Advertisement
amednews.com
HEALTH & SCIENCE

News in brief - May 19, 2008

Shortage prompts change in CDC Hib vaccine recommendations - AMH levels may predict menopause onset - ACP osteoporosis guideline now includes screening older men - World cancer genome project begun

Shortage prompts change in CDC Hib vaccine recommendations

Physicians should not provide the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine booster shot to healthy children 12 to 15 months old because of shortfalls in supplies, according to an alert issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month.

This final shot in the series should continue to be given to children at high risk of developing the infection. This list includes those with severe spleen problems, sickle cell disease, HIV or immune system disorders, and those who are Alaskan and Native American.

The agency also is calling for physicians to establish a system to bring children back for catch-up vaccinations when supplies are restored.

The amount of vaccine is insufficient because sterility issues led Merck & Co. Inc. to recall some lots in December 2007. No adverse events have been associated with the recalled vaccine. Also, children who were vaccinated with it do not need to be reimmunized, because efficacy was not affected.

Back to top.

AMH levels may predict menopause onset

The amount of antimüllerian hormone circulating in the blood may indicate the age a woman will become menopausal, according to a study in the June Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Researchers from the University Medical Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands, measured AMH levels in 144 healthy women and found that they correlated with a data set of the average age of this life transition.

"The results suggest that AMH reflects a woman's reproductive age more realistically than chronological age alone," wrote the authors.

AMH indicates the number of small follicles in the ovaries, and the authors suggest that this information may help couples, particularly those who delay childbearing until their 30s, plan accordingly.

Researchers cautioned, however, that this information may not be meaningful for younger women because this hormone does not decline early in reproductive life.

Back to top.

ACP osteoporosis guideline now includes screening older men

The American College of Physicians released on May 5 a new clinical practice guideline that recommends screening older men, particularly those older than 65, for osteoporosis. The guideline, which was to be published in the May 6 Annals of Internal Medicine, was based on a systematic evidence review of published studies.

"Osteoporosis is not just a women's disease," said Amir Qaseem, MD, PhD, senior medical associate in ACP's Clinical Programs and Quality of Care Dept. "The one-year mortality rate in men after hip fracture is twice that of women."

Clinicians should obtain a DEXA scan for men who are at increased risk for osteoporosis and are candidates for drug therapy, according to the guideline. Guidelines developed by other specialty groups also have drawn attention in recent years to the importance of screening men.

Back to top.

World cancer genome project begun

Research organizations from around the world are launching the International Cancer Genome Consortium, a collaboration designed to generate high-quality genomic data on up to 50 types of cancer. The effort is expected to take a decade.

The consortium intends to make its data rapidly and freely available to the global research community, and it invites all nations and research organizations to participate. The National Institutes of Health is the U.S. research organization participating in the project.

Once thought of as a single disease, cancer is now understood to consist of a large number of different conditions. In almost all forms, however, cancer changes the genetic blueprint, or genomes, of cells and causes disruptions within normal biological pathways, leading to uncontrolled cell growth.

Back to top.

Copyright 2008 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.