Healthy gums may signal a longer life

Older women with gum disease or tooth loss are at increased risk of dying early, researchers report. Scientists retrospectively studied 57,001 women over 55 who were free of heart disease and enrolled in a large health study from 1993 through 1998. They followed them for an average of seven years. After controlling for many factors, the researchers found that women who were toothless and who had periodontal disease were at 46 percent higher risk for death from any cause than those without these dental problems. Women with toothlessness alone were at 12 percent greater risk for death, and those with periodontal disease alone at 11 percent greater risk. This was an observational study so it cannot determine cause and effect.

Costly doctors don't provide better care

Doctors who tend to spend more in treating hospitalized patients do not get better results than those who spend less, a new study has found. Researchers examined spending records of 72,042 physicians at more than 3,000 acute care hospitals. The patients were fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries 65 and older treated between January 2011 and the end of 2014. The investigators calculated spending in the first two years, and tracked outcomes in the last two. They concentrated on the types of spending controlled by doctor choice — tests, procedures, imaging studies and so on. The study is in JAMA Internal Medicine. After adjusting for the varying characteristics of the hospitals, they found that spending among physicians varied by as much as 10.5 percent. But there was no association overall between higher physician spending and 30-day mortality, or between spending and readmissions.

Hepatitis tied to Parkinson's risk

Hepatitis infection may increase the risk for Parkinson's disease, though the reasons for the link remain unknown. British investigators used records of 100,390 patients hospitalized with various forms of hepatitis or HIV from 1999 to 2011. They compared Parkinson's incidence in these patients with incidence in more than 6 million people admitted for medical or surgical conditions like cataracts, knee replacement or varicose veins. The study, in Neurology, found that people with hepatitis B had a 76 percent higher risk of having Parkinson's, and people with hepatitis C a 51 percent higher risk, than the control group. Those with other forms of hepatitis or HIV had no increased risk.

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