News in brief - May 26, 2003

More smallpox funds from HHS - Few people know TIA symptoms - Smoking cessation for parents reduces chance kids will use tobacco - Many people with joint problems never see a doctor - Low-income African-Americans recover more slowly from stroke

More smallpox funds from HHS

The Dept. of Health and Human Services released an additional $100 million to help states with their smallpox vaccination campaigns. The new funds are in addition to the $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2002 funds sent to states last year and $1.4 billion in fiscal 2003 funds, said HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson.

Of this year's funding, $280 million was available immediately to states, and the rest will be released after states submit, and HHS reviews, their work plans outlining public health and hospital preparedness activities.

HHS also released guidelines for the $1.4 billion cooperative agreement program for states, territories and municipalities. The funds will be awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Health Resources and Services Administration.

The CDC's guidelines include preparedness planning and readiness assessment. The HRSA guidelines cover regional surge capacity to handle terrorism victims and terrorism preparedness exercises.

Few people know TIA symptoms

Public education about the symptoms and risks of transient ischemic attacks is needed, according to a study published in the May 13 Neurology. A phone survey of more than 10,000 people found that 3.2% had symptoms of these mini-strokes but never saw a physician about them. Among those with a TIA diagnosis, 16% saw the doctor more than a week after the symptoms occurred. And only 9% of people could give the definition of TIA or identify its symptoms.

"People think that because these symptoms go away quickly, they don't need to worry about them, but that's definitely not the case," said study author and neurologist S. Claiborne Johnston, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco. "People who have had a TIA are at high risk of having a stroke." Men, especially those in minority groups and those with lower income and fewer years of education, were less likely to be knowledgeable about TIA than others, the study found.

Smoking cessation for parents reduces chance kids will use tobacco

When parents quit smoking, their children are much less likely to grow up to be smokers, according to a study published in the May Addiction.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, Seattle, studied more than 3,000 participants in a local smoking prevention project. If one parent quit smoking before the child reached the age of 8, the child's risk of being a smoker at age 18 was reduced by 25%. If both parents quit, the risk was cut by 39%.

Those who are nonsmokers at age 18 are very likely to remain nonsmokers for the rest of their lives.

Researchers said this study suggests that parents should be included in school-based smoking prevention programs.

"We need parents to realize that if they quit smoking, they could help their children from becoming daily smokers," said Jonathan Bricker, PhD, a research associate in the Cancer Prevention and Trials Program of Fred Hutchinson's Public Health Sciences Division.

Children of former smokers were still more likely to become smokers than were children of parents who had never smoked.

Many people with joint problems never see a doctor

More than 20% of those with chronic joint pain have never had their problems assessed by a physician or other health care professional, according to a report in the May 9 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data from the 2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and extrapolated it to the general population, estimating that more than 10 million of the 47.5 million people who have chronic joint pain have never been to the doctor for it. Of those, 2 million are limited in their activities because of the pain.

Public health officials expressed concern that so many people were missing out on early treatment that could prevent worsening of symptoms or possibly joint damage.

Latinos, people without health insurance and those who had no activity limitations were the least likely to seek care for their problem joints. Those older than 65 and those having higher education levels were more likely to seek care.

Low-income African-Americans recover more slowly from stroke

Equal access to care could bring about more equal outcomes for black and white patients who have strokes, according to a study published in the April Stroke.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and Duke University studied stroke outcomes in more than 1,000 patients treated at Dept. of Veteran's Affairs medical centers from 1995 to 1997. There were no significant differences overall in receipt of inpatient services or referral to outpatient rehabilitation.

Low-income African-Americans, however, experienced delays in accessing rehabilitation and had a worse outcome at the 12-month mark than did all other groups. Researchers suggested that the delays were due to poverty-related factors.

"These patients essentially received the same in-hospital treatment, but the pace of recovery from stroke was most likely inhibited for blacks due to a lack of social resources, such as transportation or supplemental in-home care that can, otherwise, enhance recovery over time," said Ronnie D. Horner, PhD, lead author on the paper and program director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Previous studies have also suggested that African-Americans are more likely to have strokes and those incidents are likely to be more severe.