Health Headlines - March 8

FDA Approves Lipitor for Five New Indications

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium) for five new indications in patients with heart disease, drug maker Pfizer said Wednesday.

The FDA approved Lipitor to reduce the risk of nonfatal heart attacks, fatal and non-fatal strokes, certain types of heart surgery, hospitalization for heart failure, and chest pain in patients with heart disease.

Previously, the drug was approved to reduce cardiovascular events in patients without heart disease.

The FDA approval was based on a five-year study of 10,000 heart disease patients who also had elevated levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol. The study found that patients taking Lipitor 80 mg had a 22 percent reduced risk of major cardiovascular events, compared to those taking Lipitor 10 mg. Patients treated with Lipitor 80 mg also had a 26 percent reduced risk of hospitalization for heart failure.

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Too Few States Mandate Insurance Coverage of Colonoscopy: Report

Only 20 states and the District of Columbia have laws requiring insurance providers to cover the cost of colonoscopy, a colorectal cancer screening test that's been proven to save lives, according to a new survey by a coalition of 11 anti-cancer groups, including the American Cancer Society.

This year's annual Colorectal Cancer Legislation Report Card also noted that colorectal cancer screening rates have increased 40 percent faster in states that mandate coverage than in those without such mandates, BusinessWeek reported.

That could mean many lives needlessly lost in states without colonoscopy coverage laws. When detected and treated early, colorectal cancer is 90 percent curable. About 52,100 people in the United States are expected die of colorectal cancer this year, making it the second-leading cause of cancer death after lung cancer.

In comparison to colonoscopy, 47 states require insurers to pay for mammograms to screen for breast cancer, and 20 states mandate coverage for prostate cancer screening, which has not been proven to improve survival rates, BusinessWeek reported.

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Caffeine Doesn't Kick-Start Alertness in the Morning: Study

In what may come as a surprise to many, a U.K. study says that your morning coffee doesn't actually give you a boost to start your day.

While a cup of java does ease withdrawal symptoms that build up while you sleep, caffeine does not make people more alert than normal, according to the University of Bristol researchers who reviewed previous research on the topic, BBC News reported.

Only people who haven't had coffee for a while actually get a buzz from caffeine, said the study, presented at a British Nutrition Foundation conference.

"We do feel a boost from caffeine in the morning, but that's probably due to a reversal of the (overnight) withdrawal symptoms," research leader Professor Peter Rogers, a biological psychologist, told BBC News.

"The alertness you feel is you getting back to normal, rather than to above normal level," he said.

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Male Circumcision May Increase Women's Risk of HIV Infection

Male circumcision reduces men's risk of HIV infection by about half, but can increase the risk of infection in women if they have unprotected sex with men too soon after the operation, suggests preliminary data from a study by American and Ugandan researchers.

The findings may complicate efforts to promote circumcision as a new way to fight HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- in Africa. The research also suggests that public health campaigns promoting circumcision need to warn women about the dangers of having intercourse with HIV-positive men who haven't fully healed after being circumcised, the Washington Post reported.

The study found that among 70 HIV-positive men who were circumcised, 11 of their female partners became infected with HIV in the month after the men had the surgery. Among a group of 54 uncircumcised men with HIV, four of their female partners were infected with HIV.

However, the researchers noted that the findings were not statistically significant and may have occurred only by chance, the Post reported.

The findings were presented Tuesday at a meeting of international health experts in Switzerland.

"The data that we have heard do not derail (the potential usefulness of circumcision) by any means. What it does do is provide a little more insight about the complexities that face us," Kevin De Cock, director of the World Health Organization's HIV/AIDS department, told the Post.

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Big Worldwide Increase in ADHD Drug Prescriptions: Study

The number of prescriptions for drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children ages 5 to 19 increased 274 percent worldwide between 1993 and 2003. And spending on the drugs increased nine-fold, says a U.S. study in the journal Health Affairs.

During that time, the number of countries using ADHD drugs increased from 31 to 55. Australia, Canada and the United States all had higher-than-expected use of the drugs, BBC News reported.

"ADHD could become the leading childhood disorder treated with medication across the globe," said study leader Professor Richard Scheffler of the University of California, Berkeley.

Scheffler noted that one in 25 American children and adolescents is taking drugs for ADHD. He added that the study findings challenge the widespread belief that ADHD is largely a U.S. issue, BBC News reported.

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Chinese Province Source of Many Bird-Flu Strains: Report

Many strains of the dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus originated in the Chinese province of Guangdong, say U.S. researchers who analyzed genetic and geographic data.

The University of California, Irvine team studied 192 samples collected from Europe and Asia and concluded that Guangdong, which has a large poultry industry, was the source of many of the H5N1 strains found in China and other countries, Agence France Presse reported.

The study findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Health officials in Guangdong were quick to refute the study results.

"The findings... are the wrong conclusion to the evidence and lack credibility," the China Daily quoted Guangdong agricultural department spokeswoman He Xia as saying, AFP reported.