Does screening and treating high cholesterol save money? KevinMD.com

by Richard Young, MD

A commenter (I believe a physician) on one of my posts wrote the following: “I can prevent heart attacks and strokes (caused by atherosclerosis – “blockage”) in people (minimal cost) who have no symptoms. If I wait for their heart attack or stroke – it costs a whole lot more.”

The implication is that screening and treating high cholesterol saves money in the long run. Unfortunately, the truth is the opposite. This is an extremely common misconception among most people in healthcare, physicians included. Therefore the American people believe the same thing.

If I give a person a pneumonia shot and that person lives the rest of her life never catching pneumonia, then there is a fair chance I prevented a case of pneumonia. On the other hand, she may not have ever gotten pneumonia any way, therefore the shot was useless. There’s no way to sort that out, but classifying  a vaccine as preventing a disease is certainly fair.

via kevinmd.com

Click on the "via" link for the rest of the article.

******************************************************
For Health Information you can use, Follow, Connect, Like us on (Most Invites Accepted):
http://www.nursefriendly.com/social/

Twitter!
http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

Facebook:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook

What's New:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/new/

Blogger:
http://4nursing.blogspot.com/

Linked In:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nursefriendly

Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business
http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

Posterous.com
http://nursefriendly.posterous.com

StumbleUpon,
http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon
******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

Practice Guidelines: Managing Chronic Heart Failure - Mosby' s Nursing Suite

With the U.S. population aging, chronic heart failure is on the rise. Now healthcare professionals must diagnose and manage this complex, life-threatening syndrome more effectively than ever. To help, the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association provide complete practice guidelines for the four stages of heart failure.

The American Heart Association has identified these four stages of heart failure (HF), which complement the NYHA classifications:

• Stage A: At high risk for HF but no structural heart disease or HF symptoms
• Stage B: Structural heart disease but no HF signs or symptoms
• Stage C: Structural heart disease and prior or current HF symptoms
• Stage D: Refractory HF that requires specialized interventions

According to the guidelines, possibly the most effective and least followed general measures are close attention and follow-up. These require regular assessment, patient teaching, monitoring of adherence to the plan of care, and evaluation of the patient’s response. To help you and your colleagues align your practice with current guidelines, the following list summarizes teaching for patients with Stage C heart failure. 

via confidenceconnected.com

Click on the "via" link to read the rest of the article.

******************************************************
Follow, Connect, Like us on (Most Invites Accepted):

What's New:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/new/

Blogger:
http://4nursing.blogspot.com/

Facebook:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook

Linked In:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nursefriendly

Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business
http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

Twitter!
http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

StumbleUpon,
http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon
******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

CDC: U.S. Healthcare System Can Do Better in Treating CVD | All Sites Nursing News

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites issues with the U.S. healthcare system as part of the reason for the extent of cardiovascular disease in the country.

In a report released Tuesday, the CDC said two-thirds of adults with high cholesterol and half with hypertension do not receive effective treatment.

"Although we're making some progress, the United States is failing to prevent the leading cause of death — cardiovascular disease — despite the existence of low-cost, highly effective treatments," said CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH.

"We need to do a better job improving care and supporting patients to prevent avoidable illness, disability and death."

For many people, according to the CDC, merely having healthcare coverage is not sufficient.

via news.nurse.com

Click on the news.nurse.com link for the complete article.

--

Any questions, please drop me a line.

******************************************************
Follow us on:

What's New:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/new/

Blogger:
http://4nursing.blogspot.com/

Facebook:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook

Linked In:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nursefriendly

Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business
http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

Twitter!
http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

StumbleUpon,
http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon
******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

For Teens, Too Much Sugar Can Be A Heartbreaker : Shots - Health News Blog : NPR

Teenagers who guzzle a daily bottle of soda are probably not thinking much about their hearts as the sweet stuff runs down their throats.

Enlarge Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Antonio Garcia re-stocks the beverages at The Corner Market in Washington, D.C., in 2010. Study author Jean Welsh says that sweetened beverages tend to be the biggest source of added sugar.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Antonio Garcia re-stocks the beverages at The Corner Market in Washington, D.C., in 2010. Study author Jean Welsh says that sweetened beverages tend to be the biggest source of added sugar.

But a new study suggests they should be. Teens who consume lots of added sugar — usually found in sugar-sweetened beverages — risk heart problems later in life, researchers found.

This main problem is the sheer volume of sugar American teens consume: 28.3 teaspoons of added sugar a day on average. That makes up a whopping one-fifth of their daily calories, according to Jean Welsh, study author and post-doctoral fellow in pediatric nutrition at Emory University School of Medicine. It works out to an average of 476 calories a day.

 

Teens who consumed the highest percentage of their calories from added sugar had less of the "good" cholesterol compared with consumers who ate the least sugar. Another finding was that teens who consumed more added sugars also had higher levels of the "bad" cholesterol  and fats called triglycerides.

via npr.org

Click on the npr.org link to read the rest of the article.
--

Any questions, please drop me a line.

******************************************************
Follow us on:

What's New:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/new/

Blogger:
http://4nursing.blogspot.com/

Facebook:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook

Linked In:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nursefriendly

Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business
http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

Twitter!
http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

StumbleUpon,
http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon
******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com

Preventing Heart Ailments at Their Roots - Childhood - NYTimes.com

Two studies published Monday suggest that the road to hypertension and heart disease starts in childhood and that prevention should start there, too.

Related

• Health Guides: Heart Disease | High Blood Pressure

One analysis found that parental smoking increases the risk for high blood pressure in preschoolers, and the other that excessive sugar consumption in teenagers is associated with multiple factors known to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease. Both reports appear in the February issue of the journal Circulation.

The first study looked at 4,236 children in Germany, where 5-year-olds undergo a compulsory physical and cognitive assessment before starting school. During the period of the study, 2007-8, more than 28 percent had at least one parent who smoked. Even after correcting for body mass index and parental hypertension, having a smoker as a parent substantially increased the likelihood that a child would have blood pressure readings in the top 15 percent of the sample.

Parental smoking was not the only association, or even the strongest. Being overweight and having a parent with hypertension were also associated with high blood pressure in the children. But the lead author, Dr. Giacomo D. Simonetti, said smoking was probably the easiest risk to modify.

via nytimes.com

Click on the link above to read the rest of the article:

See also: Cardiac Resources:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/nursing/directpatientcare/cardiac.htm

--

Any questions, please drop me a line.

******************************************************
Follow us on:

What's New:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/new/

Blogger:
http://4nursing.blogspot.com/

Facebook:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/facebook

Linked In:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nursefriendly

Nursing Entrepreneurs, Nurses In Business
http://nursingentrepreneurs.ning.com/

Twitter!
http://www.nursefriendly.com/twitter

StumbleUpon,
http://www.nursefriendly.com/stumbleupon
******************************************************

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

150,000 + Nurse-Reviewed & Approved Nursing Links

http://www.4nursing.com
http://www.legalnursingconsultant.com
http://www.nursinghumor.com
http://www.nursefriendly.com
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com
http://www.nursingentrepreneurs.com
http://www.nursingexperts.com