure among blacks explained by a higher...
Black Women At Higher Risk for Fibroids. New Drug For Heavy Menstrual Bleeding May Offer Hope
According to Mcleod Health and several studies African-American women suffer fibroids 2 to 3 times more than white women. McLeod OB/GYN Dr. Monica Ploetzke stated “We also know that Black women tend to experience fibroids at a younger age and often more severely than their white counterparts.” One estimate is that 25% of African-American women...
Risk for Gastric cancer Tied to H. Pylori Infection Higher in Blacks, Asians, Hispanics/Latino
Only complete eradication of Helicobacter pylori infection, not treatment alone, will reduce the risk for developing stomach cancer, according to a study recently published in Gastroenterology. Shria Kumar, M.D., from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues evaluated data for 371,813 patients from the Veterans Health Administration (median age, 62 years;...