Headlines: July 6, 2010
by Meg Larkin
Due in part to the economic downturn, many hospitals and other providers are taking steps to reduce the amount of medical waste that they generate. The medical waste problem began with a shift toward using disposable instruments in sterile packaging in order to prevent hospital acquired infections. However, using disposable instruments has led to a large amount of unused disposables being discarded once they are unwrapped in preparation for surgery. Now, many hospitals are reprocessing or recycling single use devices, and some are pushing for a return to using more durable medical supplies. While some have expressed concern over the safety of reprocessed devices, the FDA has been behind the initiative to reuse and recycle disposable devices, and has set out safety standards to govern the practice.
In other news, some researchers are raising concerns about the security of implanted medical devices. The Boston Globe reported that, “Pacemakers, which keep hearts beating properly, and infusion pumps, which control diabetes, also connect patients to doctors by sending vital health data through wireless connections to allow regular monitoring and make programming adjustments possible.” According to the Medical Device Security Center, those communications may be susceptible to corruption, putting patients at risk. To date, no incidence of data corruption has occurred, and the devices’ manufacturers have asserted that they are taking adequate security precautions. The FDA does not currently monitor data security as an independent consideration in evaluating a device for approval, but those factors could be examined to the extent that they bear on the device’s overall safety and efficacy.
In research news, a study of testosterone gel in elderly men has been stopped because of a high rate of cardiac adverse events. The study was testing whether testosterone gel would help frail elderly men gain muscle strength, and it was stopped when ten men in the trial suffered cardiac problems compared to one man in the control group. While some researchers called the high rate of cardiac incidents an anomaly, researchers about to begin a larger testosterone study have modified their protocols and taken steps to better protect the human subject population.
Finally, in fitness news, researchers have discovered that the popular formula used to calculate the target heart rate during exercise is largely inaccurate for women. According to the New York Times, “The commonly used formula subtracts a person’s age from 220. But based on the data collected in the Chicago study, the right formula for calculating a woman’s maximum heart rate is a little more complicated: 206 minus 88 percent of a woman’s age.” Like any other heart rate formula, the Chicago formula is a product of averages, and each individual woman’s maximum heart rate may be higher or lower. In addition, some argue that calculating maximum heart rate and setting exercise goals based on that number is not a good approach for average exercisers. One exercise researcher has said that too much focus on target heart rates may discourage people from picking an exercise routine that they can stick with over the long run.
Meg Larkin is a law student at Boston University. Please feel free to email her with any questions, comments, suggestions or concerns.
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