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Study Finds Improved Way to Treat COPD

August 19th, 2010 at 07:02am Under Health report

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a life-threatening condition commonly caused by years of smoking. Doctors say that over time the damage interferes with the natural exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the lungs.

COPD is not curable but treatment can extend a patient’s life. Doctors often treat it with steroids. Now, a study shows that low doses of the medicine given by mouth are equal to, or better than, a heavy dose administered into the blood.

Researchers studied patients treated at four hundred hospitals in two thousand six and two thousand seven. The patients received steroids either intravenously or by mouth.

The study found that those who received lower doses of steroids by mouth spent less time in the hospital. Also, their risk of side effects such as glaucoma, high blood pressure and edema, or swelling in the legs, was reduced.

Peter Lindenauer from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts, led the study. The findings are in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than two hundred million people have been found to have COPD. Most live in low and middle income countries.

COPD blocks airflow in the lungs. Patients have to think about their breathing. They also have to exercise. And they have to learn to calm themselves, especially when they are short of breath.

SOUND: “Big deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.”

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, as well as asthmatic bronchitis. One sign of it is a wheezing sound when the person breathes. Another symptom is a cough that produces yellow mucus and does not go away.

Miners and chemical workers are at risk of COPD from breathing dust and harmful chemicals. But the most common cause is long-term smoking or years of breathing other people’s smoke.

Francis Welch is a retired dentist, former smoker and now a COPD patient.

FRANCIS WELCH: “I have to think about breathing sixty minutes of every hour.  It’s a heck of a nuisance.”

He stopped smoking more than ten years ago. He also persuaded his son to stop.

FRANCIS WELCH: “Until he saw me walking around with a can of liquid oxygen. That got his attention. He finally did smoke, quit smoking, thank God.”

And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, with reporting by Melinda Smith. Transcripts, MP3s and archives of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

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Study Ties New Doctors to Jump in Hospital Deaths in July

August 15th, 2010 at 07:52am Under Health report

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Being a patient in certain hospitals in the month of July can be dangerous or even deadly. That was the finding of sociology professor David Phillips at the University of California, San Diego, and his student Gwendolyn Barker.

They examined more than two hundred forty-four thousand death records from across the United States. These were from nineteen seventy-nine to two thousand six. The researchers looked at records that listed “medication errors” as the main cause of death.

These medication mistakes included the accidental overdose of a drug or the wrong drug being given or taken. They also included accidents with the use of drugs in medical procedures or operations.

The researchers found that these mistakes caused ten percent more deaths in July than in other months. They found no similar link for other causes of death or for deaths outside hospitals.

But what makes July so deadly? The professor and his student believe they know.

They found that this ten percent increase only happened in counties with teaching hospitals. These are hospitals where new doctors, known as residents, come for more training after medical school.

Hospitals in the United States employ their newest medical residents every year in the month of … July.

David Phillips and Gwendolyn Barker believe there is a clear link between deadly medical errors and the arrival of new residents. They also examined hospitals without residency programs. They found no unusual increase in deaths caused by drug errors.

Medical residents may stay at a teaching hospital for three years or more. They are given responsibilities for patient care. But they are not supposed to work alone. They are supervised by more experienced doctors.

The researchers say teaching hospitals should examine the responsibilities of new doctors. They also say the new residents should be supervised more closely and should be taught more about medication safety.

The researchers say if hospitals do these things, they will reduce medication errors, as well as the costs related to these mistakes.

The findings are published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report. For more health news, go to voaspecialenglish.com. You can read and listen to all of our reports and write comments. You can also write to us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I’m Jim Tedder.

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