Health State Values for Patients with CAD Vary According to the Measure Used to Generate Them

Health State Values for Patients with CAD Vary According to the Measure Used to Generate Them

A recent study published in the journal Value in Health presents the first attempt to compare two instruments using a population with coronary artery disease (CAD) enrolled in a multinational, randomized, double-blind clinical trial.

(PRWEB) November 12, 2004

A recent study published in the journal Value in Health presents the first attempt to compare two instruments using a population with coronary artery disease (CAD) enrolled in a multinational, randomized, double-blind clinical trial. The objective of the study was to compare the calculated HUI3 and the SF-6D values in CAD patient population.

Economic evaluation of health programs consists of comparing alternative interventions in terms of costs and consequences (outcomes) in order to better inform decision makers. One such evaluation, cost-utility analysis, incorporates the measured preferences of individuals for health outcomes of the alternative interventions, using quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Utilities may be obtained from a variety of sources including the health utilities index (HUI3) or from transforming the SF-36 to a utility measure, the SF-6D. This study reports on utilities measured in a double-blind, multinational phase III clinical trial in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention prior to hospital discharge and six months thereafter. In these patients, the HUI3 and the SF-6D generated different estimates of utilities. The gain in utilities from treatment was lower when using the SF-6D. Since utilities form the basis for calculating QALYs, these differences might result in differences in conclusions about the value of the new treatment.

This study is published in Value in Health. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article please contact medicalnews@bos. blackwellpublishing. net.

About the Author

Hind T. Hatoum holds a B. S. in pharmacy, a M. S. in pharmacology and a Ph. D. in health care administration. She runs her own consulting firm that specializes in the study of health economics and quality of life as a result of drug therapy interventions. Dr. Hatoum is available for questions and interviews and can be reached at HTHatoum@aol. com.

About Value in Health

Value in Health is a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal reporting on evaluations of medical technologies including pharmaceuticals, biologics, devices, procedures, and other health care interventions. As the official journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, the Journal provides a scientific forum for communicating health economics and outcomes research methods and findings.

About Blackwell Publishing

Blackwell Publishing is the worldÂ’s leading society publisher. The company remains independent with over 900 staff members in offices in the US, UK, Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, and Japan. Blackwell publishes over 700 journals in partnership with more than 550 academic and professional societies.

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Media Claims About HRT are Inaccurate and Misleading, According to Women to Women

Media Claims About HRT are Inaccurate and Misleading, According to Women to Women

Recent headlines have proclaimed: "HRT apparently safe in younger women" and "HRT fine for younger women" -- the opposite of what women been told since the WHI study in 2002 warned women to stop taking HRT.

Portland, ME (PRWEB) April 18, 2007

Women to Women, America's leading medical clinic devoted to health care for women, by women, cautions that new headlines proclaiming HRT as safe are inaccurate and misleading. These recent headlines -- "HRT apparently safe in younger women" and "HRT fine for younger women" -- are the opposite of what women have been told since the WHI study in 2002 warned women to stop taking HRT.

"This is not a reversal of findings," says Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP, one of the founders of Women to Women. "The new study takes a second look at one aspect of the same data used in the 2002 WHI study. It shows that younger women taking HRT may have less risk for heart disease than those in the placebo group, while older women taking HRT clearly show increased risk."

"But the new study doesn't address other risks found in the original 2002 study, such as breast cancer and blood clots. Nor does it address the later findings on increased risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's," says Pick. "In fact, the new study confirmed that the most common form of HRT (estrogen with synthetic progestin) increases the risk of stroke in all age groups. So just because heart risk may be lower in women closer to menopause, that doesn't mean these women (or any other age group of women) on synthetic HRT are safe from stroke or other reported risks."

"With the proven stroke risk and without a new analysis of breast cancer risk, how can we really say synthetic hormone therapy is suddenly safe?" asks Dixie Mills, MD, renowned breast care specialist and partner in Women to Women's Personal Program. "The 2002 findings showed that women on estrogen-plus-progestin therapy were 26% more likely to suffer from breast cancer than those in the placebo group. And breast cancer risk is the main reason why I think women went off HRT in the first place," Mills says. "This risk has not changed."

Even Dr. Jacques Rossouw, the lead author on the study, agrees. "I understand that some people are going to say that we've reversed course," said Dr. Rossouw in his response to the Wall Street Journal. "The data are the data. We're saying the same things. We just have more detail."

"More research is definitely needed," says Mills. "The results do show a decrease in overall mortality risk in younger women taking synthetic HRT, but there is debate about whether these results are statistically significant." In fact, many of the positive results fail to meet the statistical standards set by the authors. And without statistical significance, the positive results could have the same chance of happening by accident as they do by a cause and effect relationship.

"What we can take away from all of this," says Pick, "is that researchers are moving toward what Women to Women has said all along. Hormonal supplementation is best the closer women are to menopause. If we look strictly at nature, it makes sense that starting supplemental hormones is not meant for women much past menopause. It isn't natural."

Pick continues by saying that "The real problem with the current headlines is that they tell women that synthetic HRT is safe. There's also a campaign by the pharmaceutical industry to convince women that there is no alternative to synthetic HRT. Neither position is true. Synthetic HRT is no safer than we thought it was before, and there are good, natural ways to find relief from menopause symptoms."

"I think women will be smarter than their doctors," says Mills, "and go with their guts on this one."

Resources

For more information on natural alternatives to synthetic HRT, see:

Hormone Replacement Therapy
Http://www. womentowomen. com/bioidentical-hrt/index. asp (http://www. womentowomen. com/bioidentical-hrt/index. asp)

Breast cancer, progestins and natural progesterone
Http://www. womentowomen. com/breasthealth/progesteronebreastcancer. asp (http://www. womentowomen. com/breasthealth/progesteronebreastcancer. asp)

References and further reading
Http://www. womentowomen. com/bioidentical-hrt/WHI2007reanalysis-references. asp (http://www. womentowomen. com/bioidentical-hrt/WHI2007reanalysis-references. asp)

About Women to Women

Women to Women is America's leading medical practice devoted to health care for women, by women. Founded over 21 years ago, it has always advocated an approach to women's health that combines the best of alternative and conventional medicine. Through its practice, website, and publications, Women to Women supports over a million women a year in their efforts to create health and well-being in their lives.

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AEGIS SOFTWARE ANNOUNCES medKM, A NEW MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT COMPANY

AEGIS SOFTWARE ANNOUNCES medKM, A NEW MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT COMPANY

Aegis Software is announcing a new affiliated company called medKM, LLC. medKM is a web-based knowledge mangement system marketed to the healthcare industry. The medKM system helps hospital staff find policy and protocol information quickly and also streamlines the process of policy authoring and collaboration.

(PRWEB) July 13, 2001

Aegis Software Inc., an IT consulting firm that services the New York Financial Industry, announced today the launch of their new affiliated company medKM, LLC. medKM offers a web-based Knowledge Management solution to be marketed exclusively to the Healthcare Industry for the purpose of managing hospital policies, training and inservicing.

MedKM was founded by Dr. Jason Adelman to increase the impact of hospital policies, protocols and clinical pathways by giving doctors and nurses an easy and quick portal to access hospital information. medKM is accessed through a secured Internet connection and browser, and boasts features such as: fast 30 second-or-less referencing; policy authoring, collaboration and publishing; policy training and inservicing to ensure employee compliance; and a management and tracking system for defining user roles, granting policy approval rights and scheduling and coordinating inservicing and training curriculum.

“medKM’s value is most appreciated in the common 3 AM emergency,” Adelman says. “As an emergency room doctor, I know that a system that can deliver critical policies and clinical information in less than 30 seconds can make all the difference in realizing a desired outcome.”

As a complement to medKM’s referencing feature, the system also gives employees the opportunity to be trained and inserviced on new and existing policies. According to Dr. Adelman, “This is especially important when it comes to preparing hospital staff for Joint Commission, new HIPAA regulations and Board of Health reviews.”

Streamlined policy authoring and collaboration is another of medKM’s major features. “Because medKM works asynchronously over the Internet, the elapsed time to update policy can be considerably shortened by precluding the need for rounds of committee meetings. When problems are identified, the elapsed time spanning identification of the problem, issuing new policy or revising existing policy, informing the hospital staff, and educating them in the underlying reasoning, is shortened from many months to a few weeks,” says Adelman, who expects to have a fully-functioning demo available in September.

MedKM can deliver its solution using a hospitalÂ’s internal systems, or as an Application Service Provider (ASP) via the Internet. The ASP solution does not require IT staff support, and will function using standard Windows Software and Browsers.

MedKM is Aegis SoftwareÂ’s second spin-off company this year. Aetrex, LLC was announced early this year to market a sophisticated trading platform to their financial clients. Aegis Software Inc. is currently ranked 104th in the Inc. 500Â’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. For more information on Aegis Software, call (212) 268-3100 or visit www. aegisoft. com. For more information on medKM, contact Dr. Jason Adelman at (212) 651-9477.

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"Healthcare Reform Begins in Kitchen," Dr. Barry Sears, Creator of the Zone Diet, Says at Major Conference

"Healthcare Reform Begins in Kitchen," Dr. Barry Sears, Creator of the Zone Diet, Says at Major Conference

Dr. Barry Sears, creator of the Zone Diet and founder of MedWell Foods, said "true health-care reform starts in the kitchen," in a keynote address at the annual Conference for Marketing Healthcare to Women, M2W-HC, in Washington DC.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) November 17, 2009

Dr. Barry Sears, creator of the Zone Diet (http://www. medwell123.com), said, "Healthcare reform begins in the kitchen because of the hormonal impact of food."

Dr. Sears made his remarks in a keynote address to healthcare executives in government, non-profit and industry at the annual Conference for Marketing Healthcare to Women, M2W-HC (http://www. m2w-hc. com). The basis of his talk was the underlying cause of our current healthcare crisis and to bring dietary solutions to women, who spend an estimated $500 billion a year on healthcare.

"Women are far more attuned to the importance of hormones than men, and the challenge is to increase the awareness how food can trigger powerful hormonal responses that directly affect health," Dr. Sears said.

As a result of increasingly inflammatory diets, America faces a financial crisis of greater magnitude than the current banking debacle, as obesity rises at an epidemic pace and related diseases from diabetes to heart problems will place an increasingly tremendous financial burden on all Americans, Dr. Sears (http://www. medwell123.com) said.

"Radical dietary changes that started 30 years ago have resulted in the activation of ancient inflammatory genes that are accelerating the development of chronic disease conditions," Dr. Sears said. "Inflammatory diets have gotten us into a nutritional mess in America. This also means that anti-inflammatory diets can reverse this trend."

One of the first places to start is to end the subsidies for corn and soybean crops, Dr. Sears (http://www. medwell123.com) said. "This has caused an abundance of cheap refined carbohydrates and vegetable oils that, when combined, increase diet-induced inflammation in millions of Americans. Dietary-induced inflammation can activate genes in people genetically predisposed to gain weight. Once that happens, weight gain happens with relative ease in those who are genetically predisposed," Dr. Sears said.

Since he wrote his first book, "The Zone," in 1995, Dr. Sears has been gratified by the large number of dedicated Zoners who follow his program. Millions of others, however, will never give up their bagels, pasta and bread, foods that are not allowed on the Zone Diet.

"It is easier to change one's religion than one's diet," Dr. Sears said.

To address this dietary reality, in 2006 Dr. Sears founded MedWell Foods to develop a new food technology, termed molecular baking (http://www. medwell123.com), to effectively change the hormone responses of the primary foods that Americans like to eat, such as bread, pizza, pasta, and pastries. The difference now is that these new foods suppress hunger as opposed to increasing hunger, he said.

"New discoveries in molecular biology demonstrate how food affects the expression of our genes, and that the current American diet is activating ancient inflammatory genes that are the underlying cause of weight gain and acceleration of chronic disease. The opportunity exists for the development of anti-inflammatory diets (http://www. medwell123.com) and anti-inflammatory processed foods that become the foundation for true health-care reform," Dr. Sears said.

MedWell Food products, which are also available at Dr. Sears' company, Zone Labs (http://www. zonediet. com), are made with patented technology that allows the formation of dough-like products that have an overall composition of one gram of fat for every two grams of protein and three grams of carbohydrates.

"This 1-2-3 ratio in the final products leads to improved control of hormonal levels that are critical in the reversal dietary-induced inflammation," he said.

Available at www. medwell123.com, or through the MedWell Customer Service Center at 866-633-7898, MedWell 1-2-3™ foods arrive fresh on a weekly basis to make breakfasts, lunches, dinners and the snacks for the next seven days at a cost of $10 per day. Zone Labs (www. ZoneDiet. com) also offers these same food products as well as other products Dr. Sears has developed.

Dr. Sears is an international authority on the hormonal responses induced by our diet. His books have sold more than five million copies in the United States and have been translated into 22 languages, providing a global foundation for the distribution of MedWell 1-2-3™ food products.

M2W®-HC™, The Conference for Marketing Healthcare to Women, was held Nov. 5 and 6, 2009, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D. C. It is the singular healthcare marketing conference focused on the powerful, women's healthcare consumer segment. This top-tier, B2B event is designed for senior level brand and agency healthcare marketers and showcases the best thinking, newest research and case studies on the women's health and wellness, enabling these key healthcare brand marketers to effectively connect with this all-important target. Visit www. m2w-hc. com for more information.

Dr. Sears and Dr. Nancy (http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/31388323/) Snyderman, chief medical editor at NBC News, were the keynote speakers at the conference. Other speakers included, Dr. Janet Taylor, a frequent contributor to CBS' "The Early Show" and NBC's "The Today Show;" and The Oprah Magazine, and Family Circle magazine's "Ask Dr. Janet." Also addressing M2W-HC were Tina Sharkey, CEO of BabyCenter, the Web's leading global interactive parenting brand; Pepper Miller, founder of The Hunter-Miller Group; and executives of Aetna Center and executives of Medicine in the Public Interest, Centers for Disease Control, Methodist Healthcare, Practice Greenhealth, Kraft, United Healthcare and Just Ask A Woman, among others.

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Learn How to ‘Eat a Rainbow’ in the April/May SheKnows Diet & Fitness Magazine

Learn How to ‘Eat a Rainbow’ in the April/May SheKnows Diet & Fitness Magazine

The April/May issue of SheKnows Diet & Fitness magazine will be available March 21, with intriging new stories like "Eat a Rainbow" and "Smile and Say Botox."

Scottsdale, AZ (PRWEB) March 17, 2006

Is it possible to eat a rainbow? It is if you think of the rainbow in terms of the broad range of colorful fruits and vegetables available in the U. S. today.

“One of our favorite stories in the second issue of SheKnows Diet & Fitness is ‘Eat a Rainbow,’" says Managing Editor Jen Wolfe. “We love it because we know that for optimum health, people need at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. The more diversely and deeply colored the fruits and vegetables, the broader the variety of nutrients they contain. For example, colorful fruits and vegetables like red peppers, apricots, lemons, broccoli, blueberries, plums and beets (just to name a few) are loaded with dozens of nutrients the body needs to stay healthy. 'Eat a Rainbow' shares delicious recipes for foods that span the color spectrum, including our favorite recipe Tomato au Gratin.”

SheKnows Diet & Fitness is designed to help women explore the many avenues to look and feel their best — from healthy eating habits and diets, to fitness, beauty, fashion and humor. In this issue, women will find out how to tighten and tone with yoga and pilates and how to kiss themselves skinny. They’ll learn beauty secrets from Susan Lucci as well as the good, the bad and the ugly about Botox. They can take a look at some sizzling styles in swimwear and learn more about The Zone Diet in an interview with creator Dr. Barry Sears.

The second issue of SheKnows Diet & Fitness is available March 21 on newsstands. Subscriptions are available (1 year, 6 issues $17.99 or 2 years, 12 issues $27.99) by calling 1-888-881-5861. Additional information is available at www. SheKnows. com.

What is SheKnows?

Put simply, SheKnows is an information resource for women.

Of the 293 million people in the U. S., over half are women. We know women are making more and more of the decisions for their households and families — not just about buying food, clothing, insurance and automobiles, but also daily living issues like having children, parenting, health and wellness and so much more.

We also know that women value relationships — with family and friends as well as with the companies they do business with — above all other things, and that these tend to be primary sources of information for them.

So whether women need information on child-raising, pregnancy, cooking smart, finances or fitness, SheKnows wants to be there to help — to develop a relationship with them as a one-stop place to find the information they need!

Sheknows provides the following resources on the Internet.

 SheKnows. com™  PregnancyAndBaby. com™  GeoParent. com™  ChefMom. com™  PregnancyFashion. com  PregnancySearch. com  CelebrityPregnancy. com  DoulaNetwork. com  SheKnowsCookingSmart. com  SheKnowsLowCarb. com  SheKnowsDietAndFitness. com  PointsandPrizes. com  HolidayNotes. com  BabyNamesCentral. com

Our network also extends to three colorful and dynamic magazines — SheKnows Cooking Smart, SheKnows LowCarb Energy and SheKnows Diet & Fitness. These are available in bookstores, newsstands, grocers and drugstores across America. Our magazines provide healthy recipes, information on food trends, fitness and beauty — much of what women need to eat smart and stay healthy.

Feel free to provide us with suggestions for our Web sites or magazines. We can be reached at or write to us at: Coincide Publishing, Feedback, 7944 E. Beck Lane, Suite 230, Scottsdale, AZ 85260.

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Dieting Brings Misery to Millions Says Weight Charity

Dieting Brings Misery to Millions Says Weight Charity

Many more people are trapped by long-term dieting than has been previously recognized says new research from a weight-control nonprofit.

(PRWEB) July 25, 2006

Research by a weight-control charity suggests that many more women than previously recognized are living their lives dominated by anxieties over eating and dieting.

The Weight Foundation says that obsessive dieting is to blame for great misery and that too little help is on offer for individuals who spend their lives locked into depressing and often unhealthy dieting regimes.

For many women, the panicky run-up to peak holiday time -- and also the Thanksgiving period -- are triggers for fresh cycles of self-starvation, with the lost weight often creeping back on.

However, The Weight Foundation is discovering that the extent of the worldwide dieting misery is much wider than these weight-loss and regain rituals.

The research being conducted by the charity's founder through the UK's Manchester Metropolitan University is shedding light on the millions of dieters worldwide who suffer long-term distress but do not undergo any dramatic swings in weight.

“The accepted pattern of dieting is what has been called Yo-Yo-ing,” explains Evans, a 46 year old Cambridge University social sciences graduate, professional motivational trainer and private therapist.

“Instead, we call this Swinger dieting because we find whether and how quickly weight returns depends on many factors and is not automatic like a Yo-Yo. However, the more you look at what is actually going on in the privacy of people's own homes, this is just the tip of the dieting iceberg.”

Flatliner dieting is identified as being a constant battle between “good” and “bad” foods, with people varying between treating and punishing themselves with food. These mini-dieting cycles can be packed within as short a time as a single day. The term “Flatliner” refers both to the lack of any jagged peaks of weight gain and loss and also to the emotional flatness and misery usually experienced with this lifestyle. There is constant tension between overeating and self-denial.

Lifer dieting refers to people who never really come off a diet at all, even though they may swap diets now and then. Lifers fear that breaking their strict eating regime for just a single day might spell disaster. Occasions such as weddings and family gatherings are times of high anxiety.

Evans says, “The majority of research to date on eating and dieting problems has tended to concentrate on the extreme areas of Anorexia and Bulimia. What we are finding, particularly horrible as these conditions are, is that there are potentially huge numbers of dieters experiencing great distress.

“As too little has been explored about the nature of dieting itself, many of these people suffer in silence, without understanding or support. For us, any type of dieting which tends to dominate existence is 'Hardcore Dieting' -- and we think it is a terrible drag on peoples' lives.”

Inquiries from desperate long-term dieters are already coming in from across the English-speaking World. There is an ongoing invitation for extra research participants to help gain extra insights into Hardcore Dieting.

“For instance, what we are already seeing is that in the U. S, even more than in the UK, is a widespread cultural acceptance that a dieting lifestyle is the morally correct lifestyle. We believe that this is leading a lot of people up a blind alley, nutritionally and emotionally,” says Evans.

The nonprofit Weight Foundation, which is four years old, has been granted funding from the Millennium Commission-backed UnLtd social enterprise incubator. This was to develop its new website and to turn itself a charity to handle growth in demand.

It is Evans' goal to develop an international network of committed individuals who can mentor dieters to move away from depressing and destructive habits. The philosophy is that by treating food and eating as mainly just a necessity of life, weight will find its natural -- normally lighter -- level.

“The key difference between happily slim people and unhappily overweight individuals is that, for the former, food plays a very small part in their lives.”

“Dieting can often make people overweight and it will always make them unhappy. The key to lasting weight control is to enjoy a healthy and natural relationship with food.” says Evans.

“It is only by developing a thorough understanding of what holds Hardcore Dieting in place that this message will stop falling on deaf ears.”

More information and a self-diagnostic questionnaire about Hardcore Dieting can be found on www. weightfoundation. com

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Maternal Health Supplies Being Rushed To Haiti

Maternal Health Supplies Being Rushed To Haiti

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is working as part of the coordinated United Nations response and with other partners to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to those who have been affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

United Nations, New York (Vocus) January 15, 2010

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is working as part of the coordinated United Nations response and with other partners to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to those who have been affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Experts are carrying out assessments in Port-au-Prince to determine the extent of the human toll and material damages in as much detail as possible.

“UNFPA extends solidarity, compassion and sympathy to the people of Haiti who are suffering from the devastating consequences of the earthquake. We are sending reproductive health supplies to meet the special needs of women, to prevent women from dying in pregnancy and to ensure safe deliveries,” said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA’s Executive Director.

UNFPA is prioritizing assistance to pregnant women in the impacted areas who are especially vulnerable during the crisis. It is estimated that one quarter of the impacted population are women of childbearing age, with thousands of pregnant women among them. Haiti has the highest rate of maternal death in the region—670 deaths per 100,000 live births—and with limited or no access to health facilities, pregnant women are at an even greater risk for complications and death related to pregnancy and childbirth.

UNFPA’s immediate humanitarian response includes delivering emergency reproductive health kits that contain essential drugs, equipment and supplies to provide life-saving services to pregnant women. During periods following a major natural disaster, women often lose access to basic health services. UNFPA will also work to ensure that women and girls have access to basic hygiene supplies so that they can live with dignity, even amidst the worst circumstances.

"The health of the community at large and its capacity to absorb and recover from a disaster of this magnitude depends to a significant extent on the well-being of women," said Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, Chief of the UNFPA’s Humanitarian Response Branch. “Taking care of women's needs will also help them to take care of the needs of others in their families and communities.”

For further information, please contact:
In Santa Domingo:
Trygve Olfarnes, Tel: +507 301 7362
In New York:
Jessica Malter, Tel: + 1 212 297 5190
Omar Gharzeddine, Tel: + 1 212 297 5028
Abubakar Dungus, Tel: + 1 212 297 5031

Www. unfpa. org

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