Community Magazine May 2013

To • • Health HEALTHIER PHYSICIANS LEAD TO HEALTHIER PATIENTS Patients aremore likely to followpreventive health practices like getting a flu shot or mammography if their doctors do likewise, researchers at the University of British Columbia and in Israel have discovered. “We found that patients whose physicians adhered to the recommended screening or vaccination practices were significantly more likely to also undergo screening or vaccination compared with patients of non-compliant physicians,” said Dr. Erica Frank of UBC’s School of Population and Public Health. Researchers looked at the screening and vaccination practices of 1,488 physicians and their almost 1.9 million adult patients in Israel’s largest health care organization, Clalit Health Services. Practices included mammography, blood pressure measurement, colorectal screening, and annual influenza vaccinations. “While physicians’ health habits are generally exemplary, doctors could improve some of their personal screening and vaccination practices, which should improve the health practices of their patients,” Dr. Frank said. A POSITIVE ATTITUDE IS A HEALTHY ATTITUDE A recent study found that participants who had heightened activity in a region of the brain associated with a positive attitude produced greater amounts of antibodies. Researchers have yet to conclusively determine the reason for this link, but they do know that “the brain communicates with the immune system, and vice versa,” says Anna L. Marsland, PhD, director of the Behavioral Immunology Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. If you don’t always think positively, experts say, you can at least learn to be less negative. Don’t dwell on your symptoms when you do get sick, and try not to assume the worst. “You probably can’t change your personality,” Marsland says, “but you can change your behavior.” NEW BREATH TEST MIGHT DIAGNOSE HEART FAILURE An experimental breath test, designed to quickly identify patients suffering from heart failure simply by analyzing the contents of a single exhaled breath, has demonstrated promise in early trials, a team of researchers says. By subjecting a patient’s breath to a rigorous but fast analysis of the hundreds of so-called volatile organic compounds contained therein, the study team said, it has been able to correctly diagnose heart failure among newly hospitalized patients with 100 percent accuracy. “Every individual has a breath print that differentiates them from other people, depending on what’s going on in their body,” explained study lead author Dr. Raed Dweik. “And that print can tell us a lot about a person, what they’ve been exposed to and what disease they have. That’s what makes the new field of breath testing so promising, because it is non- intrusive, so there is no risk involved.” WASH YOUR HANDS! According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hand-washing is the number-one action you can take to dodge the one billion colds Americans come down with annually (not to mention the bacteria, such as E. coli and salmonella, that cause foodborne illnesses). The group recommends washing with regular soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds, and vigorously scrubbing all parts of the hands – not just the palms. Fingernails should be checked for trapped dirt. Hands should be dried with paper towels, or with a personally designated cloth hand towel, to avoid germ sharing. ARE YOU PAYING TOO MUCH FOR PRESCRIPTION DRUGS? CVS charges $150 for a monthly prescription of the generic version of the cholesterol drug Lipitor, which goes for just $17 at Costco, according to a recent Consumer Reports nationwide survey. Secret shoppers were sent to 200 pharmacies that carry five blockbuster drugs: Lipitor, Lexapro, Plavix, Actos, and Singulair, all of which lost their patents in the last two years. Shoppers found they could be paying as much as $749 for a generic prescription drug in one year at the highest-priced pharmacy, 447 percent more than they would pay at the lowest. The priciest places to pick up these prescriptions were CVS, Target, and Rite Aid. The least expensive were Costco and Sam’s Club, while WalMart and Walgreen’s fell in the middle. Lisa Gill, a Consumer Reports editor who focuses on prescription drugs, said the astonishing gap stems primarily from what sells at the stores. “At places like CVS or Rite Aid, the pharmacy is their major source of revenue and profit,” she said. “Costco and Sam’s Club are using the low drug prices to pull people in stores who will spend money on other things.” Gill said that one way for people to save is by refilling prescriptions every 90 days instead of each month, since most pharmacies provide discounts on three-month supplies. 92 Community magazine