Health

Achy backs a pain in the budget

Treating back pain costs Americans $26-billion a year, or 2.5 percent of the total health care bill, according to a new study from Duke University, and far more if disability payments, workers' compensation and lost wages are taken into account. The costs are continuing to rise, researchers say, as patients get ever more aggressive treatments.

Back problems are the leading reason for visits to neurologists and orthopedists, and the eighth leading reason for visits to doctors overall - ahead of fever, knee pain, rashes, headaches and checkups for healthy babies. More than 70 percent of adults suffer back pain at some time in their lives, studies show.

Still, a variety of studies have suggested that in 85 percent of cases it is impossible to say why a person's back hurts, said Dr. Richard Deyo, a professor of medicine and health services at the University of Washington. And most of the time, the pain goes away with or without medical treatment.

The Duke researchers, led by Dr. Xeumei Luo, used national data from 1998. Back pain expenses, they say, included $11.1-billion for office visits; $4.5-billion for hospitalization; $3.9-billion for prescription drugs; $4.7-billion for outpatient services; and $1.1-billion for emergency room care, with the rest made up of such things as medical devices. The total, $26-billion, was up from $20-billion in 1984, a 30 percent increase after adjusting for inflation.

After an outbreak of avian influenza was discovered at a Delaware farm, state authorities have tested several nearby facilities but have not released the results.

Scientists will not release the results of a first round of tests until a second round is complete, said Anne Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for the Delaware Department of Agriculture.

The flu strain is different from the one that has spread to the human population in Asia, and experts say there is no threat to human health.

Delaware authorities on Saturday began testing flocks within a 2-mile radius of an infected farm in Kent County, where officials on Friday ordered the destruction of 12,000 chickens. The farm's location hasn't been disclosed.

Japan, Malaysia and Singapore banned U.S. poultry imports following the outbreak. Hong Kong banned the import of live birds and poultry from Delaware only. China confirmed Sunday that poultry in six of its provinces were infected.

Investigators in Illinois and New York are trying to determine if Abbott Laboratories broke the law when it increased the cost of a commonly used AIDS medicine by nearly 400 percent.

Abbott increased the wholesale price of Norvir in December to $8.57 a day, or $257.10 a month, from $1.75 a day, or $52.50 a month, company records show.

Both investigations center on whether the increase was designed to make AIDS drug cocktails cost-prohibitive and steer patients to Abbott's newer drug, Kaletra, which is more expensive and has a longer patent life.

Abbott said Norvir was priced lower than its rivals for years and denies any wrongdoing.

A positive attitude does not improve the chances of surviving cancer, and doctors who encourage patients to keep up hope may be burdening them, according to the results of research released today.

Optimism made no difference in the fate of most of the 179 cancer patients that Australian researchers followed over five years. Only eight people were still living by the time the study ended in 2001. All the patients studied were suffering from lung cancer.

Although the study was small and dealt with a kind of cancer that offers little chance for survival (about 12 percent of patients live beyond five years), health experts say it is the first scientifically valid look at optimism and cancer. The results surprised researchers, who expected optimistic patients to live longer than hopeless counterparts.

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