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Insured Immigrants Have Lower Medical Costs Than U.S.-Born Citizens, Study Finds
Insured immigrants have lower medical expenses than insured U.S.-born citizens after taking into account their health status and other characteristics, according to a study released on Thursday and published in the American Journal of Public Health, Reuters Health reports. For the study, Leighton Ku, a health policy researcher at George Washington University, and colleagues examined data on adults ages 19 to 64 from the 2003 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, and found that about 44% of recent immigrants and 63% of established immigrants were insured.After controlling for possible contributing factors, researchers found that medical costs averaged about 14% to 20% less than those who were born in the U.S. The finding was the same even after taking into account lower insurance levels among immigrants. Ku said, "When you control for their health status and all sorts of characteristics like age, they actually have medical expenditures that are far below those of U.S. citizens." According to the study, "Being a recent immigrant or an established immigrant was independently associated with both a reduced likelihood of using any medical care in the year and with lower total medical expenditure levels, compared with U.S.-born adults" (Reuters Health, 5/14).
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Can Children Outgrow Chronic Daily Headache?
Most children who suffer from chronic daily headache may outgrow the disabling condition, according to research published in the July 15, 2009, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Nearly 1.5 percent of middle school children are affected by chronic daily headache, which includes chronic migraines and tension-type headaches.
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Private Health Insurance Coverage At 50-Year-Low, According To CDC
The percentage of Americans with private health insurance is at its lowest level in 50 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
Oncology

Creighton Medical Laboratories First To Offer New Cancer Test

Creighton Medical Laboratories, based at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, announced today that it has become the first clinical laboratory worldwide to offer a new and more effective testing method for cancer. The method, called SNP array karyotyping, has been successfully used in research laboratories to study cancer for several years. However, Creighton Medical Laboratories, using AffymetrixTM SNP arrays, is the first laboratory to validate the test in a clinical setting and make it available for routine clinical use. The method can help doctors make more accurate cancer diagnoses and tailor patient management based on the DNA profiles of each person"s cancer. Array-based karyotyping is a 21st century spin on older genetic testing methods that have helped guide patient care for decades. DNA is bundled inside cells as chromosomes; a karyotype is a representation of all of the chromosomes in a cell. Normal human cells have two copies of each chromosome. Cancer cells will often duplicate or lose pieces of chromosomes, and these chromosomal changes can help physicians categorize a tumor, determine its aggressiveness, and/or determine which tumors will respond to specific drugs. With the new method being used at Creighton Medical Laboratories, DNA from tumor cells is applied to the arrays and scanned into a computer. The chromosomes are reconstructed by the computer to provide a genome-wide view of the cancer cells at unprecedented resolution; physicians then "surf" the cancer genome using web-based genome browsers. "SNP array karyotyping is a powerful new tool in our molecular tool box," said Jill Hagenkord, M.D., a pathologist and director of molecular pathology and clinical genomics at Creighton Medical Laboratories. "We can detect genetic abnormalities that previously would have been missed." The SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) array used by Creighton allows the detection of a very common genetic abnormality or lesion in cancer cells - called copy neutral loss of heterozygosity (LOH) - that often goes undetected with conventional diagnostic methods as well as standard array-based karyotyping. "As an example, with SNP-array virtual karyotypes, we have detected copy neutral LOH at important regions of the cancer genome, like the p53 gene in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. If the tumor has no functional copies of this important gene, it tends to behave aggressively, and the treating physician may want to treat it more aggressively," Hagenkord said. "This genetic lesion would not have been detectable with the current testing methods, which really underscores the importance of having this new testing method available clinically." Roger Brumback, M.D., chair of the Department of Pathology at Creighton University School of Medicine, said, "We feel that SNP array karyotyping will become the standard of care for the diagnosis and management of many cancers. Creighton Medical Laboratories is excited to be at the forefront of this technology and proud to provide progressive medical care for our patients." "We are very fortunate to have Dr. Hagenkord at the helm in clinical genomics, since she is currently the only pathologist worldwide with fellowship training in both molecular genetic pathology and pathology/oncology informatics. She has been performing SNP array karyotyping of tumors since the technology emerged and she is truly an expert in the field." Creighton University


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