Colon Screenings Don't Follow Guidelines, Study Suggests

(HealthDay News) -- Despite clear guidelines recommending that older people undergo a colonoscopy only if they expect to live at least four more years, a new study reveals that seriously ill elderly men in the United States are being screened for colon cancer on par with healthy people.

The finding specifically reflects the experiences of men seeking care from a U.S. Veteran Affairs hospital, but it suggests that screening practices in general might not hone closely to American Cancer Society protocols.

"Basically what we found is that, regardless of an elderly individual's health, the more often he goes to the doctor, the more likely it is he is going to get a colonoscopy, whether or not it's appropriate," said the study's lead author, Dr. Louise C. Walter, from the geriatrics division at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

"The problem could reflect a larger systems issue, in that, on the one hand, if you're older and well, very likely you're not seeing physicians often and not getting a colonoscopy screening when it could be very beneficial," she added. "On the flip side, when seniors get sick, they have many more medical visits and are more prone to getting a lot of stuff done to them -- including colonoscopies -- that can actually be harmful and distracting from the real problems at hand."

The study is in the April 7 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. Read more...

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Sugar-Sweetened Drinks May Pose Heart Risks to Women, Study Suggests

(HealthDay News) -- Drinking two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day may boost a woman's risk for developing heart disease and diabetes -- even if this habit isn't causing her to pack on extra pounds, a new study says.

Sugary sodas and other sweetened beverages are frequent targets in the war on obesity. Many efforts, such as taking these drinks out of vending machines in schools, are aimed at reducing exposure to these beverages and the empty calories they provide. However, the new study suggests that the risks posed by sugar-sweetened sodas and flavored waters may be independent of weight gain.

Middle-aged women who drank two or more sugary beverages a day were close to four times as likely to have high levels of dangerous blood fats called triglycerides and impaired blood sugar levels (known as "prediabetes'), when compared with women who drank less than one sugar-sweetened beverage a day. Read more...

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Competing For a Mate May Shorten Men's Lives, Study Suggests

(HealthDay News) -- In certain situations, competing for a mate may shorten a man's life.

U.S. researchers found that when men reach sexual maturity in settings where they far outnumber women, they live an average of three months less than males from areas with a more equitable gender ratio.

While previous studies have examined gender ratios and longevity in animals, this is the first time it's been studied in humans, according to senior author Nicholas Christakis, a professor of medicine and medical sociology at Harvard Medical School, and a professor of sociology at Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

"At first blush, a quarter of a year may not seem like much, but it is comparable to the effects of, say, taking a daily aspirin, or engaging in moderate exercise. A 65-year-old man is typically expected to live another 15.4 years. Removing three months from this block of time is significant," Christakis said in a Harvard news release. Read more...

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