(November 17, 2009 - Insidermedicine)

From Boston - According to a report published in the Archives of Surgery, trauma patients without health insurance are at significantly increased risk of mortality. Researchers studied nearly 700,000 trauma cases, adjusting for factors such as comorbidities and the severity of the injury incurred. They found that trauma patients without insurance were at 89% increased risk of death. 

From Washington - The US Preventive Services Task Force is recommending that women do not need to undergo routine mammogram screening for breast cancer until the age of 50. This screening is to take place only every two years. Researchers found that: younger women are more likely to have false-positive diagnoses;  over-diagnosis occurs 1 to 10% of the time because of screening; and breast self-examination does not appear to decrease risk of mortality. This research is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

And finally, from Orlando - According to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, phone calls from a nurse may help patients who are suffering depression after undergoing CABG. Researchers studied over 300 post-op CABG patients who were suffering from depression, randomizing some to traditional anti-depressive therapy and others to an intervention program in which a nurse called patients and talked to them about depression. Patients who received these phone calls saw their depression symptom scores improve more than those who received traditional therapy.