July 25, 2017. The obesity epidemic in the U.S. is affecting newborns and pregnant women. What are the risks associated with being overweight or obese during pregnancy?
Read More »Medical Care for Adults
The National Center for Health Research reviews important new research as soon as it is published. We cut through the hype regarding various medical treatments to let you know what is proven and what is unknown about the risks and benefits of various treatment options. We do not accept funding from the companies that make medical products, so you can trust that our information is based on science, and not biased by financial ties to the treatments we’re evaluating.
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Some of these articles were written this year and others were not, however, if they are on our website it means the information is up-to-date. We always scrutinize new research and call the researchers to learn even more. Then we translate it into plain language that everyone can understand.
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Are Pradaxa and Xarelto as good as Coumadin (Warfarin) for Atrial Fibrillation and to Prevent Stroke?
When patients want to lower their chances of developing potentially fatal blood clots, there are now three options for patients with atrial fibrillation (also called A-fib). Which is best for you?
Read More »Is Noctiva a Good Treatment for Nighttime Trips to the Bathroom?
Noctiva is the first drug that FDA has approved for frequent nighttime urination. Unfortunately, the low dose (0.83 mcg) isn’t effective and the high dose (1.66 mcg) can cause serious side effects. It would be more effective to treat the cause of nighttime urination, so patients should talk to their doctors to consider possible causes before considering Noctiva. Do the benefits outweigh the risks for most patients? Since the benefits are small and the risks can be serious, Noctiva is probably not the best solution for most patients. Some patients may benefit from it without any harmful side effects, but the research doesn’t help us predict who those patients would be.
Read More »Why Are So Many American Women Having Mastectomies?
Our Bodies Ourselves: June 16, 2017. Breast cancer experts believe that many women undergoing mastectomies do not need them and are getting them out of fear, not because of the actual risks.
Read More »Are Mastectomies Necessary for Women with BRCA1 or BRCA2? What About for Women Without the Breast Cancer Gene?
When Angelina Jolie publicly announced her double mastectomy in 2013, she was praised for possibly saving many women’s lives. But we know more today than we did then and experts now agree that too many women are undergoing unnecessary mastectomies. Here are the facts.
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