Exact Reasons Why Remain Mysterious MIAMI—Since 2008, approximately 6,000 veterans have died from suicide every year. In 2017, that averaged out to just under 17 suicides among previously activated former service members each day.* “Suicide is a national public health...
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Most Common Malignancy in HIV Patients on Dialysis
AUGUSTA, GA — Patients with HIV and/or end-stage renal disease receiving dialysis appear to have an increased risk of developing malignancies, but little research has been conducted on cancer in patients with both conditions. A study in Clinical Kidney Journal sought...
Chinese Researchers Describe a COVID-19 Case in a CLL Patient
WENZHOU, CHINA -- Since 1993, nearly 30,000 veterans have received care for chronic lymphocytic leukemia at the VA. CLL patients tend to be older and male, as are many veterans, and CLL also is considered a presumptive condition for veterans exposed to Agent Orange or...
Ibrutinib Helps Limit Mantle Cell Lymphoma Progression After AutoSCT
SEATTLE – Can autologous stem cell transplantation extend remission of mantle cell lymphoma? A study published in the journal Blood Research said the procedure could do that but also cautioned that the management of subsequent MCL relapse can be challenging. VA Puget...
For Veterans, Upping Opioid Dosage Doesn’t Provide Superior Pain Relief
LITTLE ROCK, AR—More isn’t necessarily better when it comes to opioid treatment. That was the somewhat surprising finding of a study focusing on veterans with chronic pain related to arthritis, back pain, neck pain, neuropathic pain or headache/migraine. A report in...
Standard Treatment for Pneumonia Usually Equal to More Powerful Antibiotics
SALT LAKE CITY—A new study is likely to change treatment patterns for veterans diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia. New research suggests that using antibiotics that target antibiotic-resistant bacteria as a first-line therapy for pneumonia appears to be unnecessary in...
Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Linked to Brain Atrophy
MADISON, WI—While the association of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage with development of dementia and cognitive decline in older adults is not well known, a new study suggested that identifying risk factors for brain atrophy can help direct new approached to...
Discovery of GWI Brain Inflammation Could Lead to New Treatments
BOSTON—New research holds out promising for identifying and developing new therapies for veterans with Gulf War Illness. A report in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity discussed the discovery of widespread inflammation in the brains of patients diagnosed with...
Parkinson’s Disease Itself Might Be Linked to Impulse Control Disorders
PHILADELPHIA —Impulse control disorders, including compulsive gambling, buying, sexual and eating behaviors are thought to occur in as many as 20% of Parkinson’s disease patients over the course of their illness. A study in the European Journal of Neurology sought to...
VA: AI-powered Wearable Predicts Heart Failure a Week Before Hospitalization
SALT LAKE CITY—More veterans leave the hospital with a diagnosis of heart failure than any other condition, making improving care for this rapidly growing segment of the population a high priority. A critical step is keeping veterans with heart failure out of the...
Nurse Researcher Pushes Teeth-Brushing to Decrease Hospital Infections
SALEM, VA—It’s a frustrating reality of hospital life—the possibility that a patient might develop an illness under care that they did not have when they arrived. Caused by bacteria rather than a virus, hospital-acquired pneumonia is the second most common type of...
Improved Electrocardiogram Screening for Recruits Could Save Lives—and Dollars
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA—Despite significant rates of sudden cardiac death in recruits and the devastating impact of SCD on military missions, the DoD discontinued universal electrocardiogram screening for recruits and officer candidates nearly 20 years ago. Now,...
DoD Battles Coronavirus Pandemic on Multiple Fronts
WASHINGTON—The DoD is throwing the weight and experience of the U.S. military into the fight against the novel coronavirus. Navy ships, Army troops, Air Force cargo planes, National Guardsmen and Reserve forces are all being tapped to battle the invisible enemy:...
Once Used to Keep Women from Top Ranks, Menopause Now Managed Within VA, Military Health Systems
When President Harry Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act into law in 1948, it was touted as opening full military service and veterans’ benefits to women, but many restrictions remained in place. Women were not allowed to fly aircraft engaged in...
USUHS Graduates Doctors and Nurses Early to Battle COVID-19
BETHESDA, MD—In an unprecedented move, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) will graduate its medical students and nurses several weeks early to help boost forces available to fight the novel coronavirus within the DoD and U.S. Public...
Army Researchers Move Quickly in Race to Develop COVID-19 Vaccine
SILVER SPRING, MD—Two Army research groups are tackling the critical task of developing a vaccine for the SARS-Cov-2 virus that causes COVID-19. The novel coronavirus has shut down large segments of the U.S. economy, infected almost half a million Americans and killed...
CARES Act Directs Critical Funds to VA to Help Most Vulnerable Veterans
WASHINGTON— The VA is using recently allocated federal funds to help some of its most vulnerable beneficiaries – those who are homeless, suffering from mental-health issues or in state-run veterans’ home. The agency received $17.2 billion from the Coronavirus Aid,...
VA Mobilizes for Its ‘Fourth Mission’: Helping Overwhelmed Civilian Hospitals
WASHINGTON - Since 1982, the VA has had a fourth mission that reaches beyond providing healthcare, benefits, and burial of veterans to providing emergency support to the nation’s healthcare system. That mission has come to the fore with novel coronavirus stressing a...
VA Addresses the Emotional Toll of Coronavirus
WASHINGTON - While VAMCs undertook a number of steps to respond to the increase in COVID-19 cases coming through their doors, the VA recognized the need to reach vulnerable and anxious veterans in their communities. To expand outreach to these veterans during the...
Growing Number of Veterans Battling Coronavirus
WASHINGTON - In light of a growing COVID-19 crisis, the VA announced it has successfully increased its intensive care unit and medical/surgical bed capacity by more than 4,000 across the nation. Those beds are likely to be needed, as the novel coronavirus has ambushed...
Facing a COVID-19 Outbreak, Navy Evacuates Crew of USS Theodore Roosevelt
WASHINGTON—In response to an urgent and widely publicized plea from the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which has suffered a significant outbreak of COVID-19, the Navy began evacuating sailors off the aircraft carrier earlier this week. The Theodore Roosevelt...
Agent Orange Exposure Appears to Worsen MGUS Progression
DETROIT - Agent Orange exposure by military personnel has been linked with multiple malignant and nonmalignant conditions, including monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. MGUS is an indolent, premalignant plasma cell disorder with the potential of...
Lipid Trait Variants Don’t Appear to Be Linked to NHL Subtypes
ROCHESTER, MN – Noting that studies linking lipid traits to risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma have been inconclusive, new research examined the association of genetically predicted lipid traits with risk of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), chronic lymphocytic...
Veteran Study Looks at Thrombotic Events in Polycythemia Vera Patients
SAN ANTONIO—Patients with polycythemia vera face an elevated risk of thromboembolic events and cardiovascular disease, compared to patients with other myeloproliferative disorders. A German-led study last year in Annals of Hematology pointed out that CV conditions are...
Veterans with PTSD, mTBI Often Have Rare Thrashing Sleep Disorder
PORTLAND, OR—A thrashing form of sleep behavior is much more common among military veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or concussion, compared to the general population. Now, researchers at the VA Portland Health Care System and Oregon Health &...
A Third of Women Treated in VA System Perceive Gender-Based Discrimination
PITTSBURGH—Almost 492,000 women veterans used the VA health care system in fiscal year 2017, a nearly 150% increase since fiscal year 2003, according to VA statistics. Those numbers are only expected to increase. While the Veteran Population Projection Model 2016, the...
Veteran Study Links DPP-4 Inhibitors to Greater Joint Pain Risk
MORGANTOWN, WV—Dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 inhibitors appear to be associated with joint pain in older veterans who receive care at the VHA but also are Medicare beneficiaries, according to a new study. The report in American Health Drug Benefits pointed out that...
VA Mental Healthcare Being Used by Depressed, Pregnant Vets
WORCESTER, MA—While depression screening is recommended for all pregnant veterans, it had remained unknown how often symptomatic women received care, how depression treatment presented in practice, and whether women veterans were utilizing treatment during the...
With Obesity, Moderate Hyperglycemia Hastens Cognitive Decline
PITTSBURGH —What precisely is the relationship between cognitive decline in patients with both diabetes and obesity? Researchers from the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and the University of Pittsburgh sought to investigate the potential mechanisms leading to those...
Hormone Therapy Appears to Affect Heart Fat Deposition
PITTSBURGH—While heart fat deposition has been linked to atherosclerosis—with both accelerating after menopause—hormone therapy might be able to change how that occurs. A study published in the journal Menopause examined how hormone therapy differentially slowed heart...
