December Health News

1.    Vaccine for Prevention of Mild and Moderate-to-Severe Influenza in Children, New England Journal of Medicine, 2013; 369(26):  2481-91.

Children who received a quadrivalent (targeted against 4 specific strains) flu vaccine versus Hepatitis A vaccine (control group) had a 59% less likelihood of contracting influenza.  The study included 5168 children in 8 countries.  The difference between this new flu vaccine and the standard (trivalent) vaccine is that the new vaccine covers two forms of influenza B, rather than just one form.  Yet another great study to support getting your children above the age of 6 months vaccinated every year.

See our previous blog on the different types of flu vaccine available this year:  https://ladydocscornercafe.com/article/whats-new-with-flu-(2013-2014)-vaccine/#sthash.Qigerd1i.dpbs

1.     Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy versus Sham Surgery for a Degenerative Meniscal Tear, New England Journal of Medicine, 2013:  369(26):  2515-2524

This study compared outcomes between patients with knee medial meniscal tears who either had meniscal surgery or fake surgery.  It found there was no difference between those who had surgery and those who did not in terms of resolution of pain and return to normal function.  This study does not apply to those who had trauma as a cause of the tear.  If you have a medial meniscal tear in the knee, you should consider avoiding surgery, as the time to healing pain seems no different between those who do surgery and those who do not have a procedure.

1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Plus Amitriptyline for Chronic Migraine in Children and Adolescents, Journal of the American Medical Association,  2013  310 (24) :  2622-2630

Link to the article:  http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1793798

This study compared young people (ages 10-17, 79% female) who are frequent migraine sufferers who received either cognitive behavioral therapy or headache education sessions.  All patients received a medication called Amitriptyline nightly for headache prevention.  Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) includes coping skills training for pain as well as biofeedback-assisted relaxation training.  Headache education sessions discussed underlying headache causes and lifestyle changes that can improve headaches.  By the end of the 12 month study, 86% of those who used CBT had a reduction in migraines versus 69% of those in the headache education group.  This well designed study supports the use of CBT as a credible method for reduction of migraine headaches in children and adolescents.

4.     Screening for Lung Cancer:  The US Preventive Task Force Recommendation

Annals of Internal Medicine, 2013 published on line doi:10.7326/M13-2771 

Link to the article:  http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleID=1809422

The U.S. Preventive Task Force analyzes medical studies and evidence for preventative care and then makes recommendation to physicians on which screening tests are useful.  The latest recommendation, just published online today, supports the use of low dose CT (computed tomography) scans of the chest to screen for lung cancer annually.  They recommend chest CT scans be done on those who have no symptoms who are ages 55-80 and are currently smoking or have smoked more than 30 pack years of cigarettes within the last 15 years.  To calculate your pack years, multiply the number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day by the number of years smoked.  For example, if you smoked 1 pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years, you would have smoked 20 pack years. 

            This study reminds us that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, and that it is much better to quit and reduce the risk of lung cancer.  If you are still smoking and have smoked more than 30 pack years in the last 15 years, please speak you’re your physician and consider scheduling a chest CT for screening for lung cancer.