ROCHESTER, Minn. — According to a new study published by Mayo Clinic researchers, the COVID-19 pandemic was linked to a 17% increase in the death rate in Minnesota during the first year of the pandemic compared to the two previous years.

Deaths were driven by both COVID-19 and other causes linked with preventable "deaths of despair," such as overdose, alcohol use and malnutrition.

The study analyzed Minnesota death certificate data available through the Rochester Epidemiology Project for 89,910 deaths in 2018–2019 and 52,030 deaths in 2020 to examine the effects of the pandemic on deaths across the state. This study represents the first analysis of complete population-level data in Minnesota on COVID-19, analyzing all-cause and cause-specific mortality in 2020.

Older adults and racial and ethnic minority populations, especially Native Americans, were disproportionately affected, according to the study. Authors say the study's findings revealed disparities in certain populations due to a lack of access to medical care.

Researchers identified a 68% increase in assault by firearms, a 49% increase in accidental poisonings, a 48% increase in malnutrition and a 25% increase in liver disease. 

Lead author, Rozalina McCoy, M.D., an endocrinologist and primary care physician, noted that COVID-19 caused or contributed to almost 10% of all Minnesota deaths in 2020. Social isolation was a major cause of these deaths, especially among older people in rural areas.

"We were expecting to see heart disease, cancer, stroke, all those things where people delay care, and we didn't see any of that," says Dr. McCoy.

The study’s findings serve as a reminder of the need for continued vigilance in the face of COVID-19 and the importance of supporting communities and populations affected by the pandemic.

The research team plans to continue to assess the pandemic's long-term effect on Minnesota death rates and identify practical solutions to mitigate the effects. They also call for continued monitoring of excess mortality over time.

The Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery provided methodologic expertise throughout the study. The Mayo Clinic Department of Emergency Medicine supported the research. Review the study for a complete list of authors, disclosures and funding.

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About Mayo Clinic 
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

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• Vincent Jacobbi, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu 

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More than 34 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of these, the vast majority have type 2, or a reduced ability of their bodies to effectively process sugar in foods into energy for life.

Most people with type 2 diabetes have multiple considerations – including heart and kidney health, impact on weight, side effects and cost – when choosing the most appropriate medication to lower their blood sugar levels. The American Diabetes Association recommends starting with metformin first, but other medications including insulin often need to be added as the disease progresses.

Individual care plans will vary. But the guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations for each additional medication that should inform choices. Rozalina McCoy, M.D., an endocrinologist and internal medicine physician at Mayo Clinic, wanted to find out if older people with type 2 diabetes are getting the best medications for their situation. A new study published in JAMA Network Open, shares her research findings.

"In the last few years, research has shown that in order to improve health outcomes for people living with diabetes, it is important not only to keep blood sugar within a safe range — not too low or too high — but also to carefully select the medications that we use to do this," says Dr. McCoy.

Two diabetes prescriptions that have benefits beyond lowering blood sugar are GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) and SGLT2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) medications. For example, GLP-1RA medications reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, kidney disease and death; SGLT2i drugs reduce the risk of heart failure, kidney disease and death; and both have a significantly lower risk of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) than sulfonylureas and insulin, according to Dr. McCoy. A third class that can be used in addition to metformin is the DPP-4 inhibitor class, which does not have the beneficial heart, kidney, or mortality benefits, but is still safe to use and does not cause hypoglycemia.

"Sulfonylureas have been in use for a long time and are inexpensive. But they are not always the right choice when considering the patient’s clinical situation and highest threat to their health and life," she says. Because of that, the researchers wanted to know if people were getting the individualized care possible with the newer medication classes.

Metformin also has a low risk for hypoglycemia. The medications of interest to the researchers in this study would generally be added to metformin therapy if necessary.

Guidelines versus real life

"Diabetes is one of the most common serious chronic health conditions, and disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities," she says. "Our research and the work of others has consistently demonstrated that Black and Hispanic individuals, and lower income individuals of any race, are less likely to receive guideline-recommended treatments for their diabetes and more likely to experience severe hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia events."

Read the rest of the article on Advancing the Science.

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Other Mayo Clinic medical research websites:

• Research at Mayo Clinic
• Discovery’s Edge
• Forefront
• Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine
• Center for Regenerative Medicine
• Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery

The post Science Saturday: Diabetes treatment disparities widespread, room for improvement appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Diabetes affects nearly 1 in 10 adults in the U.S., of these millions, more than 90% have Type 2 diabetes. Controlling blood sugar and glycosylated hemoglobin levels ― or HbA1c, which is sometimes referred to as A1C ― is key to diabetes management and necessary to prevent its immediate and long-term complications. However, new Mayo Clinic research shows that diabetes management may be dangerously misaligned.

The new study, published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, shows paradoxical trends in overtreatment and undertreatment of patients with Type 2 diabetes.

An A1C of less than 7% is the target for most people, according to the American Diabetes Association. Sometimes Type 2 diabetes can be managed by diet and exercise. Most often, people also need medications or insulin to keep their blood sugar at a healthy level.

However, there is a fine line between enough treatment to prevent the complications caused by high blood sugars and too much treatment that could cause blood sugar levels to fall dangerously low ― a condition known as hypoglycemia. Ideally each patient would have individualized treatment goals and regimens, says Rozalina McCoy, M.D., a primary care physician and endocrinologist at Mayo Clinic, and the study's lead author.

"Patients who are older or who have serious health conditions are at high risk for experiencing hypoglycemia, which, for them, is likely to be much more dangerous than a slightly elevated blood sugar level," she says. "At the same time, the benefits of intensive treatment usually take many years, even decades, to realize. So many patients may be treated intensively and risk hypoglycemia for no real benefit to them."

The opposite is true for younger, healthier people with diabetes, she explains. These people are less likely to experience severe hypoglycemia and are most likely to achieve meaningful long-term improvements in health with intensive diabetes therapy.

"These patients should be treated more aggressively, meaning that we should not shy away from using insulin or multiple medications to lower the A1C," says Dr. McCoy. "We need to ensure that all our patients with diabetes receive high-quality care and are able to manage their disease to prevent complications both now and in the future."

In their study, Dr. McCoy and colleagues found that people with diabetes across the U.S. often receive treatment that is too aggressive or not aggressive enough.

"What makes it even worse is that patients who are treated intensively are those who are most likely to be harmed by it," says Dr. McCoy. "But at the same time, patients who would benefit from more intensive treatment are not receiving the basic care that they need. The paradox and misalignment of treatment intensity with patients' needs is really striking."

Numbers don't lie

The researchers used patient information from the OptumLabs Data Warehouse to conduct this study. The OptumLabs Data Warehouse is a longitudinal, real-world data asset with de-identified administrative claims and electronic health record data.

They examined the records of 194,157 patients with Type 2 diabetes, looking at A1C levels and the use of insulin and/or a sulfonylurea, a type of diabetes medication that stimulates insulin production, across multiple age groups and levels of clinical complexity. The team specifically focused on the 16 comorbidities specified by both American Diabetes Association and Department of Veterans Affairs guidelines as warranting relaxation of A1C targets, and cautious use of insulin and sulfonylureas.

The research team found that the highest A1C levels — with a mean of 7.7% — were among people ages 18–44 and the lowest levels — with a mean of 6.9% — were among those 75 years and older. Also, patients who had no comorbidities had the highest A1C — with a mean of 7.4% — while those with advanced comorbidities, including dementia, cancer or end-stage kidney disease, maintained the lowest A1C levels — with a mean of 7%.

This antithetical relationship of overtreatment among those least likely to benefit and undertreatment where stricter control would have been life-extending was apparent when the authors examined the proportion of patients who achieved very low or very high A1C levels while treated with insulin.

"Patients least likely to benefit from intensive glycemic control and most likely to experience hypoglycemia with insulin therapy were most likely to achieve low HbA1c levels and to be treated with insulin to achieve them," reports the paper.

According to the study, "These HbA1c levels reflect HbA1c levels achieved by the patient, not necessarily HbA1c levels pursued by the clinician."

There are many possible reasons for these findings, and Dr. McCoy hopes that future research will shed light on the causes for this risk-treatment paradox and ways to reverse it.

The lesson in all of this

"Most importantly, clinicians should continue to engage their patients in shared and informed decision-making, weighing the risks and benefits of glucose-lowering treatment regimens in the specific context of each patient, carefully considering the patient's comorbidity burden, age, and goals and preferences for care," concludes the paper.

Dr. McCoy stresses the importance of recognizing and addressing "therapeutic inertia" — failure to recognize an appropriate time to modify treatment — in diabetes management.

"We have a great opportunity to simplify and de-intensify the treatment regimens of our more elderly patients, which would reduce their risk of hypoglycemia and treatment burden without spilling over into hyperglycemia," Dr. McCoy says. "At the same time, we need to better engage younger, healthier patients, work with them to identify barriers to diabetes management, and support them to improve their glycemic control."

"As clinicians, we need to be current on the guidelines and the evidence, know our patients, and work closely with them to do what is right for them," says Dr. McCoy.

This research was conducted within the Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery. Dr. McCoy is also an alumna of the Kern Health Care Delivery Scholars Program.

This research was also supported by the National Institute of Health National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and AARP through a Quality Measure Innovation Grant in collaboration with OptumLabs and the NQF Measure Incubator.

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About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news and An Inside Look at Mayo Clinic for more information about Mayo.

Media contact:

• Elizabeth Zimmermann, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

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DEAR MAYO CLINIC: Why does my doctor want to know what supplements I’m taking, even if I don’t have any health problems and don’t take more than the recommended amounts?

ANSWER: It’s important to tell your health care provider about any dietary supplements you take. Although you don’t need a prescription for most supplements, that doesn’t mean they can’t significantly affect your health. Dietary supplements are useful in some situations — for example, calcium and vitamin D for bone health, and iron for iron-deficiency anemia. But they also can be harmful, especially if taken in certain combinations, with certain prescription medications, or before surgery or other medical procedures. By knowing the supplements you take, your health care provider can ensure that they are a good fit for you.

There are two general categories of dietary supplements: nutritional and herbal. Nutritional supplements are designed to provide vitamins and minerals your body needs that you may not get enough of in your diet. Calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, iron and fiber are common nutritional supplements many people take. Herbal supplements, sometime called botanicals, are supplements derived from plants that are touted as having health benefits. Popular herbal supplements include echinacea, ginkgo and flaxseed.

People take dietary supplements to improve their health or prevent illness. One concern about supplements, though, is lack of oversight in their production and claims manufacturers make about their benefits. Prescription and over-the-counter medications are closely regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA doesn’t regulate or oversee supplement content or claims to the same degree as it does for medications. So just because a supplement is approved for sale doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe or effective.

Although supplements aren’t regulated in the same way medications are, they have active ingredients that can affect your body and your health. And keep in mind that anything strong enough to produce a positive effect, such as lowering cholesterol or improving mood, also is strong enough to carry potential health risks. That’s one of the key reasons it’s important to talk with your health care provider about your supplements. He or she can review the potential benefits and side effects, and evaluate if the supplement is safe for you.

When you take your supplements can be a factor you need to discuss with your health care provider, as well. For example, the absorption of some supplements can be influenced by whether you take them with food or on an empty stomach. Some supplements also can prevent the absorption or action of medications, so it may be important to take them separately.

It is particularly important for you to review your supplements with your health care provider if you take more than one supplement, or if you take any prescription or nonprescription medication. In some cases, taking a combination of supplements or using supplements while taking certain medications could lead to harmful or life-threatening results.

You mention that you don’t take more than the recommended amount of your supplement, and that is wise. Taking more than the recommended daily values can increase the risk of side effects. But be aware that vitamins and minerals are being added to a growing number of foods, including breakfast cereals and beverages. If you’re also taking supplements, you may be getting more of some nutrients than you realize. Your health care provider can help you evaluate your diet and decide if you need the supplements that you’re taking.

The bottom line is that although nutritional and herbal supplements may be useful, they aren’t risk-free. By talking with your health care provider about the supplements you take, and discussing their potential benefits and risks, you’ll gain a better understanding of the value those supplements have for your health overall. — Dr. Rozalina McCoy, Community Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

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Related Articles

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• Mayo Clinic Q and A: Omega-3 supplements for children — what does the research show? published 8/27/19
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Do heart supplements work? published 8/6/19
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Dietary supplements don’t reduce dementia risk, but 3 tips do published 6/11/19

The post Mayo Clinic Q and A: Dietary supplements useful in some situations, but also can be harmful appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a potentially serious infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs. The bacteria that cause TB are spread from one person to another through tiny droplets released into the air via coughs and sneezes. While TB is rare in the U.S., it’s a leading killer worldwide. 

Although the body may harbor the bacteria that cause TB, the immune system usually can prevent you from becoming sick. For this reason, health care providers make a distinction between latent and active TB. Latent TB, also called inactive TB or TB infection, isn't contagious. It can turn into active TB, so treatment is important for the person with latent TB and to help control the spread of TB. An estimated 2 billion people have latent TB. Active TB makes you sick, and in most cases, it can spread to others. It can occur in the first few weeks after infection with the TB bacteria, or it might occur years later.

On this Mayo Clinic Radio podcast, Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist, will discuss TB. Also on the program, Dr. Rozalina McCoy, a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist and primary care physician, will explain why people with kidney disease should be cautious when taking supplements. And Dr. Jan Stepanek, a Mayo Clinic aerospace medicine specialist, will explore health and safety concerns with commercial space flight.

Here's your Mayo Clinic podcast.

The post Tuberculosis: How does it spread and who’s at risk? appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a potentially serious infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs. The bacteria that cause TB are spread from one person to another through tiny droplets released into the air via coughs and sneezes. While TB is rare in the U.S., it’s a leading killer worldwide. 

Although the body may harbor the bacteria that cause TB, the immune system usually can prevent you from becoming sick. For this reason, health care providers make a distinction between latent and active TB. Latent TB, also called inactive TB or TB infection, isn't contagious. It can turn into active TB, so treatment is important for the person with latent TB and to help control the spread of TB. An estimated 2 billion people have latent TB. Active TB makes you sick, and in most cases, it can spread to others. It can occur in the first few weeks after infection with the TB bacteria, or it might occur years later.

On the next Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist, will discuss TB. Also on the program, Dr. Rozalina McCoy, a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist and primary care physician, will explain why people with kidney disease should be cautious when taking supplements. And Dr. Jan Stepanek, a Mayo Clinic aerospace medicine specialist, will explore health and safety concerns with commercial space flight.

To hear the program, find an affiliate in your area.

Miss the show? Here's your Mayo Clinic Radio podcast.

Use the hashtag #MayoClinicRadio, and tweet your questions.

Mayo Clinic Radio is on iHeartRadio.

Access archived shows or subscribe to the podcast.

Mayo Clinic Radio produces a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic.

The post Tuberculosis: How does it spread and who’s at risk? appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Although the body may harbor the bacteria that cause TB, the immune system usually can prevent you from becoming sick. For this reason, health care providers make a distinction between latent and active TB. Latent TB, also called inactive TB or TB infection, isn't contagious. It can turn into active TB, so treatment is important for the person with latent TB and to help control the spread of TB. An estimated 2 billion people have latent TB. Active TB makes you sick, and in most cases, it can spread to others. It can occur in the first few weeks after infection with the TB bacteria, or it might occur years later.

On the next Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist, will discuss TB. Also on the program, Dr. Rozalina McCoy, a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist and primary care physician, will explain why people with kidney disease should be cautious when taking supplements. And Dr. Jan Stepanek, a Mayo Clinic aerospace medicine specialist, will explore health and safety concerns with commercial space flight.

To hear the program, find an affiliate in your area.

Use the hashtag #MayoClinicRadio, and tweet your questions.

Mayo Clinic Radio is on iHeartRadio.

Access archived shows or subscribe to the podcast.

Mayo Clinic Radio produces a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic.

The post Mayo Clinic Radio: TB / supplements and kidney disease / commercial space flight appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — For people with diabetes, taking medications and monitoring their blood sugar is part of the rhythm of their daily lives. However, according to new research from Mayo Clinic, more than 2.3 million adult patients in the U.S. are likely treated too intensively. This has caused thousands of potentially preventable emergency department visits and hospitalizations for hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

The study team, led by Rozalina McCoy, M.D., an endocrinologist and primary care physician at Mayo Clinic, sought to identify the real-world implications of intensive glucose-lowering therapy across the U.S. The team showed that overly intensive glucose-lowering therapy — when patients receive more medication than is required based on their hemoglobin A1C level — was not only common across the U.S., but also directly contributed to 4,774 hospitalizations and 4,804 emergency department visits in a two-year period. Their findings were published online Aug. 15 in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

"Importantly, these numbers are a large underestimation of the true scope of overtreatment-induced hypoglycemic events," says Dr. McCoy.

There are many reasons why people with diabetes may experience hypoglycemia. Dr. McCoy says that people who have multiple chronic health conditions, are older, have Type 1 diabetes, or are treated with medications such as insulin or sulfonylureas are at highest risk.

"While some episodes of hypoglycemia may be unavoidable, especially if caused by unmodifiable risk factors such as need for insulin therapy, others may be preventable, as in the case of overtreatment," she states.

"In an earlier study, we separated out the effect of overtreatment from other high risk factors and showed it was a significant independent contributor to hypoglycemic events," says Dr. McCoy. "In this study, we wanted to learn more about national scope of those overtreatment-related events."

"Because there is no U.S.-wide data about how many hypoglycemic events may be avoided if patients were treated less intensively, we had to separately calculate how many Americans are overtreated," continues Dr. McCoy. "We then used data from the earlier study, combined with this new data, to estimate the number of hypoglycemia-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations likely caused by overtreatment."

Persistent elevation in blood glucose levels increases the risk of diabetes complications, such as cardiovascular disease, retinopathy (eye disease), nephropathy (kidney disease) and neuropathy. Glucose-lowering medications reduce these risks, but treatment plans must be evidence-based and individualized, says Dr. McCoy.

"It is important not only to ensure that we do not undertreat our patients with diabetes, but also that we do not overtreat them because both undertreatment and overtreatment can harm our patients," she says.

Patients and research methods

Dr. McCoy and her team used patient data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2011–2014) and the OptumLabs Data Warehouse to conduct this study. They first estimated the prevalence of intensive glucose-lowering therapy among U.S. adults using the most recently available National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Then the researchers determined the approximate number of hypoglycemia-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations attributable to such intensive therapy using OptumLabs data obtained in the earlier study.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data identified more than 10.7 million nonpregnant adults with diabetes whose hemoglobin A1C was in the range recommended by clinical guidelines (less than 7%). The researchers found that almost 22% of these individuals were intensively treated. Individuals were considered to be receiving intensive treatment if they were taking a medication to achieve HbA1C levels of 5.6% or less, or were taking two or more medications to achieve HbA1C levels of 5.7–6.4%.

"Hypoglycemia, or low blood glucose, is one of the most common serious adverse effects of diabetes therapy, causing both immediate and long-term harm to patients who experience it," says Dr. McCoy. "Severe hypoglycemia, defined by the need for another person to help the patient treat and terminate their hypoglycemic event, is associated with increased risk of death, cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, falls and fractures, and poor quality of life."

To gain further insight, the investigators also subcategorized patients as clinically complex if the patient:

• Was age 75 or older
• Had two or more limitations on daily living activities, such as the inability to dress, feed, walk from room to room, or get in or out of bed
• Had end-stage kidney disease
• Had three or more chronic conditions

Of the 10.7 million patients, 32.3% were clinically complex. Although this did not appear to be a factor in whether a person was intensively treated, Dr. McCoy notes that it would have been ideal if it had been.

"Older people and others we consider clinically complex are more at risk to develop hypoglycemia, as well as experience other adverse events because of intensive or overtreatment. However, at the same time, these patients are unlikely to benefit from intensive therapy rather than moderate glycemic control," says Dr. McCoy. "When we develop a diabetes treatment plan, our goal should be to maximize benefit while reducing harm and burden of treatment."

Dr. McCoy says that the researchers found the study results alarming, with as many as 2.3 million Americans overtreated between 2011 and 2014. Moreover, clinically complex patients were intensively treated at a similar rate as patients who were not complex.

Next steps

Historically, professional societies and regulatory bodies largely focused on reducing undertreatment and controlling hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). Dr. McCoy hopes to see a shift to also include addressing and preventing overtreatment and hypoglycemia.

"We need to align treatment regimens and goals with each patient's clinical situation, health status, psychosocial situation, and reality of everyday life to ensure that care is consistent with their goals, preferences and values," she says.

If the health care system shifts from being disease-focused — and for diabetes, specifically, glucose-focused — to being more person-focused, she believes that will be less harmful, and lead to better outcomes for patients and less treatment burden.

For patients with diabetes, she says, "this includes treatment de-intensification and simplification as a means of reducing hypoglycemia, polypharmacy and treatment burden."

Other project collaborators were Grace Mahoney, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and Henry Henk, Ph.D., OptumLabs in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dr. McCoy is a Kern Health Care Delivery Scholar in the Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, which supported this study. She is also supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award number K23DK114497.

OptumLabs also supported this project. The Mayo Clinic Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery leads the relationship with OptumLabs for Mayo Clinic. The OptumLabs Data Warehouse is a longitudinal, real-world data asset with de-identified administrative claims and electronic health record data.

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About Mayo Clinic Proceedings 
Mayo Clinic Proceedings is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal that publishes original articles and reviews dealing with clinical and laboratory medicine, clinical research, basic science research, and clinical epidemiology. Proceedings is sponsored by the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research as part of its commitment to physician education. It publishes submissions from authors worldwide. The journal has been published for more than 80 years and has a circulation of 130,000. Visit the Mayo Clinic Proceedings website to view articles.

About Mayo Clinic 
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to clinical practice, education and research, providing expert, comprehensive care to everyone who needs healing. Learn more about Mayo Clinic. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network. 

Media contact:

• Elizabeth Zimmermann, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau.mayo.edu

The post Too much of a good thing can be dangerous, finds researchers investigating hypoglycemia appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

In 2017, Dr. McCoy was treated for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma. Now in remission, the young mother of two preschool-age children should be reveling in her victory. But instead, as she writes in an essay to her peers published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Dr. McCoy finds herself anxious about no longer being continually monitored by her care team, who recommend not performing routine surveillance scans.

"I was surprised, confused, fearful and even defiant," she writes. "Could I really forgo these tests?"

Dr. McCoy's hematologist "argued that routine imaging tests generate false-positive findings, anxiety and high costs without definitive or meaningful survival benefit." It was information Dr. McCoy knew well. She'd presented the same evidence to her own patients, albeit about different diseases and interventions. But now that she'd become a patient herself, Dr. McCoy "could not shake the fear that this reprieve was an illusion." Read the rest of Dr. McCoy's story.

The post Helping Others Heal: Taking her own advice appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

On the Mayo Clinic Radio podcast, Dr. Timothy Curry, education program director at the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine, discusses pharmacogenomics testing. Dr. Curry is joined by Dr. Michael Stephens, division chair of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mayo Clinic, to share how his own pharmacogenomics testing revealed some surprising results. Also on the podcast, Dr. Clayton Cowl, division chair of Preventive, Occupational and Aerospace Medicine at Mayo Clinic, explains the hazards of household cleaners. And Dr. Rozalina McCoy, a primary care physician at Mayo Clinic, shares how her personal cancer journey helped her better understand patient fears.

The post #MayoClinicRadio podcast: 4/7/18 appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.