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Inflammation early in the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease course is associated with 2 measures of arterial stiffness, increased pulse-wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AIx), after 15 years. Early, active [...]

Background: Insurance coverage of tobacco cessation medications increases their use and reduces smoking prevalence in a population. However, uncertainty about the impact of this coverage on health care utilization and costs is a barrier to the broader adoption of this policy, especially by publicly funded state Medicaid insurance programs. Whether a publicly funded tobacco cessation benefit leads to decreased medical claims for tobacco-related diseases has not been studied. We examined the experience of Massachusetts, whose Medicaid program adopted comprehensive coverage of tobacco cessation medications in July 2006. Over 75,000 Medicaid subscribers used the benefit in the first 2.5 years. On the basis of earlier secondary survey work, it was estimated that smoking prevalence declined among subscribers by 10% during this period. Methods and Findings: Using claims data, we compared the probability of hospitalization prior to use of the tobacco cessation pharmacotherapy benefit with the probability of hospitalization after benefit use among Massachusetts Medicaid beneficiaries, adjusting for demographics, comorbidities, seasonality, influenza cases, and the implementation of the statewide smoke-free air law using generalized estimating equations. Statistically significant annualized declines of 46% (95% confidence interval 2%-70%) and 49% (95% confidence interval 6%-72%) were observed in hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction and other acute coronary heart disease diagnoses, respectively. There were no significant decreases in hospitalizations rates for respiratory diagnoses or seven other diagnostic groups evaluated. Conclusions: Among Massachusetts Medicaid subscribers, use of a comprehensive tobacco cessation pharmacotherapy benefit was associated with a significant decrease in claims for hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction and acute coronary heart disease, but no significant change in hospital claims for other diagnoses. For low-income smokers, removing the barriers to the use of smoking cessation pharmacotherapy has the potential to decrease short-term utilization of hospital services. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary., Introduction Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. It also contributes to health disparities, as tobacco use is highest in individuals with less education [...]

Cancer has long been known to be associated with obesity, and one of the most surprising and welcome benefits of successful bariatric surgery has been the near halving of cancer [...]

High levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in the blood are associated with protection from cardiovascular disease. How HDL also exerts anti-inflammatory properties is now shown in mouse models of acute [...]

There is a common perception among physicians and the general public that obesity is behavioral7 and that weight reduction can be achieved by deciding to eat less and exercise more. [...]

If you have to listen to your partner snore throughout the night, you are perfectly aware of how annoying this condition can be. What you may not realize, however, is [...]

'Impact of Electron Beam Tomography With or Without Case Management, on Motivation, Behavioral Change, and Cardiovascular Risk Profile' (JAMA. 2002;289:2215-2223), by Patrick G. O'Malley, MD, MPH, Irwin M. Feverstein, MD, [...]