Home And Hospital Births Equally Safe In Low-Risk Pregnancies: Study

Reuters: For Low-Risk Pregnancies, Home Births Just As Safe As Hospital
When women have no major risk factors in pregnancy and give birth with a midwife, their risk of stillbirth, neonatal death or serious injury to the baby are the same whether delivering at home or in a hospital, a new Canadian study finds. Planned home births were tied to fewer interventions, like resuscitation of the baby or cesarean delivery, the researchers note. (Doyle, 12/21)

The Associated Press: Drug May Give Those Leaving Jail A Better Shot At Recovery
Three days before his release from the Barnstable County Correctional Facility, Ryan Lonergan received a powerful injection, intended to change his life. He took the shot willingly, because he knew that for 28 days afterward, the drug, Vivitrol, would make it impossible to get high on the Percocet that had been his life's downfall. Now, Lonergan would not have to decide each day whether to use drugs. Vivitrol made the decision for him, and cleared a path to recovery. (Freyer, 12/20)

Reuters: Gum Disease Linked To Breast Cancer
Middle-aged and older women with gum disease are slightly more likely than those without gum problems to develop breast cancer, suggests a new study. The risk increase was most pronounced for women with gum disease who smoked cigarettes or had quit within the past 20 years, although the authors caution that the reasons for the links are still not known. (Doyle, 12/21)

The Associated Press: Thermometer, Smartphone App Provide 24-7 Monitoring Of Fever
A Maine company is using a crowdfunding campaign to launch a high-tech thermometer. Brunswick-based Check-My-Temp is marketing a thermometer that's worn like an armband and monitors temperature, body position and movement. The information is sent to a smartphone app that allows users to receive detailed history including fever spikes. (12/21)

The Associated Press: Study: Some Cardiac Arrest Victims Ignore Warning Symptoms
Sudden cardiac arrest may not always be so sudden: New research suggests a lot of people may ignore potentially life-saving warning signs hours, days, even a few weeks before they collapse. Cardiac arrest claims about 350,000 U.S. lives a year. It's not a heart attack, but worse: The heart abruptly stops beating, its electrical activity knocked out of rhythm. CPR can buy critical time, but so few patients survive that it's been hard to tell if the longtime medical belief is correct that it's a strike with little or no advance warning. (Neergaard, 12/20)

Sacramento Bee: No Easy Task: End-Of-Life Talks Between Doctors, Patients
It was a death Dr. David Grube will never forget. One weekend more than 20 years ago, a neighbor’s son appeared at his front door near Corvallis, Ore., asking for help with his father, who was terminally ill with bone cancer. Grube rushed over to find a horrific scene: Unable to cope any longer, the pain-wracked neighbor had shot himself. (Buck, 12/22)

In employee health news, media outlets report on working with advanced cancer and revived OSHA safety rules —

Reuters: Even With Advanced Cancer, Many Patients Still Want To Work
Many patients with advanced cancer may still want to work, but symptoms from their disease or related treatment prevent them from doing so, a U.S. study suggests. The study focused on almost 700 adults aged 65 and under with metastatic cancer, meaning tumors had already spread to other parts of the body, and found that more than one-third of them continued to work after their diagnosis. (Rapaport, 12/21)

The Hill: OSHA Revives Controversial Safety Rules
The Obama administration is moving forward with long-delayed rules intended to protect workers from exposure to harmful silica dust. The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) confirmed Monday that it has sent the rules to the White House for final approval, a step that comes after years of delays. (Devaney, 12/21)