Category Archives: Interesting Links

Interesting Links

One Gene, One Disease? It's the premise behind the Genome project, but as previously reported [here] it rarely happens. Here's the reason: natural selection is too efficient to allow very many single gene culprits to survive. More here.

ER Patient Increases Not Caused by the Uninsured. The uninsured don't use the emergency room any more often than those with insurance. Also, the increase in ER visits over the past decade is mainly due to visits by insured, middle-class patients. Reasons: It may be easier to get care at the ER and (surprisingly) it may also cost less. [link]

ER Patients Confused. 78% go home without knowing what they need to know. Many return as a result. [link] This mimics the problem of inpatients: 18% of discharged Medicare patients are readmitted within 30 days. As previously reported [here], hospitals make money on all this. 

Premies Have Problems Later On. Even when they're born with no treatable medical problem, they have less chance of completing high school, completing college or earning high wages, according to a NEJM study [gated, but summarized here.] However, not factored in: IQ and socioeconomic status of the parents.

Stats on Premies

Interesting Links

Hits & Misses – 2008/09/22

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How 70-Year-Olds Get to be 90-Year-Olds.  They don’t smoke. They don’t get fat. They control diabetes and high blood pressure. They exercise. [link]

How to Win the War on Superbugs. Stop over-using antibiotics. This also saves money. [link]

Two of Every Five Men have a Philandering Gene.  Men are more likely to be devoted and loyal husbands when they lack a particular variant of a gene, establishing that a DNA swab may be more important than a prenup.  The original study is here [gated, but with abstract].

Bill Clinton

Obama Update.  “If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system.”  Single-payer doesn’t just mean the government pays. As in Canada, it also means that no one else is allowed to pay. [link]

Interesting Links

Hits & Misses – 2008/09/11

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  • Bankruptcy Update. Remember the claim that 50% of all bankruptcies are caused by medical debt? Turns out it’s only 5%. [link]
  • Pay-for-Performance is Unsafe. P4P tends to encourage cookbook medicine and that can be hazardous to your Amishhealth, says one cardiologist. [link]
  • Good News and Bad News on the Fat Gene. The bad news: 30% of all Americans of European descent have it. The good news: A study of the Amish shows that a few barn raisings and other rigors of rural life are enough to overcome genetic destiny. [link]
  • Wal-Mart Makes Us Thin! Expansion of their outlets is associated with less obesity, and the “effects appear strongest for women, minorities, urban residents and the poor.” See study here. Hat tip to Tyler Cowen at his blog.
Interesting Links

Hits & Misses – 2008/08/13

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  • Homelessness Update: Michael Moore was wrong. LA hospitals aren't dumping homeless patients; they are recruiting them-with offers of food, cigarettes and even cash to buy crack cocaine. The reason: more excuses to bill Medicaid [link].
  • Cancer update: Almost everything that's fun to eat or drink is bad. "Even being a little bit overweight is a risk" [link].
  • Health tip for bird watchers. Geese usually don't defecate while flying [link].
  • How do Canadians doctors get rid of patients? By lottery [link].
Interesting Links
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More evidence rolls in: low-carb and Mediterranean diets beat out traditional low-fat diets in a new study [gated]. 

A liberal supports Health Savings Accounts, urges Obama to do the same [link].

Tucked into the Medicare bill: special interest goodies for drug companies and durable equipment providers [link].

Read [here] about 130,000 surgical errors committed in the British National Health Service, aka "the envy of the world."

Interesting Links
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Dr. DeBakey.  He wrote the forward to the NCPA's first monograph.

Dr. Jackson?  Jesse wants to perform surgery on Barack.

Generosity, moral constraints, even religion.  It's all in our genes, says E.O. Wilson [here], father of sociobiology.

Not so fast, says columnist David Brooks. [here]