Media Coverage

This is a minuscule amount of data on which to base strong recommendations. An accompanying editorial written by Clyde Yancy, a professor of cardiology at Northwestern School of Medicine, noted that only 0.3 percent of the studies that looked at sodium restriction and heart failure were of sufficient quality to be included in this systematic review. We need better research. Some of that may be on the way. The Geriatric Out of Hospital Randomized Meal Trial in Heart Failure randomly assigned 66 patients to home-delivered low-salt meals after hospital discharge to study how well they work. Its findings are pending.

At an event today, the hospital said that it has performed 54 heart transplants in 2018. The state’s previous record was set by Rush University Medical Center, with 45 in 1995. The event was a celebration of both the hospital’s success and patients’ survival, as those who have received heart transplants and their families hugged the Northwestern doctors and staff who helped save their lives. It also paid homage to the people who have donated their organs. “Today, we recognize first the incredible generosity that arises from tragedy and acknowledge organ donors and their families who make the gift of life through transplantation possible,” said Dr. Allen Anderson, medical director of the Center for Heart Failure at Northwestern’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.

About 1 million men in the United States have inflammatory bowel disease, which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. “These patients may need to be screened more carefully than a man without inflammatory bowel disease,” said study lead author Dr. Shilajit Kundu. Screening for prostate cancer begins with a blood test called a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. PSA is a substance made by the prostate gland. “If a man with inflammatory bowel disease has an elevated PSA, it may be an indicator of prostate cancer,” said Kundu, an associate professor of urology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

“One of the scariest parts about the 2014 Ebola outbreak was that we had no treatments on hand; tens of thousands of people became sick and thousands of people died because we lacked a suitable treatment,” said Judd Hultquist, assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious disease at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in a statement. New research by Northwestern University could pave the way for the development of an effective treatment for the rare disease. Researchers have discovered a human protein that helps fight the Ebola virus.

The study, which was recently published in the Journal of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndromes, surveyed MSM in Chicago and found young black MSM in the city are 16 times more likely to have HIV than their white counterparts, despite lower numbers of sexual partners, less unsafe sex and more frequent testing for HIV. “Our study illuminates how HIV disparities emerge from complex social and sexual networks and inequalities in access to medical care for those who are HIV positive,” said senior study author Brian Mustanski, a professor at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and director of its Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing.

While urgent care clinics provide a wide array of services, patients shouldn’t use them as a substitute for a primary care physician, says Matthew Kippenhan, medical director at the Northwestern Medicine Immediate Care Center in Chicago. A primary care physician can help you ward off and, if necessary, manage chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity, he says. “People with chronic medical issues should have a primary care doctor,” he says

Dr. Seth Goldstein, an associate professor of surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, noted that “over the past few years, there’s been a bit of a spotlight on hospital systems and how to maintain quality of care 24/7. “I think what this study does is points out that it’s not unique to nights and weekends,” he said. He believes that reduced hospital staffing, and a time when patients are less likely to want to be in the hospital, could have this effect. Goldstein, who was not involved in the study, is also a pediatric general and thoracic surgeon at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

It’s also possible the study underestimated how many people used telemedicine for care because it counted visits only covered by insurance, said Jeffrey Linder, a researcher at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago who wasn’t involved in the study. “It does not capture telemedicine visits for which there was not an insurance claim,” Linder said by email. “Patients could have paid out of pocket or, perhaps just as likely, the physician did not think or go to the trouble of submitting an insurance claim.”

Limitations of the study include the use of regional hospital markets defined not by Hospital Compare, but by the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. Another drawback is that VA and non-VA hospitals may have reported data to Hospital Compare using different methods, the researchers note.Hospital Compare is also an imperfect tool for examining hospital quality, said Dr. Ryan Merkow of the Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University in Chicago. “This study reports how VA and Non-VA hospitals that are located in the same regional market compare, based on Hospital Compare data which has significant limitations,” Merkow, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.

Dr. Clyde Yancy, spokesperson for the American Heart Association and chief of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, says the findings suggest “a lifelong investment in health and fitness appears to be associated with a really sustainable benefit out until the outer limits of life.” Since we are living longer, maintaining a good quality of life is more important than ever. While the study was small and the findings need to be confirmed, they present a “strong argument” for lifelong exercise that is inexpensive and accessible for everyone. “If you can swim, do yoga, cycle, or walk,” you can benefit,” Yancy says.