Seniors are urged to speak up about falling; it may help later

Seniors often won't mention falling unless they're hurt, but new guidelines say that first tumble is a good predictor of who's at risk for another, more serious fall. With deaths from falls increasing, the guidelines published by the American Academy of Neurology urge doctors to ask patients to 'fess up.

Falls are so commonplace -- one in three seniors falls each year -- that they receive little attention until someone is harmed. But someone who's fallen in the past year without a logical reason, such as a sports injury, has about a 55 percent chance of falling again -- and thus may need special attention to prevent injury, the guidelines say.

The guidelines are aimed at neurologists, but specialist David Riley of University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland said it makes sense for physician to "see it as a symptom with many possible underlying causes, some of which are highly treatable."

BLOOD THINNER ALERT

The Food and Drug Administration told doctors they should stop using a blood thinner made by Baxter International following hundreds of reports of allergic reactions.

The agency said it has received 350 reports in 2008 of side effects associated with Baxter's heparin product -- compared with 100 such reports in all of 2007. Side effects product, included vomiting, nausea and difficulty breathing. Four people died while taking the drug, though the agency said it wasn't clear if the drug was to blame.

Baxter, which produces half of the heparin sold in the United States, said it was temporarily suspending production of its multi-dose injectable form of the drug. Last month, it recalled nine lots of the vials after learning of adverse events in dialysis patients. It said it has received reports of similar problems with other lots not part of the recall.

The cause of the reactions isn't known and it's not clear how long production will be stopped. Most of the reactions were in patients receiving high doses of heparin before dialysis or heart surgery, officials said.

HEART DISEASE RISING?

U.S. heart disease may be rising after three decades of decline, according to an autopsy study by the Mayo Clinic.

Heart disease fell from 1981 to 1995, when it leveled off, and may have risen since 2000, said an article in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers studied autopsy reports on 425 people who died in Olmsted County, Minn., from accidents or other unnatural causes from 1981 to 2004.

Heart disease typically takes decades to kill, so the study -- funded by the National Institutes of Health and the A. J. and Sigismunda Palumbo Foundation -- could explain why heart disease death hasn't been propelled by rising obesity and diabetes, the authors said. Cynthia Leibson, a Mayo Clinic epidemiologist and senior author, said, "This study doesn't have any evidence that the trends in obesity and diabetes were the cause of these changes, but it is a cautionary tale."

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