Smoking Statistics: Northeast USA Cigarette smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), claiming more than 480,000 lives each year. Despite decades of anti-smoking campaigns, which have been largely successful at reducing the number of cigarette smoking and death rates associated with the habit, about 36.5 million Americans still smoke. About 1 in 5 deaths in the U.S. are associated with smoking. Smoking remains high in certain segments of the population and in certain areas of the country. Many states are trying to reduce their number of smokers by raising tax on cigarettes, and investing in tobacco cessation programs and tobacco prevention programs. Young adults, males, people with low education levels and those living below poverty level, lesbians, gays and bisexuals, the disabled and individuals of certain races or ethnicities are more likely to smoke. About 13 percent of people aged 18 to 24 smokes and 17.7 percent of people aged 25 to 44 smoke. Smoking Rates by Geography The percentage of smokers has declined in the U.S. from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 15.1 percent in 2015. Current cigarette smoking was highest in the Midwest at 18.7 percent and lowest in the West at 12.4 percent. About 13.5 percent of people living in the Northeast smoke cigarettes. A fact sheet released November 2017 by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids presents state-specific tobacco-related data in very different ways. It ranks states according to adult smoking rates, adult smoking ranks, pregnant smoking ranks and annual smoking deaths. The report also looks at youth smoking rates, the number of kids alive who will become smokers, and the number of children alive who will eventually die from smoking in each state. Finally, the chart lists the health costs associated with smoking, per pack tax rates and ranks, state financing for tobacco cessation programs, and tobacco prevention spending. Kentucky has the highest adult smoking rate in the country at 25.9 percent, and the state has a relatively high percentage of pregnant smokers and youth smokers. This high smoking rate may be the result of the state’s relatively low per-pack price of $4.86. Utah has the lowest adult smoking rate at 9.1; retail price for a pack of cigarettes here is $6.43. There is relatively low tobacco use in the Northeast; much of the low tobacco use there has to do with the relatively high per-pack price and hefty tax rates on cigarettes. At 13.5 percent, Connecticut and New Jersey are tied as the third lowest adult smoking rates in the country. Connecticut has the second highest cigarette tax rate in the nation – $3.90 per pack. New Jersey also has a high cigarette tax at $2.70 per pack. The average price for cigarettes in Massachusetts is $9.08 per pack and the state charges $3.90 per pack in tax, the fourth highest tax in the nation. The high price of cigarettes pays off, though, as the state has the sixth lowest rate of adults smoking and one of the lowest youth smoking rates in the country. Northeastern states and other states in the nation may continue to reduce smoking rates – and death rates associated with smoking – by increasing taxes on cigarette products and investing in tobacco cessation and prevention programs. Source: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/ https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/ Frank Magliochetti is Managing Partner for Parcae Capital. North Andover, Massachusetts This column of posts is directed at the Healthcare Industry. Frank plans to release a new site dedicated to the industry. He currently assists companies who are building, restructuring, transforming and resurrecting there business’s. An example of his client base are, Xenetic Biosciences , IPC Medical Corp, Just Fellowship Corp, Environmental Services Inc., Parsons Post House LLC, ClickStream Corporation as well as having a business talk radio show; The Business Architect on the URBN network. … [Read more...]
Telemedicine Compared to Bedside Assessments
Telemedicine for Assessing Levels of Consciousness in Comatose Patients: How Does it Compare to Bedside Assessment? Effective care for comatose patients in intensive care units (ICUs) depends on proper intervention based on reliable assessment. Researchers recently conducted a study at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona to compare the effectiveness of using telemedicine to assess levels of consciousness in comatose patients with standard bedside assessment. Proper intervention relies on the ability to recognize changes in a comatose patient’s clinical status quickly. This had usually meant that, in order to complete an assessment, the practitioner needed to be in the same room. Advanced medical technology is changing all that and robotic medicine now allows clinicians to assess patients from across the hospital or from across the world. Telemedicine has been around since the 1960s, when NASA built telemedicine technology into astronauts’ suits. Prior to this technology, astronauts had to rely on crewmates for an accurate diagnosis. Monitors in the suits sent biometric information about the wearer back to earth for assessment. Computers have revolutionized telemedicine and the internet helps doctors assess patients living in remote places. This is especially helpful for patients living in underserved areas. Despite major advances, many still worry about the effectiveness in using this technology for the most critically ill patients. A new study published in Telemedicine and e-Health should help to dispel this fear, with researchers showing that robotic telemedicine can be used successfully to complete assessments in comatose ICU patients. Testing the Reliability of Telemedicine in the Assessment of Levels of Consciousness Researchers enrolled 100 patients from Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona into the study, which occurred over a 15-month timeframe. Mean age of patient participants was 70.8 years. On average, each examination took just over 5 minutes. Sixteen medical doctors also participated by using two scoring systems, the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and the Full Outline of UnResponsiveness (FOUR) score, to assess patients’ levels of consciousness. The researchers randomly assigned two practitioners to each patient; one doctor used real-time audio and a visual robotic telemedicine system to perform the assessment and the other clinician conducted an assessment at the patient’s bedside. Each used GCS and FOUR scales. The researchers used paired t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) to compare the GCS and FOUR scores between bedside and remote physician. Differences in GCS and FOUR scores between remote and beside assessment were small. The mean Glasgow Coma Scale score at bedside was 7.5 while the mean GCS score for the remote examination was 7.23. Scores were comparable in the FOUR total scores too, with a mean bedside score of 9.63 and a mean remote score of 9.21. The researchers also asked the clinicians about their overall satisfaction and ease of use. Ninety-five percent of remote providers rated GCS and 89% rated FOUR score as good (4/5). Conclusions The study is the first to evaluate the effectiveness of telemedicine in assessing patients with depressed levels of consciousness. The results suggest that doctors can reliably assess levels of consciousness in comatose patients using existing robotic telemedicine technology. Healthcare providers could adopt telemedicine to help evaluate critically ill patients in neurologically underserved areas. “This is good news in many ways,” states lead author of the study, Amelia Adcock, M.D, in a press release issued by Mayo Clinic. “We use telemedicine frequently when evaluating acute stroke patients. This study suggests yet another way telemedicine can enhance patient care. There is a shortage of intensive care unit providers and facilities with round-the-clock patient coverage. Telemedicine can provide a way to ameliorate this shortage and improve early evaluation of critically ill patients.” Source http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/tmj.2016.0225 Frank Magliochetti is Managing Partner for Parcae Capital North Andover, Massachusetts This column of posts is directed at the Healthcare Industry. Frank plans to release new sites dedicated to the industry. Frank currently assists companies who are building, restructuring, transforming and resurrecting there business’s. An example of his client base are, Xenetic Biosciences , IPC Medical Corp, Just Fellowship Corp, Environmental Services Inc., Parsons Post House LLC, ClickStream Corporation as well as having a business talk radio show; The Business Architect on the URBN network. … [Read more...]
Color Compound May Lower Cancer Risk in Smokers
Color Compound in Some Fruits and Vegetables Could Lower Lung Cancer Risk in Smokers A pigment in oranges, sweet red peppers, and other fruits and vegetables may lower the risk of lung cancer in smokers, according to a new study. Nicotine is the primary addictive component of tobacco and some e-cigarette liquids. Medical scientists believe nicotine contributes to cancer promotion and progression by activating nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. The study results suggest that the color compound, known as beta-cryptoxanthin (BCX), reduces the number of these receptors. This means eating fruits and vegetables high in BCX might reduce the risk of lung cancer resulting from smoking. Doctors diagnose about 222,500 new cases of lung cancer in the United States each year, according to the American Cancer Society, and more than 155,000 Americans will die from the disease each year. The American Lung Association notes that male smokers are 23 times more likely to develop lung cancer than are men who do not smoke, and female smokers are at 13 times greater risk of developing lung cancer than are non-smoking women. Causing approximately 7,330 deaths among nonsmokers each year, exposure to secondhand smoke is also a risk factor for lung cancer. Nicotine and the Growth of Lung Tumors Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 compounds and many of these substances, upon inhalation, act as carcinogens to damage the cells lining the lungs. While nicotine does not cause lung cancer directly, the addictive compound can promote lung tumor growth. Study co-author Xiang-Dong Wang, of the Jean Mayer United States Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, MA, and colleagues provide more insight into how nicotine promotes lung cancer. When inhaled, nicotine binds to nicotinic acetylcholine receptor α7 (α7-nAChR), which is a nicotine receptor lying on the surface of the lungs. The binding action prompts a signaling cascade that results in the proliferation of cells and the formation of new blood vessels. Cell proliferation and blood vessel formation are processes involved in the growth of cancer. Nicotine also increases the production of nicotinic receptors, actually creating more α7-nAChR on which to bind. Providing more nicotinic receptors strengthens the signaling cascade, further encouraging the growth of lung cancer cells. In other words, the more a person smokes or suffers secondhand exposure to smoke, the more receptors he or she develops, the stronger the process encouraging the growth cancer. Wang and colleagues think that consuming BCX could effectively reduce the number of α7-nAChR receptors on the lungs, thereby decreasing the potential growth of lung cancer cells. BCX reduced lung tumor growth in laboratory mice BCX is a carotenoid that gives yellow, orange and red fruits and vegetables their color. Oranges, tangerines, butternut squash, and sweet red peppers contain beta-cryptoxanthin. In an earlier study, Wang and a team of researchers observed an association between eating foods rich in BCX and a lower risk of lung cancer in humans. In this study, the team focused on pinpointing the mechanisms underlying the link between a BCX-rich diet and lowered risk of lung cancer in smokers. The scientists administered a daily injection of a carcinogen derived from nicotine to two groups of mice. The test group of mice also received a daily dose of BCX before and after the nicotine injection. The researchers found that, compared with the mice that did not receive the carotenoid, the test group experienced a 52-63 percent reduction in lung tumor growth. The researchers determined 870 micrograms, which is the equivalent to one sweet pepper or two tangerines per day for humans, as the most effective daily dose of BCX for reducing lung tumor growth. The team then tests BCX on human lung cancer cells, both with and without α7-nAChR. They discovered that lung cancer cells with α7-nAChR receptors were less likely to spread after exposure to the color compound, as compared with lung cancer cells without those receptors. Further research could provide a better understanding of how consuming foods rich in beta-cryptoxanthin might affect the development of lung cancer in humans. Source http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/9/11/875 http://www.cancer.org/cancer/non-small-cell-lung-cancer/about/key-statistics.html http://www.lung.org/lung-health-and-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/lung-cancer/resource-library/lung-cancer-fact-sheet.html?referrer=http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/315404.php Frank Magliochetti is Managing Partner for Parcae Capital North Andover, Massachusetts This column of posts is directed at the Healthcare Industry. Frank plans to release new sites dedicated to the industry. Frank currently assists companies who are building, restructuring, transforming and … [Read more...]
Top Prescription Drug Trends
Top Prescription Drugs Purchases and Trends of 2016 Nearly half of all Americans take at least one prescription drug each day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the cost of many of the most popular and most important medications is rising. The Price for Prescription Drugs is Rising Each of the past three years have seen double-digit price increases, including average rises of 12.6 percent in 2014 and over 10 percent in 2015. The average price for prescription drugs has increased an average of 10 percent in the past year. Despite pushback from insurers, scrutiny from lawmakers and outcry from consumers, many pharmaceutical companies plan to increase the price of prescription drugs. Prescription drug spending in the United States totaled about $457 billion in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), accounting for 16.7 percent of all U.S. health care spending. In the 1990s, only about 7 percent of health care spending went towards prescription drugs. A Wall Street Journal analysis found that prices for 30 prescription drugs increased at eight times the rate of inflation, with an average price hike of 76 percent from 2010 to 2014. Retail prices for some commonly used prescription drugs increased faster than general inflation each year from 2006 to 2013, according to AARP, which translates into an annual cost of therapy of more than $11,000 for a consumer who takes a prescription medication regularly. The total was nearly three-quarters of the average Social Security retirement benefit of $15,526, almost half the median income of a person on Medicare, and nearly one-fifth of the median U.S. household income. Most Common Prescriptions and Average Cost by State SearchRx compiled a list of the average costs of prescription drugs by state. At an average price of $12.82 per prescription, Mississippi tops the list as the US state with the lowest average per prescription cost. Arkansas was also low at $12.93, followed by Virginia at $13.90 and Louisiana at $13.10. Hawaii was the most expensive state to fill a prescription, at an average of $19.47, followed by North Dakota at $19.07, Alaska at $18.96 per prescription, and Delaware at $18.51. The website also lists the most commonly prescribed medications last year: 1. Atorvastatin Calcium (generic for Lipitor) – lowers cholesterol and reduces risk of heart attack, stroke, and other complications in patients with type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, or other risk factors 2. Levothyroxine (generic for Synthroid) – primary use is for the treatment of hypothyroidism but it is also used to treat or prevent goiter 3. Lisinopril (generic for Prinivil) – for hypertension or congestive heart failure 4. Omeprazole (generic for Prilosec) – treats symptoms of GERD 5. Metformin (generic for Glucophage) – improves blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes 6. Amlodipine (generic for Norvasc) – for hypertension or angina 7. Simvastatin (generic for Zocor) – lowers cholesterol and triglycerides 8. Hydrocodone/Acetaminophen (generic for Lortab) – relieves moderate to moderately severe pain 9. Metoprolol ER (generic for Toprol XL) – treats angina and hypertension 10. Losartan (generic for Cozaar) – treats hypertension and reduces the risk of stroke in those with heart disease SearchRx also ranked pharmacy chains in order of least expensive to most expensive. Walmart was the least expensive, followed by Target, “other,” Rite Aid, and CVS. Walgreens was the most expensive on the list. If current trends continue, 2017 will see higher prescription prices, increased health premiums, and continued increases in the number of Americans who take prescription drugs every day. Source http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/drug-use-therapeutic.htm https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/01/11/prescription-drug-prices-jumped-more-than-10-percent-in-2015/ http://time.com/money/4406167/prescription-drug-prices-increase-why/ https://aspe.hhs.gov/pdf-report/observations-trends-prescription-drug-spending http://www.wsj.com/articles/for-prescription-drug-makers-price-increases-drive-revenue-1444096750 http://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2016-02/RX-Price-Watch-Trends-in-Retail-Prices-Prescription-Drugs-Widely-Used-by-Older-Americans.pdf https://www.searchrx.com/blog/2016-prescription-prices-and-purchase-trends/ Frank Magliochetti is Managing Partner for Parcae Capital. North Andover, Massachusetts This column of posts is directed at the Healthcare Industry. Frank plans to release a new site dedicated to the industry. He currently assists companies who are building, restructuring, transforming and resurrecting there business’s. An example of his client base are, Xenetic Biosciences , IPC Medical Corp, Just Fellowship Corp, Environmental Services Inc., Parsons Post House LLC, ClickStream Corporation as well as having a business talk radio show; The … [Read more...]
New Study on Personal Health Spending
New Study Sheds Light on Personal Health Care Spending Trends in the U.S. The amount of dollars the Unites Spends on healthcare surpasses every other nation on the planet; all in all accounting for 17% of the economy in the U.S. Frank Magliochetti People spend more for health care in the United States than in any other nation on earth and, according to results of a new study published in JAMA, they spend more on diabetes and ischemic heart disease than on any other health condition. Health care spending continues to rise in the U.S., now accounting for 17 percent of the nation’s economy. Despite this spending, there is very little information on how spending varies by condition, age and through time. Joseph L. Dieleman, PhD, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington and a team of researchers hoped to estimate national spending on personal health care by various factors. U.S. Spending on Health Care Trends The researchers included 183 sources of data in the study. Data sources included insurance claims, government budgets, household surveys, facility surveys, and official U.S. records from 1996 to 2013. The scientists grouped ICD-9 codes to form 155 conditions, such as diabetes and ischemic heart disease, for consideration in the study. One of the more interesting findings of the study was that many of the top 20 conditions of health care spending were chronic conditions with a relatively high prevalence and health burden – many of them were also preventable. This group of conditions included diabetes, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cerebrovascular disease, all of which are attributable to modifiable risk factors. Total costs of care Americans spent $30.1 trillion on personal health care during the years included in the study. The researchers looked at how Americans spent that money, estimating the costs of treating 155 conditions. They found that, at an estimated $101 billion, Americans spent the most on treating diabetes. Spending for ischemic heart disease came in second at $88 billion; spending for low back and neck pain was a close third at $87 billion. Increases in costs of care Spending for personal health care increased for 143 of the conditions investigated over the course of the study. Spending on low back and neck pain increased $57 billion during those 18 years, and spending on diabetes increased $64 billion during that period. Of all the conditions included in the study, 57 percent of spending went towards the top 20 conditions. Spending on emergency care and retail pharmaceuticals rose the fastest, at 6.4 percent and 5.6 percent annual growth rate, respectively. When it came to spending on diabetes, 57.6 percent went to pharmaceuticals while 23.5 percent was for ambulatory care. The study was important in that it was the first to provide modeled estimates of U.S. personal health care spending. The results were revealing in that they showed that diabetes, ischemic heart disease, and low back and neck pain presented the highest costs to American consumers. The study was limited in that it used population-weighted data to represent total national spending, which excludes incarcerated persons and those receiving care from a Veterans Affairs (VA) facility. The University of Washington institutional review board reviewed and approved the project. The information presented in the study may be useful to health care policy makers and health care providers working towards making health care spending more cost effective for the conditions that most commonly affect people living in the United States. Source http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2594716 Frank Magliochetti is Managing Partner for Parcae Capital North Andover, Massachusetts This column of posts is directed at the Healthcare Industry. Frank plans to release new sites dedicated to the industry. Frank currently assists companies who are building, restructuring, transforming and resurrecting there business’s. An example of his client base are, Xenetic Biosciences , IPC Medical Corp, Just Fellowship Corp, Environmental Services Inc., Parsons Post House LLC, ClickStream Corporation as well as having a business talk radio show; The Business Architect on the URBN network. … [Read more...]