Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Feds Grant Katrina Victims Special Status, Streamline Benefits
The federal government is making it easier for victims of Hurricane Katrina to obtain health benefits from programs like Medicaid and Head Start, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said Tuesday.
In a statement, Leavitt said President Bush has granted evacuees special status, giving states the option to enroll evacuees in programs without requiring standard documents like tax returns or proof of residency. People who have lost most forms of identification can show simple forms of ID like a driver's license, the statement said.
Leavitt began a two-day visit Tuesday to shelters in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi to explain the array of benefits available to hurricane victims.
The confirmed death toll from Katrina hovered near 500 with Monday's discovery of 45 bodies at a New Orleans hospital that had been abandoned more than a week earlier, the Associated Press reported.
In Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour said on Monday that the confirmed death toll was 218.
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FDA Rejects New Osteoporosis Drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has rejected Pfizer's petition to approve the new osteoporosis drug Oporia (lasofoxifene), the company told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
The FDA wouldn't disclose why the petition was denied, and Pfizer wouldn't comment beyond issuing a press release announcing the agency's decision, the AP said. The company also has applied to use the drug against vaginal atrophy.
Also Tuesday, Abbott Laboratories Inc. said an FDA expert advisory panel did not recommend the company's prostate cancer drug, Xinlay, for approval by the full agency. According to the AP, the company submitted combined results from two failed clinical trials, hoping to show that the drug helped at least a subset of trial participants.
Abbott said it respected the committee's decision, but nonetheless awaited a ruling by the full agency. The FDA usually abides by the decisions of its advisory panels.
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Senate Defeats Attempt to Roll Back Mercury Rules
The U.S. Senate voted 51-47 on Tuesday to defeat a challenge to the Bush Administration's rules that govern mercury emissions from power plants, the Associated Press reported.
The rules put out by the Environmental Protection Agency were finalized last March. But Democrats and the nine Republicans who backed the repeal criticized the rules as being too lenient, the wire service said.
The White House had warned that President Bush would veto any attempt to reverse the rules. Mercury has been linked to serious neurological damage to newborns and young children.
The administration rules, supported by the utility industry, set a national cap on emissions and an allowable level for each state. Individual plants, however, are able to buy "credits" from other plants that are under allowable levels, the wire service said.
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Workers to Absorb More Health-Care Costs: Survey
U.S. employers are anticipating a nearly 10 percent increase in health-care costs next year and plan to pass more of the burden on to employees, a preliminary survey finds.
The poll of more than 1,800 firms, conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, found that employers are budgeting for an average increase of 6.4 percent in their spending for health-care benefits, the Associated Press reported. The difference is to be made up by employees.
A spokesman for Mercer said companies plan to shift more costs by requiring employees to pay higher deductibles, premiums, and co-payments. They're also limiting workers' choice of insurance plans, the AP said.
Employees of smaller firms, which tend to rely less on self-funded plans than larger companies, probably will see smaller cost increases next year compared with employers of 500 or more people, the wire service said.
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Diabetes Drug Reduces Heart Attack and Stroke Risk
The diabetes drug Actos (pioglitazone) reduced the risk of heart attack, stroke and death by 16 percent in high risk patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study presented Monday at a meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.
The 19-country clinical trial involving more than 5,000 patients was funded by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. of Japan, which makes Actos.
Despite the positive findings, Takeda said more study is needed, AFX News reported.
"The PROactive study is the first in the world to prospectively show that a specific oral glucose lowering medication, namely pioglitazone, can significantly improve cardiovascular outcomes by helping to delay or reduce heart attacks, strokes and death in high-risk patients," PROactive Study steering committee chairman Dr. John Dormandy, a professor of vascular sciences at St. George's Hospital in London, said in a prepared statement.
"This groundbreaking study gives new hope to people with type 2 diabetes who, despite their attempts to control blood glucose and take medications, fear these life-threatening events," Dormandy said.
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Research Disputes Link Between Sprawl and Obesity
There's no connection between urban sprawl and the growing obesity epidemic in the United States, says an Oregon State University (OSU) study.
The finding contradicts the views of many health officials, planners and other experts who contend that suburbs discourage people from walking and, in turn, may promote obesity.
However, the OSU researchers concluded that overweight and sedentary people tend to move into neighborhoods that provide fewer opportunities to walk because walking isn't a priority for them, the Associated Press reported.
The findings appear in the Journal of Regional Science.
"We found very little evidence that it was the physical environment causing obesity. Rather, it seemed to be more about how people choose the types of neighborhoods to live in," researcher Andrew Plantinga told the AP.
However, he added that controlling urban sprawl does offer other benefits, such as reduced traffic and fuel use.
