Epidemiology in the News
Epi In The News
For this assignment you are to find an article on epidemiology in the news and write a 250- to 350-
word summary about the article. The article should not be from a professional source; instead, it
needs to be a source accessible to and written for a lay audience. These can include but are not
limited to online magazines, online newspapers, and health news Web sites.
For your summary, discuss how this article reports the epidemiological concepts you have learned
throughout this course. Make sure to include the article�s URL as a reference in your posting.
EPIDEMIOLOGY IN THE NEWS 2
Epidemiology in the News
The following discussion will revolve around Science Daily, which reports on how
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) can help cut the risk of repeat knee or hip
replacement surgery by 40%. Most of what it reports is from British Medical Journal. Science
Daily records that this report relies on online-based study published in the Annals of the
Rheumatic Diseases. The news reports that osteoporosis occurs when particles from the
implant seep in the surrounding tissue, prompting an inflammatory response, which then
destroys the bone around the implant (Science Daily, 2014). It continues to report that joint
replacement surgery are set to increase substantially as the population of the old and the
prevalence of obesity accelerates.
The news adds that the likelihood of repeat joint replacement therapy among women
who require a first knee or hip replacement is something crucial to look at (Science Daily,
2014). This is because the study proved that those women who had taken HRT regularly for
six months or more after their surgery were less likely to require repeat surgery than those
who had not done so. It compliments that those women who regularly took HRT for 12
months or more after their procedure were more than a half less likely to need further
surgery. Science daily continues to ascertain that lower levels of hormone estrogen in women
have been implicated in the bone thinning and loss, while HRT is thought to help conserve
bone thickness (Science Daily, 2014). However, this study, as the news reports, is the first
study to show that it can help prevent repeat surgery in women who have undergone hip/knee
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replacement. This news in particular is set to solve the controversial debate on whether HRT
should be used in treatment of diseases or not.
Reference
Science Daily. (2014). Hormone replacement therapy cuts risk of repeat knee/hip
replacement surgery by 40 per cent.
