Headaches Take a Toll …
Headaches were the main cause of 3 million emergency department visits and 81,000 hospital stays in the United States, according to an analysis of 2008 data by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Those figures represented 2.4% of ED visits and 0.2% of hospitalizations, respectively. Migraines made up one-third of the headache emergencies and two-thirds of the hospital stays for headaches. The ED visits increased during the summer months, peaked in September, and were lowest during February and December. Three-fourths of the headache sufferers were women, who also were four times more likely to have migraines than were men. People in low-income and rural communities were more likely than their counterparts to visit EDs for headaches.
… While They're Under-Diagnosed
Headaches are under-recognized, under-diagnosed, and under-treated worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. “Health-care providers need better knowledge of how to diagnose and treat the small number of headache disorders that contribute substantially to public ill-health,” according to the “Atlas of Headache Disorders and Resources in the World 2011” compiled by the WHO and the group Lifting the Burden. Only about 40% of patients with migraines or tension-type headaches are professionally diagnosed, according to the report. About half of the people with headaches treat themselves without contacting a health care professional. Regardless of national wealth, many countries cited the unavailability of appropriate headache drugs as a barrier to care. The researchers studied epidemiologic data and answers on questionnaires completed by neurologists, general practitioners, and patients in 101 countries.
Group Decries Alzheimer's Test
The watchdog group Public Citizen has challenged a recent JAMA report of success with a radioactive dye for detecting beta-amyloid plaques by positron-emission tomography (PET). The dye maker's study in January concluded that PET with florbetapir F 18 can indicate the presence and density of the plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease. In a letter to the journal, Public Citizen claimed that the authors withheld “critically important data,” and it urged the Food and Drug Administration not to approve the dye. “In their JAMA article, the researchers presented only the median score of the three physician readers for the amount of beta-amyloid seen on each florbetapir-PET scan, but withheld critical data on the scores for each individual physician reader,” the group said in a statement. Also in January, the FDA withheld approval of the dye pending additional data on reliability between florbetapir-PET scan readers.
A $212 Million Botox Verdict
A Virginia jury voted to award $212 million to a man who said he sustained permanent brain damage after receiving injections of Botox for tremors in his hand. Douglas M. Ray alleged that Allergan Inc. had failed to properly warn of all of Botox's inherent dangers, including the autoimmune disorder he developed after the injections. In a statement, a company spokeswoman said that “the facts, data and qualified expert testimony in this case established that there is no evidence to suggest Allergan failed to make available adequate information to Mr. Ray's treating physician about the potential risks associated with Botox. Nor was there any proof that Botox caused the symptoms suffered by Mr. Ray.” Although the jury said Mr. Ray should get $212 million, $200 million of that – the punitive damages portion – will be capped at $350,000 under Virginia law. Allergan is “currently evaluating the basis for an appeal,” a spokeswoman said.