In a small study of 76 patients diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s disease, the half of the group that took brisk walks for at least 150 minutes each week for 6 months, as compared to those who...
Dr. Susan Molchan
Heart health and cardiovascular care
Heart health can mean the difference between a good quality of life as we age and one with serious disabilities. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States, and people with heart...
Avoid using Q-tips
You may have heard this before, but it bears repeating: Avoid using Q-tips inside your ears. For as long as I can remember, my father, a physician, would dry out his ears after his shower with...
How to lower your blood pressure: DASH
The Centers for Disease Control offers advice on how to lower your blood pressure to avoid hypertension. DASH, the dietary approach to stop hypertension (high blood pressure), is an eating program...
Cures Act threatens drug safety and efficacy
After an intense lobbying campaign heavily funded by the pharmaceutical industry and featuring sick children and pleading parents, a bill called the 21st Century Cures Act (“Cures Act”)...
Ask your doctor about vaccines you need
Medicare covers a number of vaccines older adults need to prevent against serious illness and hospitalization, but millions of older adults are not getting them. Many end up unnecessarily ill with...
Should companies market drugs “off-label”?
Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held an important public hearing on “off-label” marketing of drugs and medical devices to physicians. When medical products are...
No proof annual pelvic exam offers benefits
Most women get annual pelvic exams–60 million in 2010–but it might be time to stop. There is no proof that an annual pelvic exam offers benefits. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force...
Delirium common for older adults in hospital
According to the American Delirium Society, seven million hospitalized adults experience delirium each year. They become confused and disoriented. And, according to the National Institute on Aging...
Do Prilosec and other PPIs increase people’s risk of...
Millions of people take proton pump inhibitor drugs (PPIs) such as omeprazole (Prilosec), esomeprazole (Nexium), and lansoprazole (Prevacid) for heartburn or gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD)...