Healthnetwork Pulse March

 As you have probably figured, the answer is "yes."  While many woman don't have the "classic" signs, symptoms or risk factors for heart disease, the truth is they can still be at risk.  Read how one  physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a Healthnetwork affiliated hospital, diagnosed heart disease in an unlikely candidate and learn how the signs and symptoms of the disease vary in men and women.

And while we are on the topic of specialists, a new study published in the March issue of Journal of Oncology Practice, predicts the U.S. faces a serious shortage of cancer doctors in coming years. Per the study, “Demand for oncology services is expected to sharply increase throughout the next 15 years...This translates into a shortage of 2,550 to 4,080 oncologists.” Learn what medical experts at M.D. Anderson, a Healthnetwork affiliated hospital, had to say in a recent Houston Chronicle article.

And speaking of experts, two of Healthnetwork’s finest have been hailed as the "2007 National Physician of the Year" by Castle Connelly, publisher of Americas’ Best Doctors. Selected from a pool of more than 600,000 candidates, Delos M. Cosgrove, MD,  Cleveland Clinic Chairman, Board of Governors, CEO and President, and Patrick C. Walsh, MD, Johns Hopkins Hospital University Distinguished Service Professor and Director of Urology, The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, were recently honored.

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia also bestowed an International Medicine Prize to Patrick Walsh, MD, Johns Hopkins Urologist, for his efforts in the advancement of prostate cancer research.

It probably comes as no surprise to any of us that compared to the generation before we are not getting fitter, but to the contrary, we are getting fatter.  According to a 2005 study by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Healthnetwork affiliated hospital, and Harvard Medical School, obesity rates substantially grew for the baby boomer generation compared to the one before. Forbes Magazine's "Nine Health Mistakes  Baby Boomers are Inclined to Make" provides some hands-on ideas on how to combat this trend. 

While in principle all of us would agree honesty is the best policy, in practice it turns out that quite a few of us have been less than honest with our doctors. A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, a Healthnetwork affiliated hospital, uncovered a significant gap between what patients said and what they actually did. Read about the consequences of misleading your physician.

Sounds like an oxymoron but to make it easier to live a healthy lifestyle, the Cleveland Clinic, a Healthnetwork affiliated hospital, has teamed up with award-winning cookbook authors Bonnie Sanders Polin and Frances Towner Giedt to publish an easy-to-follow plan for preventing heart disease: Cleveland Clinic Healthy Heart Lifestyle Guide and Cookbook. The book is chock full of recipes that are both tasty and healthy like Thai Swordfish in Red Curry Sauce and even New York-Style Cheesecake. Read a review or view recipes.