The 5-year Million Hearts Campaign hopes to help millions of Americans improve their heart health by preventing and treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and tobacco use.
Want to lose weight? Quit smoking? Get fit? It can be done, but you’re more likely to reach your goals if you take a slow, step-by-step approach, experts say.
Some companies are also penalizing employees who don’t give up cigarettes by hitting them with higher health insurance premiums.
In the previous five years, the 7 percent of retailers were caught selling tobacco to underage teens. This year the number caught jumped to 15 percent of the time.
Hospitals are promoting the scans without warning patients of the potential downsides of the test, critics say.
Washington’s Tobacco Quit Line will no longer provide services to the general population, but King County residents and some other groups can get help other sources.
The goal of the study, called WebQuit, is to improve the effectiveness of online smoking-cessation programs. The study is open to adult smokers nationwide. Participation is free to eligible individuals.
Washington residents who are ready to quit smoking can now receive at least two weeks of free nicotine patches or gum if they call the state Tobacco Quitline in May or June. People without insurance can also get eight weeks of nicotine replacement therapy. Those on Medicaid are already eligible for a 12 week supply.
Electronic cigarettes are drawing heavy media and marketing attention, but it’s not known whether they help smokers cut down or quit.
“They were pretty poor. There wasn’t one I thought I could recommend to a smoker.”
The National Cancer Institute has identified 5 essential steps that smokers can take to help them quit.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants you to have a clear picture of what you’re getting yourself into if you choose to smoke.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Seattle Times Health News
Experts divided over recommendation to screen children for cholesterol
Some clinicians say universal screening is an important tool to help identify children who are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and to pinpoint others who could benefit from treatment. Others express concerns that screening may do more harm than good.
People in state high-risk insurance plans often feel left behind
The federal health law set up new plans that are cheaper and more comprehensive than the older ones run by states but consumers need to go without insurance for six months to qualify.
Peeking in on your doctor’s notes
Although federal law guarantees patients the right to examine and get copies of their medical records, providers haven’t always made it easy to do so. But the movement to give patients direct access to their health information has picked up steam, and policymakers have encouraged it as a way to empower patients to help manage their health and their medical care.
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