Internal Medicine Alert – July 30, 2006

July 30, 2006

• Hepatitis C: A Scourge of the Baby Boomers?

  Survey data suggest more than 4.1 million Americans have antibodies to Hepatitis C, and 3.2 million have chronic infection.

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• Risk of Death and AMI in Apparently Healthy Subjects with Ventricular Arrhythmias

  Apparently healthy, middle-aged and older subjects with frequent PVCs have a poor prognosis and should be considered to be high-risk subjects who require strict risk factor modification and primary prevention.

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• Low-dose Aspirin and Endoscopic Gastric and Duodenal Ulcer Rates in Users of NSAIDs or COX-2 inhibitors

  Low-dose aspirin plus celecoxib led to ulcers in 19% of recipients vs 27% ulcers in patients receiving naproxen and low-dose aspirin. The group receiving low-dose aspirin plus placebo had 8% ulcer development.

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• The Pressure of Air Travel: Headaches on the Plane

  Barotrauma to the paranasal sinuses may cause sudden and severe headache during airplane travel.

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• Many Factors are Responsible for Treatment Outcome in Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Bronchitis

  The number of previous acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (AECBs) and the baseline FEV1 level are potent prognostic factors of the short and long-term outcomes of AECB.

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• Zoster Vaccine Live (Oka/Merck)

  The FDA has licensed a new vaccine to reduce the risk of shingles in the people 60 years of age and older.

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• Clinical Briefs By Louis Kuritzky, MD

  That air travel is associated with increased risk of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is well established; Obesity is a recognized risk factor for GERD; and Anti-TNF antibody (aTNFa) therapy offers significant benefit to sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

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