Oct. 4, 1997
Contact:
Mike O'Hara
507-284-9522 (days)
507-284-2511 (evenings)
e-mail: [email protected]
For Immediate Release
ROCHESTER, MINN. -- Following are brief reports on some recent Mayo studies:
Smoking Cessation Ranks High in Cost Effectiveness
Smoking cessation, looked at as a medical treatment, is highly cost-effective, says a Mayo study published in the October issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The study analyzed data from 5,544 patients treated for nicotine dependence at Mayo Clinic. Researchers looked at Mayo's treatment costs, the number of patients who benefitted from treatment (22% stop rates) and life expectancy models to arrive at a cost of $6,828 per net year of life gained for nicotine dependence treatment. Compared to results of 16 similar studies done of other interventions, smoking cessation rated near the top. The lead researcher, Dr. Ivana Croghan, of Mayo's Nicotine Research Center said that only the costs of treatment, not the costs of tobacco, were included in the analysis. "If savings from not smoking for 5, 10 or 20 years were added in, the cost effectiveness would be overwhelming," she said. Some examples of other medical interventions cited:
Intervention Cost Effectiveness
($ per year of life gained)Pneumonia vaccine in elderly $1,500
Coronary artery bypass 4,329
Kidney transplantation 9,756
Moderate hypertension 11,300
Heart transplantation 16,239
Estrogen replacement 23,500
Breast cancer screening 26,800
Dialysis 37,000
Streptokinase for heart pts 55,000
Disc Training Helps Ankle Stability, May Prevent Ankle Sprains
Mayo sports medicine researchers report how a training device helps keep the ankle more stable in response to a sudden inversion -- the cause of most ankle sprains -- so that the ankle is less likely to be injured. The researchers used a trap-door device to simulate an ankle sprain and nerve tests to measure the response of four ankle muscles. They compared results in normal subjects and in subjects who trained for eight weeks on a "wobble board" (a disc-shaped device which simulates movement in multiple planes). They found that two muscles which promote "rolling over" of the ankle contracted more slowly in the disc-trained subjects, which helped moderate the ankle's response to the inversion.
Dr. Edward Laskowski of Mayo's Sports Medicine Center said ankle sprains are the most common injury suffered by athletes, accounting for about 40% of all sports injuries. "Besides injuring the muscles, a sprain also disrupts the messages going to the muscle system which controls the stability of the ankle. If you don't retrain that system, you are prone to having another sprain. What this study shows is that by challenging this muscle system with the disc device, you can improve ankle stability, which can protect against ankle injuries." The report appeared in a recent issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine.
Is Multiple Sclerosis Caused by an Infection or Genes? What the Research Shows
Is multiple sclerosis caused by an infectious agent in the environment? Or is it inherited? Writing in a recent issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo researchers say that studies support both theories. Some of the findings which support an environmental cause include:
"¢prevalence of MS varies with geography, generally increasing with distance from the equator
"¢offspring of people who move often have prevalence rates of MS similar to those in their new residence and different from their place of origin
"¢clusters and epidemics of MS have been reported
"¢MS is not uniformly distributed among identical twins, which would be expected if the disease were purely genetic.
Proponents of a genetic cause cite some of the following findings:
"¢MS is primarily a disease of Caucasians, and certain ethnic groups (especially Northern Europeans) are more vulnerable than others
"¢First degree relatives of patients with MS have a 20-40 times greater risk of having MS than the general population
"¢MS has a 6 - 10 times higher occurrence rate in identical twins than in fraternal twins.
The authors conclude that accumulated evidence suggests an environmental influence occurring on a background of genetic susceptibility. They say, "there is little evidence for a single or unique environmental cause of MS."
Skin Fluid Test Matches Accuracy of Blood Test in Determining Glucose Levels in Diabetics
Mayo researchers report that testing a minute sample of fluid from just beneath the surface of the skin measures glucose levels in diabetics as accurately as the standard finger-stick method. Sixty-seven adult volunteers had their glucose levels measured in three ways: a blood draw, a finger stick and with a novel device which collects a fluid sample with a tiny needle that penetrates less than one-sixteenth of an inch into the skin. They found that glucose levels in the fluid samples had the same level of clinical accuracy -- 97% -- as those obtained from blood glucose measurements made via the finger-stick method. The researchers say that tests on large numbers of patients will be needed to determine the usefulness of the device for self-monitoring of glucose levels in diabetics. The report appeared in the September issue of Diabetes Care.
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