CDC report: Only 1 in 5 US adults gets enough exercise.

USA Today (5/3, Hellmich, 1.71M) reports according to data published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most adults in the US don't meet "the Federal physical activity recommendations for both aerobic exercise and muscle-strengthening activity." The research reveals approximately 79 percent of adults don't get "at least 2½ hours a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity such as brisk walking, or one hour and 15 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, such as jogging." The Federal guidelines also recommend adults "do muscle-strengthening activities, such as push-ups, sit-ups or exercise using resistance bands or weights" at least twice a week. Research has shown that regular physical activity can reduce weight, prevent heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and stave off depression and some forms of cancer.

        HealthDay (5/3, Reinberg) notes that the "overall exercise rates also varied widely by state, ranging from 13 percent in Tennessee and West Virginia to 27 percent in Colorado." Report author Carmen Harris, a CDC epidemiologist, said, "While only about 30 percent of adults meet the muscle-strengthening guidelines, we find it very encouraging that half of U.S. adults are meeting the aerobic guidelines." The report also indicated that women, Hispanics, the elderly and obese adults were less likely to meet the CDC's guidelines. The data in the study is "based on information from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which is a yearly phone survey of adults aged 18 and over."

        Medscape (5/3, Barber) goes into further detail about the study. "The highest prevalence of aerobic activity (61.8%) was observed in Colorado, and the lowest prevalence was reported for Tennessee (39.0%). For muscle-strengthening activity, the District of Columbia had the highest prevalence of participation (36.1%), and West Virginians were least likely to participate (20.2%)." The study's authors write, "Continued national, state, and local efforts to implement strategies can help improve the proportion of adults who meet physical activity guidelines."

CDC ranks suicide as tenth-leading cause of US deaths.

Broad print media, wire source, and medical website coverage was given to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that ranked suicide as the tenth-leading cause of deaths in the US. Of the major television networks, only CBS Evening News covered the story on the air, devoting two minutes and 35 seconds to the topic. CBS News, ABC News and NBC News all carry the story on their websites. According to the report, increases in suicide rates appear to be driven by middle-aged adults, a group disproportionately affected by the economic downturn.

        The CBS Evening News (5/2, story 9, 2:35, Pelley, 5.58M) reported, "The Centers for Disease Control said suicides are now the tenth-leading cause of death in this country. In 2010, more than 38,000 Americans took their own lives and that is nearly 5,000 more than died in traffic accidents."

        On its front page, the New York Times (5/3, A1, Parker-Pope, Subscription Publication, 1.68M) reports, "Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have risen sharply in the past decade, prompting concern that a generation of baby boomers who have faced years of economic worry and easy access to prescription painkillers may be particularly vulnerable to self-inflicted harm," according to findings published in the May 3 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

        The Wall Street Journal (5/3, A3, Martin, Subscription Publication, 2.29M) reports that the age group primarily responsible for the increase in suicide rates is that of middle-aged adults aged 35 to 64, the report found.

        The Los Angeles Times (5/3, Brown, 692K) "Science Now" blog reports, "The greatest increases occurred in people 50 to 54 years old (up 48%) and among people 55 to 59 years old (up 49%). Among men, suicides in middle-aged people rose 27.3%; among women, 31.5%." Notably, "whites and Native Americans had steeper increases than other demographic groups."

        According to Bloomberg News (5/3, Armstrong), "the increase in middle-age suicides puts a new focus on that group, as opposed to young or old people who typically have been seen as higher risk," the report noted. Bloomberg News also played up the pressures the economy is placing on middle-aged people, quoting a CDC official. "'The suicide rate started accelerating in 2008, 2009 and 2010 - someone might still be working, but their house is underwater, or they're working but they're working part-time,' Eric Caine, the director of the CDC's Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention, said."

        The AP (5/3, Stobbe) reports that suicide "rates in younger and older people held steady. And there was little change among middle-aged blacks, Hispanics and most other racial and ethnic groups, the report" revealed.

        On its website, CBS News (5/3, LaPook) points out, "Psychologist Kelly Posner from Columbia University Medical Center says suicide has become a public health crisis. 'We've had recent economic downturns, the war is winding down, so we're seeing a lot more of an increase in veterans, who have 21 suicides per day,' Posner says." In addition, the report "noted a rise in intentional overdoses, associated with widespread access to prescription painkillers." Taking all of these factors into consideration, Posner urged physicians to become more active in screening people for depression and suicidality.

        Also covering the story are the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (5/3, Perlberg, 196K), the Minneapolis Star Tribune (5/3, Stoxen, 335K) "HealthCheck" blog, the New York Daily News (5/3, Dominguez, 543K), Reuters (5/3, Abrahamian), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel(5/3, Herzog, 221K), The Hill (5/3, Viebeck, 21K) "Healthwatch" blog, the CBS News (5/3, Jaslow) website, the NBC News (5/3, Fox) "Vitals" blog, the NPR (5/3, Hensley) "Shots" blog, MyHealthNewsDaily (5/2, Rettner), HealthDay (5/3, Reinberg), MedPage Today (5/3, Smith), and Medscape (5/3, Cassels).

Nephrologist Follow-Up After Acute Kidney Injury Prolongs Survival.

Patients with acute kidney injury who see a nephrologist soon after hospital discharge have a 24% reduced risk of dying within 2 years compared with those who do not see a kidney specialist. That's the conclusion of a Kidney International study of 1184 patients who developed acute kidney injury as a complication of hospitalization. All patients received inpatient dialysis and survived at least 90 days following discharge. Half of the patients saw a nephrologist within those 90 days. The incidence of death for patients with early follow-up was 8.4 per 100 patient years, compared with 10.6 for those without.

Safe Range of Vitamin D Blood Levels Determined.

The safest range of vitamin D blood levels lies between 20 and 36 ng/mL, according to a 54-month Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism study of 422,822 people over 45 years old. Levels below and above this range were linked with increased mortality and morbidity. More than 60% of participants had insufficient vitamin D levels. Half of these had severely low levels that were associated with a 1.88 times increased risk of acute coronary morbidity or mortality. Three percent of participants had elevated vitamin D levels, which was associated with a 1.13 times elevated risk of coronary morbidity or death.

Study finds no increased risk for CV events associated with azithromycin.

Forbes (5/1, 928K) contributor Larry Husten writes that research published in the New England Journal of Medicine has "found no increased risk for cardiovascular events associated with azithromycin (Zithromax, Pfizer) in a general population of young and middle-age adults."

        MyHealthNewsDaily (5/2, Rettner) reports that these findings "are in contrast to those of a 2012 study that linked azithromycin with a higher risk of dying from heart problems than the antibiotic amoxicillin," which, along with "others prompted the FDA to warn the public in March that azithromycin may cause abnormal, and sometimes fatal, changes in heartbeat in people at risk for heart problems." Meanwhile, "in an editorial accompanying the" new "study, researchers from the Food and Drug Administration said that doctors should consider the heart risks of azithromycin and other antibiotics when prescribing the drugs."

        HealthDay (5/2, Doheny) reports that for the new study, "Danish researchers evaluated more than a million episodes of azithromycin use, comparing it to both the use of no antibiotics and to the use of penicillin V, from 1997 through 2010."

        MedPage Today (5/2, Gever) reports that the data "showed a propensity score-adjusted rate of cardiovascular death of 1.1 per 1,000 patient-years among those currently taking azithromycin, compared with a rate of 1.5 per 1,000 patient-years in penicillin V users (ratio 0.93, 95% CI 0.56 to 1.55)." Heartwire (5/2, Stiles) also covers the story.

Poor Diet During Pregnancy May Lead to Junk Food Addiction in Offspring.

A "junk food" diet during pregnancy and lactation in rats led to desensitization of the normal reward (opioid) system in offspring, indicating that those born to a mother who ate such a diet would need to eat more fat and sugar to feel satisfied, increasing their preference for junk food. It would also encourage them to overeat. Indeed, previous research has demonstrated that perinatal exposure to a maternal "junk-food" diet increases the preference for palatable diets in adult offspring. These latest findings, published in The FASEB Journal, provide an explanation.

Review Looks at Elderly Patients' Health and Survival With and Without Dialysis.

A new review highlights the latest research regarding the survival of elderly patients with and without dialysis, the prognostic factors associated with kidney disease progression and survival, and prognostic models to predict short-term and long-term prognosis. The information in the Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension review can be integrated into an individualized approach to shared decision-making regarding treatment. The authors note that a patient's goal of care and acceptable quality of life can impact whether or not dialysis is chosen, and in some cases multidisciplinary supportive care can make the choice of 'no dialysis' a better choice.