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Obesity In Pregnancy Increases Risk Of Asthma In Offspring
Babies born to obese mothers may have an increased risk of asthma, according to data from a new study to be presented on May 19 at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego.
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Women With Gestational Diabetes During Pregnancy Have A Substantial And Persistently Elevated Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes Post-Birth
Women who develop gestational diabetes (GD) during pregnancy have a seven-and-a-half times increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes post-birth, which lasts throughout their lifetime. However, there is no agreed policy on the long-term follow up of these women and many do not return for the currently recommended 6-week post-birth diabetes check. An Article in this week"s diabetes special issue of The Lancet says that the strength of the association suggests that both disorders have an overlapping cause-and this should act as an incentive for women to attend the recommended post-birth check. This attendance could be an opportunity to provide advice on diet and exercise, and treatments to delay or prevent onset of diabetes-as well as alerting these women to symptoms of future diabetes, and to alert general practitioners responsible for their long-term care.
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Survey Examines Health Outcomes Of American Indians In Alabama
American Indians in Alabama have better outcomes than the rest of the state"s population in some health indicators but are less healthy in other areas, according to a survey released by the Alabama Department of Public Health, the Montgomery Advertiser reports.The report -- titled "Health Survey of American Indians of Alabama 2008: Keeping the Circle Healthy" -- surveyed 3,000 people from the nine recognized tribes in the state. The study found that overall American Indians in Alabama had lower levels of obesity than the rest of the state and nation. The report also found that American Indians exercise more and eat more fruits and vegetables than the state"s general population. American Indians also reported that they smoke and binge drink less than the rest of the state. In addition, the report found lower rates of hypertension and arthritis among American Indians when compared with state and national populations. However, the report found that American Indians in Alabama consume more alcohol and have more strokes and heart attacks than other state residents. American Indians in the state also are less likely to undergo recommended screenings, such as Pap tests, mammograms and prostate exams, the report found. The report found that a high percentage of people in the state"s Piqua Shawnee and Ma-Chi"s Lower Creeks tribes lack health insurance. The report also found that two tribes have the capability to monitor health trends and provide preventive care. According to the Advertiser, the Poarch Band Creek is the tribe statewide that is federally recognized and has access to health services through the Indian Health Service. In addition, one tribe -- the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians -- is recognized by the state and has a health clinic on its reservation. Ben Moreira, planning and economic development strategist for the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission, said American Indians represent about 1% of Alabama"s population. Moreira said he hopes the report will help American Indian tribes make decisions about health care res. "One of our primary goals is to get this survey into the hands of people who make the decisions about the allocation of health res in the state," he said, adding, "There is also a lot of information that is tribal specific that could be used to develop programs internal to each tribe" (Ricks, Montgomery Advertiser, 5/28).
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QRISK® - New Heart Disease Risk Score Outperforms Existing Test

An independent external validation of QRISK® (http://www.qrisk.org) - a new score for predicting a person"s risk of heart disease - has shown that it performs better than the existing test and should be recommended for use in the United Kingdom by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). The University of Nottingham and leading healthcare systems supplier EMIS worked together, through the not-for-profit partnership QResearch, to develop the ground-breaking formula which has been strongly endorsed in new research published in the British Medical Journal. Researchers from the University of Oxford have recommended its widespread use across the UK in place of the more commonly-used Framingham equation. Professor Julia Hippisley-Cox of The University of Nottingham"s Division of Primary Care, said: "We are delighted to receive another strong endorsement of the value of QRISK in assessing the risk of heart disease in the UK population. We believe this formula has the potential to save many thousands of lives, by helping clinicians to more accurately predict those at risk of developing cardiovascular disease - the nation"s biggest killer. It will arm doctors with all the information they need to decide how best to target patients with preventative measures such as lifestyle advice and cholesterol-lowering treatments." Soon every patient"s record will contain an automatically calculated heart risk score allowing GPs to identify and target those at greatest risk. NICE currently recommends that doctors use a modified version of the long established Framingham score to identify who should be offered statin treatment to reduce their risk of heart disease over the next 10 years. However, in 2007, the BMJ published research showing that the new QRISK® score was a more accurate measure of how many UK adults are at risk of developing heart disease and which adults are most likely to benefit from treatment compared with the Framingham model. Now, two independent experts have compared the performance of the two scores for predicting the 10 year cardiovascular disease risk in over one million UK patients. They tracked the progress of 1.07 million patients registered at 274 general practices in England and Wales for up to 12 years after first diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. All participants were aged between 35 and 74 at the start of the study. The 56 per cent of GPs in the UK who use EMIS clinical records systems can already access the QRISK2 formula, which has been embedded in their systems. EMIS Managing Director Sean Riddell said: "We are pleased to confirm that all EMIS GPs can now benefit from QRISK, and we would like to thank all those GPs who contributed anonymous patient data to support the development of this vital clinical tool." Other clinical systems providers are able to access QRISK through a software development kit that has been designed to ensure the safe and accurate use of the formula. The QRISK software is also available for further academic research and teaching and personal use. The QRISK research was undertaken using the QResearch anonymised primary care database at The University of Nottingham in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, Bristol PCT and St Mary"s School of Medicine and Dentistry, London. Professor Julia Hippisley-Cox University of Nottingham


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