Health Glance
Take the generic drug clonidine for high blood pressure? Double-check that you didn't leave the drugstore with Klonopin for seizures, or the gout medicine colchicine.
Mixing up drug names because they look or sound alike - like this trio - is among the most common types of medical mistakes, and it can be deadly. Now new efforts are aiming to stem the confusion, and make patients more aware of the risk.
Nearly 1,500 commonly used drugs have names so similar to at least one other medication that they've already caused mix-ups, says a major study by the U.S. Pharmacopeia, which helps set drug standards and promote patient safety.
Watch out for drug names that look, sound alike
List of drugs with suicide concerns
A list of some prescription medications for which concerns have been raised involving suicidal thoughts and actions:
-All antidepressants. Drugs such as Prozac, Paxil, Wellbutrin and Zoloft carry required warnings that the medications can increase suicidal thinking and behavior in some children, adolescents and young adults.
Zimbabwe doctors' advice: Don't get sick
The advice of doctors to Zimbabweans is, don't get sick. If you do, don't count on hospitals - they're short of drugs and functioning equipment.
As the economy collapses, the laboratory at a main 1,000-bed hospital has virtually shut down. X-ray materials, injectable antibiotics and anticonvulsants have run out.
Fish oil outperforms statin in heart failure study
Fish oil supplements may work slightly better than a popular cholesterol-reducing drug to help patients with chronic heart failure, according to new research released Sunday.
Chronic heart failure is a condition that occurs when the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood efficiently through the body.
Flu shot does not cut risk of death in elderly
"Over the last two decades in the United Sates, even while (flu) vaccination rates among the elderly have increased from 15 to 65 percent, there has been no commensurate decrease in hospital admissions or all-cause mortality," added co-investigator Dr. Dean T. Eurich, who is also with the University of Alberta.
"Further, only about 10 percent of winter-time deaths in the United States are attributable to influenza, thus to suggest that the vaccine can reduce 50 percent of deaths from all causes is implausible in our opinion," he added.
Court bars meatpacker tests for mad cow
The Agriculture Department is within bounds to bar meatpackers from testing slaughter cattle for mad cow disease, a U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a 2-1 ruling on Friday.
Study outcome won't sway company on eye drug
What does a company do when there's anecdotal evidence that two of its drugs are equally effective in treating a leading cause of blindness in the elderly, one costing patients $60 per treatment and the other $2,000?
In the case of Genentech Inc., nothing.
The company declined to seek federal approval for the cheaper drug, Avastin, to treat the wet form of age-related macular degeneration. Nor would it help finance _ or cooperate with _ a National Eye Institute study comparing the effectiveness and safety of Avastin, a cancer drug, and the more expensive eye drug, Lucentis.
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