Allhat isn't "all that"?

Check out the New York Times article "The Minimal Impact of a Big Hypertension Study"; an excerpt:

The findings, from one of the biggest clinical trials ever organized by the federal government, promised to save the nation billions of dollars in treating the tens of millions of Americans with hypertension — even if the conclusions did seem to threaten pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer that were making big money on blockbuster hypertension drugs.

Six years later, though, the use of the inexpensive pills, called diuretics, is far smaller than some of the trial’s organizers had hoped.

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Health beliefs

From the Reuters article:

Older African Americans more likely to rate their health as poor compared with older white Americans, even though when the two groups "are functioning extremely well, new research suggests.
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The most likely explanation for the racial disparities seen in the current study, Spencer said, is that older African Americans have a different way of thinking about their health than do older whites. It's also possible, she added, that the accumulated affects of racism could be driving down their perception of their own health.

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Wartime lessons impacting trauma care

From the San Diego Union article:

Some of the war-zone techniques are forcing trauma specialists to rethink practices that have been standard for years.

“We are learning at warp speed,” said Dr. Michael Sise, a clinical professor of surgery and chief of the trauma unit at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. “This is the fastest transfer of wartime learning in history.”
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The rapid assimilation of battlefield lessons largely is being driven by health providers who also are military reservists. Upon returning from deployments in Iraq or Afghanistan, they apply newly learned techniques to their civilian jobs, Sise said. The information spreads quickly among hospitals through the nation's highly networked trauma-care system.

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Kickback or incentive?

From the Associated Press article:

All the doctors had to do was show up, enjoy a free dinner at an elegant Rochester, N.Y., area restaurant specializing in steaks, chops and top-shelf wines, and pocket $100 on the way out the door.

Health insurance companies had invited the physicians to hear a pitch about the benefits of prescribing generic drugs instead of their pricier, name-brand competitors.

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