Prevention Matters

The possibility of a preventive breast cancer vaccine becoming available for humans was named the “Best Prevention Idea of the Week,” while twenty percent of college students admitting to driving while drunk was named the “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week."

BEST

Breast Cancer Vaccine Possible, Scientists Say

A study in mice suggests that a preventive breast cancer vaccine might be possible in humans, scientists say.

Women may begin taking part in the next stage of research as soon as next year, they added.

"We believe that this vaccine will someday be used to prevent breast cancer in adult women in the same way that vaccines have prevented many childhood diseases," principal investigator Vincent Tuohy, an immunologist in Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute, said in a news release. "If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer."

WORST

1 in 5 College Students Admitted to Drunk Driving, Study Found


Drinking and driving among college students is still a major public health problem, new research reveals, with one in five admitting to driving while drunk and 40 percent acknowledging they have ridden with a drunk driver.

Equally worrisome, their tendency to drive under the influence soars when they hit the minimum legal drinking age of 21.

The findings were gleaned from a study co-authored by Amelia M. Arria, director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, that followed more than 1,250 first-year college students enrolled at a large mid-Atlantic university.

A community prevention program that cut teen drinking by more than a third was named Partnership for Prevention's "Best Prevention Idea of the Week," while low reimbursement rates for vaccines that are forcing doctors to opt out of offering them was named “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week.”

The Best/Worst Idea awards are a regular feature of Prevention Matters , the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week's news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.


BEST

Community Prevention System Cuts Teen Binge Drinking Rate by More Than A Third
http://ow.ly/oPO4

Rates of binge drinking were 37 percent lower among eighth-grade students in communities in seven states that used a prevention system designed to reduce drug use and delinquent behavior compared to teenagers in communities that did not use the system. Eighth graders in the towns that offered the Communities That Care prevention system also had significantly lower levels of alcohol and smokeless tobacco use and engaged in fewer delinquent behaviors. Under the program, each town assesses the risk factors that contribute to local drug use and delinquency and select two to five of them as their top priorities. They were then given information about scientifically tested programs that addressed each of their priority risk factors, selected programs they would use, and were trained in implementation.


WORST

Rising Vaccine Costs Force Doctors to Slash Vaccines Use
http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/08/news/economy/health_care_vaccinations/index.htm?cnn=yes

CNN recently reported that the nation’s pediatricians are increasingly not offering vaccines because their costs have risen above the reimbursement offered by most insurers. For example, one doctor says the chicken pox vaccine runs about $115, but insurers only cover between $68 to $83 of that. “It's not clear exactly how widespread vaccine cutbacks are, but in a recent industry survey, 5% of pediatricians and 11% of physicians indicated that they're seriously considering no longer offering immunizations,” CNN reported.

College classes are starting and another cohort of students is arriving on campus. Some of them will pack on the so-called "freshman 15"—the extra pounds gained during college that can last a lifetime.

It’s been assumed this rapid weight gain is related to sitting in the all-you-can-eat cafeteria on campus having long philosophical conversations. Research from the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health indicates that heavy drinking is associated with weight gain during college years in complex ways.

Among 3206 Minnesota college students, binge drinking was associated with a 7 to 32% increase in a wide variety of unhealthy eating behaviors--infrequent breakfast consumption, eating few fruit and vegetables, high fast food consumption, unhealthy weight control behaviors, and some sedentary behavior. These associations held throughout the college years.　

The study authors wonder if health messages are inadvertently competing with each other. Perhaps healthy eating messages do not fully account for ways a campus drinking context influences eating and, on the flip side, that the adage to never drink on an empty stomach may subtly contribute to weight gain. Now that’s food (and drink) for thought.

Susan Maloney
Managing Senior Fellow
& Senior Program Officer