Let's talk about mammograms and Pap tests

This has been quite a week for women's health. First a prestigious medical panel tells us that for most women, mammograms can be put off until age 50, rather than 40, and can be repeated every-other-year, rather than the annual ritual many of us have been following.

Then another prestigious medical panel says Pap tests, which catch cervical cancer at its earliest stages, can be done every other year until age 30, and every three years after that.

We have a lot of questions about all this, and figure you do, too, and so we've invited Dr. Jennifer Gilby (pictured above), an ob/gyn at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, to join us for a live chat here on the Personal Best blog, Monday at noon.

We'll field your questions about the screening tests, their advantages, their limitations, and how women can catch problems early -- and even better, help to prevent cancer from ever developing in the first place.

So, please join us Monday at noon. If you can't make it, please leave me your questions for Dr. Gilby in the comment area below, and check back later to see the transcript of the chat.

Charlotte Sutton, health and medicine editor

Study: Smoking bans prevent heart attacks

 

Next time you hear somebody complaining about smoking bans, throw this little fact out:

Just a year after prohibiting smoking in workplaces and public places, communities report 17 percent fewer heart attacks than in areas that allow smoking everywhere. That's true in the U.S., Canada and in Europe. And the number of heart attacks in places with smoking bans just keeps on dropping, down by 36 percent over three years, according to a new report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

“While we obviously won’t bring heart attack rates to zero, these findings give us evidence that in the short- to medium-term, smoking bans will prevent a lot of heart attacks,” said James M. Lightwood, Ph.D., co-author of the study (a so-called meta-study that examined 13 other reports on smoking bans) and assistant adjunct professor in the department of clinical pharmacy at the University of California–San Francisco.  “The studies on this issue now have long enough follow-up periods so that we can see exactly how big the effect is.” 

What's more, the community study adds more fuel to the argument that second-hand smoke leads to heart disease too.

“This study adds to the already strong evidence that secondhand smoke causes heart attacks, and that passing 100 percent smoke-free laws in all workplaces and public places is something we can do to protect the public,” Lightwood said.  “Now we have a better understanding of how you can predict what will happen if you impose a smoking-free law.” 

And that's only looking at heart attacks. The American Lung Association estimates secondhand smoke causes almost 50,000 deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year, including approximately 3,400 from lung cancer. Second-hand smoking is also associated with a bunch of other diseases, including breast cancer, asthma, leukemia and even Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in babies subjected to smokers.

Charlotte Sutton, health and medicine editor

Photo: Comstock images

Are you connected with your doctor?

If you wish it didn't take scheduling an appointment to communicate with your doctor, here's a trend you'll like: A new survey of 12,000 households finds that 12 percent of Americans with Internet access are going online to "talk'' with their physician, most commonly about health questions, getting test results and -- yes -- making appointments.
 
Look for the trend to grow, says the Thomson Reuters Pulse Healthcare Survey, since it's most pronounced among patients under age 35, as well as the most affluent.

Insurers are looking at ways to compensate doctors for online communication, which would also encourage it.

The survey also found that 65% of people of all ages and economic backgrounds are using the Internet to find health information.

But don't expect the personal touch to ever go away entirely.

“Patient-physician e-mail communication is appropriate in some instances — for follow-up to a hospital stay, for example, or enhanced disease management”,  said Kathy VanEnkevort, vice president of strategic services for the healthcare and science business of Thomson Reuters.

“In other situations, it’s inappropriate — when the doctor and patient lack an established, ongoing relationship, when there is high risk, and when physical presence is necessary for a diagnosis or evaluation.”

Charlotte Sutton, health and medicine editor

Photo: Creatas Images