Outreach mailer for Chronic Disease

"Results from a recent paper suggest that mailers will improve outreach and provide the most benefit when mailers are recruited within their primary care providers' practice." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Findings from a recent study shows that many patients who are in remission on antiepilepsy drugs have a disease course similar to the natural course of disease. The most common pattern of the disease course was one of the coexistence of acute phase and chronic disease with long periods between attacks, followed by the development of acute phase disease and return to chronic stage. Patients at risk for developing chronic diseases require full medical and psychosocial management so as to reduce the impact of the disease on the life of the patient and reduce the risk of disease progression." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"In the US, 1.5 million cases of diabetes, chronic heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and chronic liver disease are estimated to occur each year. There will, therefore, be significant increases in health service expenditures in the United States, which will negatively affect the economy as a whole." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"The question of what cures chronic disease remains unanswered. The cure is only 'cure' when the medical intervention achieves the therapeutic objectives that the patient has in mind. However, it may be possible to define chronicity as a'steady state', beyond which treatment is futile, and it seems that there are a few diseases that may be able to enter a steady state, and remain'stable' - at least for a time. This may be demonstrated by a study showing that some autoimmune diseases may enter a chronic state, beyond which no further treatment - for the time being - achieves anything other than a very slow and steady decline." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Chronic diseases are disabling in many respects, and the treatments they require are often difficult to access and prohibitive in cost. In developing countries people often do not have access to modern medical technologies despite being fully informed of potential cures, and the best treatments still require medical supervision. There is not a single 'chronic disease' that can be seen as'saber-tooth' as the best way to think about a treatment plan for a patient requires the health worker to appreciate that the type of treatment and management has to take into account many factors across a wide range of diseases. Most of the treatments discussed are expensive: many in developing countries are prohibitively costly depending on the degree of coverage, and patients are frequently unable to pay." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"There is a tendency in modern American culture to blame external physical factors for diseases such as heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, and cancer. Therefore, chronic disease prevention should begin with understanding how to control external factors and should be the first line of work. This article presents convincing rationale for the importance of preventing disease in young people by lifestyle interventions, which are both affordable and can also be effective in preventing disease in older adults as well." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Chronic diseases are a significant part of the global burden of disease. There are an estimated 1.4 billion people currently living with chronic diseases in the world, and they will become more common as the burden of disease escalates. If future preventive care efforts are to be effective, it will be essential to target the chronic lifestyle risk factors that are known to drive chronic disease in high-income settings, or to improve the health of countries and regions where chronic diseases are increasing more widely. Further, it will be important to develop and test methods and messages relating to chronic disease prevention and reduction targeting high-risk populations and high-risk countries and regions." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"The use of therapeutic mailing lists has been growing in the past decade in order to reach out to patients who don't have access to clinics at all. This type of mailing list is very helpful for many. A recent study from the United Nations Millennium Development Goals reports has also proven that this type of mailing list is very profitable for one to use as a means of helping. It not only enhances communication between people but also saves on time. A study on one mailing list found that the time saved on communication between people is around 3 hours. A number of countries in the world still use this type of mailing list because it boosts the well being of the people and it has a great impact in promoting healthier lifestyles amongst the group." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Although the use of clinical trials for chronic diseases has expanded over time, the decision to participate in an ongoing clinical trial can be difficult. Patient characteristics, burden of disease, and treatment options all influence whether a clinical trial is offered." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"The study shows that there is no difference in the perceptions of primary causes of chronic disease experienced by patients enrolled in clinical trials and those who are not part of the clinical trial. Furthermore, the study shows that some of the patients who are part of clinical trials were able to correctly identify the primary cause of their chronic disease, while many patients in general were not able to identify the primary cause of their illness. Results from a recent paper highlights key factors in chronic patient's perception of what are, the primary causes of chronic illness that make the difference on the long-term illness outcome." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"The most frequently cited reason as to why respondents were prescribed the most common medications was for chronic conditions. Nearly one third of respondents reported having been prescribed high potency [Dipclonine, also known as a heart medication or heart relaxer], high-strength [Dihydrozoline HCL 50, also known as a muscle relaxer], and/or high-frequency (2 or more times a day)/high potency [Dipethadrol HCL 25, also known as a [decongestive], bronchodilator, or short-term bronchodilator] [when prescribed] or [aspartame or sweetener (for a nonalcoholic beverage)] for more than one month." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Outreach mailers have been researched in many fields including diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, etc. However, clinical trials that use them are relatively very few. We hope that our article will help some researchers and pharmaceutical companies in their research of these outreach mailer." - Anonymous Online Contributor