Medication Side Effects May Be the Fourth-Leading Cause of Death
Researchers analyzed
the results of 39 studies evaluating adverse medication effects in
American hospitals carried out between 1966 and 1996.
This study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical
Association, showed that between 76,000 to 136,000 annual deaths from drug
reactions occur, usually due to adverse reactions and side effects. Intensive-care patients are most vulnerable to adverse
reactions because they are sickest and likely to be receiving numerous
different medications. In
some cases, patients may be receiving as many as 20 to 40 medications a
day.
If the lowest death
estimate was used, adverse drug reactions become the sixth-leading cause
of death in the United States, higher than diabetes and pneumonia but
lower than heart disease, cancer, stroke, lung disease and accidents.
If the average of 106,000 deaths from adverse medication reactions
was used, it would be the fourth-leading cause of death.
Studies have shown
that certain types of drugs account for the majority of adverse reactions.
These are antibiotics, heart medications, blood thinners and
chemotherapy agents for cancer. The study’s author, Bruce Pomeranz, M.D.
from the University of Toronto said, “When people do die from
medications, it is most likely due to failure of the kidneys or liver,
disturbances on heart rhythm or destruction of the bone marrow.”
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Newsletter Archives
Smokers Spend More of Their Lives Combating Disabilities
Some people would think that because nonsmokers live longer they would spend more of their lives disabled. On the contrary, a July 2000 study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health showed that smokers spend more of their lives combating disabilities. On average, smokers have difficulty performing daily activities, such as walking, dressing and bathing, for an additional two years longer than nonsmokers.
Vaccinations DTP and Tetanus Cause Asthma
A new study by UCLA
School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology supports the findings
that children who receive diphteria-tetanus-pertussis(DTP) or tetanus
vaccines are more likely to have a history of asthma or other
allergy-related respiratory symptoms.
The study, which appeared in the Journal of Manipulative and
Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT), supports the findings of three previous
studies.
Authors of the study,
Eric Hurwitz, D.C., Ph.D. and Hal Morgenstern, Ph.D., reviewed data from
the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1988 to
1994. With supporting
evidence from previous studies, Doctors Hurwitz and Morgenstern addressed
the following findings: the prevalence of allergic disorders has doubled
over the last 20 years; in the United States, there are currently 30 to 50
million asthma and allergy suffers, with an estimated cost of $6.21
billion in 1990; and the Institute of Medicine which reviewed the Adverse
Consequences of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines and the Vaccine Safety
concluded that there is a causal relation between the DTP vaccine and
anaphylaxis and tetanus toxoid and anaphylaxis.
The specific odds ratios for vaccinated children vs. unvaccinated are as follows: Asthma 2.00:1; Severe allergic reaction 1.50:1; Sinusitis or sinus problems 1.81:1; Any life-time allergy history or 12-month symptoms 1.69:1. This means that the odds of a child who had the DTP and tetanus vaccination is twice as likely to experience asthma, 50% more likely to experience severe allergic reaction, and over 80% more likely to experience sinusitis.
The authors also found evidence showing that vaccinations may be associated with different types of allergies at different ages. For example, severe allergic reactions and sinusitis or sinus problems among younger children, and asthma, wheezing and whistling, and nose and eye symptoms among adolescents. Because the proportion of U.S. children who have received at least 1 dose of DTP vaccine approaches 100%, the number of allergies and allergy-related conditions attributable to DTP or tetanus vaccination in the U.S. may be very high. For example, assuming that the estimated vaccination effect is unbiased, 50% of diagnosed asthma cases (2.93 million) in U.S. children and adolescents would be prevented if the DTP or tetanus vaccination was not administered. Similarly, 45% of sinusitis cases (4.94 million) and 54% of allergy-related episodes of nose and eye symptoms (10.54 million) in a 12-month period would be prevented after discontinuation of the vaccine.
According to the authors, the well-documented public health benefits of the DTP and tetanus vaccines must be considered in light of these potential long-term risks, which should be addressed in future studies.
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Colon Cancer - Sigmoidoscopy vs. Colonoscopy
Sigmoidoscopy, the most commonly recommended colon cancer screening, misses about half the pre-cancerous polyps detected by the more costly colonoscopy, according to a July 19, 2000 study in the New England Journal of Medicine. People over 50 years of age should seriously consider undergoing a colonoscopy because of its ability to probe the entire colon instead of sigmoidoscopy which probes only the lower one-third of the colon.