News tagged with 'JAMA'

Three studies are looking at the small percentage of patients who become critically ill requiring ICU care. While the majority of cases are mild, the average age of those critically ill is remarkably young, in the mid-30s. The studies express the concern that there may not be enough ICU units available to accommodate patients who need them.

Merck's Gardasil was promoted by medical societies after they received a total of $750,000. Medicine and marketing were blurred, says the published study.

Taking aspirin regularly may make you much less likely to develop tumors of the colon and a new study finds even if taken after a diagnosis, survival increases.

Add smoking to the long list of risk factors for contracting colorectal cancer. Italian researchers find the risk of developing colorectal cancer increases by about 18 percent and the risk of dying  - about 25 percent.

A newly published study on the herb, Ginko biloba, says it's not effective in fighting memory loss. That contradicts 5,000 years of Chinese medicine and smaller studies. This is a case where the consumer is left to consider his own options.  

More than half of Americans undergoing angioplasty to open their arteries are not having a recommended cardiac stress test in advance. That means the procedures are being performed without first determining who will benefit and who will not. 

Internal medicine is the specialty of last choice among medical students a survey of more than 1,000 finds. Money is the reason. Internists make the least, while specialists can collect a seven-figure salary. Expect the income gap to lead to a health care "crisis" as fewer doctors try to see a doubling of the patient population by 2030.