WASHINGTON, DC—Workers who are sick with H1N1 should stay at home so others are not infected. However, many jobs in the private sector do not offer paid sick leave to make time at home possible, according to a panel that testified before Congress last month.

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BETHESDA, MD—An increase in the quality and availability of health care and improvement in overall living conditions over the last century has helped increase average life expectancy in the United States from 55 years of age to over 75.

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WASHINGTON, DC—Lately, traumatic brain injury (TBI) is receiving due attention on both the battlefield and the gridiron.  Full Article

WASHINGTON, DC—Many people say they are not getting enough sleep, a CDC study found. A study published in CDC’s Oct 30th Morbidity and Mortality Report found that 11.1% of respondents said that there was not a single day in the previous month where they got enough sleep. Full Article

WASHINGTON, DC—The largest study of obesity during pregnancy and babies with heart defects in the US finds that women who were overweight or obese before they became pregnant had an approximately 18% increased risk of having a baby with certain heart defects compared with women who were of normal body mass index (BMI) before they became pregnant.

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WASHINGTON, DC—As women Vietnam veterans approach their mid-60s, physicians are finding it more important to understand the impact of wartime deployment on their health and mental outcomes nearly 40 years after service on this under-researched demographic.

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WASHINGTON, DC—Diabetes is, in many ways, the prototypical chronic disease. It is slow moving, progressive, complex, and it impacts patients’ lives in ways that cannot be quantified on a medical chart.

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BETHESDA, MD—Much of the discussion surrounding diabetes concerns day-to-day treatment and how a patient can manage symptoms and keep the disease from progressing. Rarely does anyone discuss the possibility of a cure.

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WASHINGTON, DC—People with diabetes have an increased risk of severe illness from the flu, the CDC warned last month. “People with diabetes account for about 12% of all of the hospitalizations we’ve seen from the H1N1 influenza virus.

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WASHINGTON, DC—As part of an initiative to reduce injuries among its beneficiaries, the IHS is working to prevent falls. Nationwide among older adults, falls are the leading cause of injury deaths. They are also the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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