Long ICU stays may alter gut microbes

University of Chicago researchers investigated what happens to the gut microbes of intensive care unit (ICU) patients who receive repeated courses of multiple antibiotics to protect them from infection.Patients who stayed in an ICU for longer than one month had only one to four types of microbes in the intestine, while healthy study volunteers had […]

University of Chicago researchers investigated what happens to the gut microbes of intensive care unit (ICU) patients who receive repeated courses of multiple antibiotics to protect them from infection.
Patients who stayed in an ICU for longer than one month had only one to four types of microbes in the intestine, while healthy study volunteers had about 40 types, according to the study published Sept. 23 in the online journal mBio.
Some of the few remaining types of microbes in the ICU patients may increase the risk of a life-threatening systemic infection called sepsis, the researchers said.
“I have watched patients die from sepsis — it isn’t their injuries or mechanical problems that are the problem,” study co-senior author and gastrointestinal surgeon Dr. John Alverdy said in a journal news release.
“Our hypothesis has always been that the gut microflora in these patients are very abnormal, and these could be the culprits that lead to sepsis,” he added.
The findings may lead to improved monitoring and treatment of ICU patients, the researchers said.
Better-Educated People More Open to Dubious Health Info on Web: Study
Younger college graduates are more likely to trust health information from questionable sources on the Internet than older high school grads would, new research reports.
Researchers say many people have learned to rely less on health care providers and more on highly accessible content freely available through mobile phones, tablets and computers.
The new study found that younger adults who attended at least four years of college were far more likely to seek anecdotal online health information about a health problem from non-experts than were older people who had no more than a high school education.
Those most comfortable using computers to gather information and with the greatest access to computers and mobile technology are tapping the Internet for answers to their questions about minor and major health problems, said Kapil Chalil Madathil, the lead study author and assistant professor in the department of engineering at Clemson University, in South Carolina.
“These people go online and turn to video-sharing sites and peer support groups to get information and advice, which may not be accurate or reliable,” Chalil Madathil added.
Even those who are college-educated seem to be turned off by statistical analyses or complicated explanations, such as government quality reporting sites that list long columns of numbers that don’t make sense to most people, added Chalil Madathil.
“Most people would rather read a narrative or a story, or look at information graphics, than try to compare and contrast different numbers about something like 20 quality measures of a hospital,” he said.
The study also found that women, more than men, and people with health issues were most likely to seek so-called anecdotal information online.
The research also showed that as people get older, they become less likely to look for health information in social media, peer support groups and video-sharing sites like YouTube.
The research is to be presented Oct. 28 at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society annual meeting in Chicago. Data and conclusions from the study should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
For the study, Chalil Madathil and his team analyzed data from about 3,000 people who participated in the Pew Internet & American Life Health Tracking Survey in 2012. The survey involved interviews on how people used the Internet to find health information. The researchers only included those who indicated they went online occasionally or frequently.
Participants were asked if they had consulted online rankings or reviews of hospitals or other medical facilities, consulted online rankings or reviews of doctors or other providers, or read someone’s commentary on or experience with health or medical issues online.
One expert not involved in the study said there may be good reasons why people search online for health info.
“Physicians have less and less time to spend with patients, so people are going to look for information, explanations and emotional support from other sources,” said Jennifer Reich, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Colorado Denver.
Other research has shown that education can play a role in turning people away from traditional health experts, she added. Reich said she recently published research that showed that more educated and higher income parents said they had the time, knowledge and resources to reject public health recommendations, like getting their children vaccinated.
“Those who refuse vaccines for their children often see themselves as experts about their own children, trusting their own personal research,” she said.
Reich also questioned whether the increased use of the Internet by younger adults represented higher levels of comfort with technology, or whether it suggested that newer college graduate may be more questioning of expertise.
“Older people are more reverent to physicians and less likely to question them,” she noted.