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Healthline

By TIMES STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Published December 6, 2005

ADULTS WITH MILD to moderate depression can sign up for a kit designed to help them monitor their treatment. The Adult Monitoring Kit contains diaries, worksheets and other tools to help those with depression and their caregivers monitor treatment. The kit was developed by the nonprofit Families for Depression Awareness. The kit was created in response to the Food and Drug Administration's advisory that patients, family members and clinicians should monitor antidepressant treatment. Those who participate in this pilot project will be asked to complete a survey so the kit can be evaluated and improved before its nationwide rollout. To receive the kit, go to www.familyaware.org

AN ESTIMATED 2-MILLION children have some sort of food allergy, 600,000 of them to peanuts, says Anne Munoz-Furlong, founder and CEO of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. Symptoms of a reaction can range from mild mouth tingling, hives and rashes to a life-threatening response known as anaphylaxis, marked by swelling of the airway and difficulty breathing, swallowing and speaking. If calling 911 to report a suspected allergic reaction, ask that epinephrine be on the ambulance even though it is standard paramedic medicine. FAAN, a nonprofit organization in Virginia, works to raise awareness of the seriousness of such allergies. Peanut allergies alone doubled from 1997 to 2002, she said. Schools can nominate themselves for a free School Food Allergy Program. An application can be found at the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network Web site, www.foodallergy.org

HIV STATS:

- 20.7: HIV diagnoses per 100,000 in 33 U.S. states in 2004, down from 22.8 in 2001.

- 76.3: HIV diagnoses in black patients in the same states, down from 88.7 in 2001.

- 9.0: HIV diagnoses in white patients, up from 8.7 in 2001.

THE DANGER OF DIABETES:

-213: number of U.S. deaths, in thousands, to which diabetes contributed in 2000.

- 622: projected number of diabetes-related deaths, in thousands, in 2025.

- 82: cases, in thousands, of diabetes-related lower-extremity amputations in 2000.

- 239: projected number, in thousands, in 2025

- 6.3: percentage of population with diabetes, in 2002

- 15: projected percentage of the population that will have diabetes in 2025.

-- Sources: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Yale University Schools of Public Health and Medicine, in a report using CDC data, which assumes current trends in individual health and health care continue; and the Amercian Diabetes Association.

[Last modified December 6, 2005, 10:03:16]