Teen Smoking Called Epidemic

The Surgeon General declared teen smoking an epidemic, the FDA is considering another fast-track pathway for certain drugs, and two studies raised questions about government health initiatives.

Youth Smoking Targeted in New Report

More than 3.6 million kids smoke cigarettes, according to a new report from the surgeon general on the scope and health consequences on tobacco use among youth.

"Today, more than 600,000 middle school students and three million high school students smoke," according to U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, who called youth smoking an "epidemic."

The report is the first aimed at children and adolescents since one in 1994 that concluded that if young people don't try smoking by the age of 18, they'll likely never start.

FDA Mulls New Fast-Track Pathway

The FDA is considering a new approval pathway for drugs to treat life-threatening conditions for which there are few approved therapies, including certain infections and even morbid obesity.

The new, faster pathway would be a way for antibiotics, weight loss drugs, and other medications to come to the market without the traditional expensive and lengthy clinical trials. But drugs approved this way would have highly restrictive labeling and would initially be restricted to a prespecified, narrow population.

Janet Woodcock, MD, head of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) said the pathway would likely have to be approved by Congress, and then the FDA would issue a regulation and request public comment.

Quality Reporting Doesn't Equal Cost Savings

Medicare's requirement that hospitals publicly report certain quality measures on the Hospital Compare website has led to a modest reduction in deaths from heart failure, but no reduction in deaths from heart attacks or pneumonia, according to a study in Health Affairs.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began requiring all U.S. acute-care hospitals to report quality measures for heart attack, pneumonia, and heart failure on the Hospital Compare website in 2005. The site allows patients and physicians to compare adherence to quality measures among hospitals.

Study Finds EHRs May Lead to More Tests

Another study out this week found that doctors who have electronic access to imaging results order more imaging tests. The conclusion of that study, also in Health Affairs, is at odds with claims that electronic health records (EHRs) will lead to less testing.

In a study of nearly 29,000 visits to doctors' offices, physician access to past computerized imaging results was associated with a 40% to 70% greater likelihood that another study would be ordered, according to the report.