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  3. What impact can mobile phones have on their users’ health? Many people worry

What impact can mobile phones have on their users’ health? Many people worry

游客2023-12-07  11
问题     What impact can mobile phones have on their users’ health? Many people worry about the supposed ill effects caused by radiation from handsets and base stations, despite the lack of credible evidence of any harm. But evidence for the beneficial effects of mobile phones on health is rather more abundant. Indeed, a systematic review carried out by Rifat Atun and his colleagues at Imperial College, London, rounds up 150 examples of the use of text-messaging in the delivery of health care. These uses fall into three categories : efficiency gains, public-health gains, and direct benefits to patients by incorporating text-messaging into treatment regimes. The study, funded by Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile operator, was published this week.
    Using texting to boost efficiency is not rocket science, but big savings can be achieved. Several trials carried out in England have found that the use of text-messaging reminders reduces the number of missed appointments with family doctors by 26-39%, for example, and the number of missed hospital appointments by 33-50%. If such schemes were rolled out nationally, this would translate into annual savings of ￡ 256m-364m.
    Text messages are also being used to remind patients about blood tests, clinics, scans and dental appointments. Similar schemes in America, Norway and Sweden have had equally satisfying results—though the use of text-message reminders in the Netherlands, where non-attendance rates are low, at 4%, had no effect other than to annoy patients.
    Text messages can also be a good way to disseminate public-health information, particularly to groups who are hard to reach by other means, such as teenagers, or in developing countries where other means of communication are unavailable. Text messages have been used in India to inform people about the World Health Organisation’s strategy to control tuberculosis, for example, and in Kenya, Nigeria and Mall to provide information about HIV and malaria. In Iraq, text messages were used to support a campaign to vaccinate nearly 5m children against polio.
    Finally, there are the uses of text messaging as part of a treatment regime. These involve sending reminders to patients to take their medicine at the right time, or to encourage compliance with exercise regimes or efforts to stop smoking. The evidence for the effectiveness of such schemes is generally anecdotal, however, notes Dr. Rifat. More quantitative research is needed which is why his team also published three papers this week looking at the use of mobile phones in health care in more details. One of these papers, written in conjunction with Victoria Franklin and Stephen Greene of the University of Dundee, in Scotland, reports the results of a trial in which diabetic teenagers’ treatment was backed up with text messaging.
    Diabetes needs constant management, and requires patients to take an active role in their treatment by measuring blood-sugar levels and administering insulin injections. The most effective form of therapy is an intensive regime in which patients adjust the dose of insulin depending on what they eat. This is more onerous for the patient, but allows for a greater dietary variety. Previous studies have shown that intensive treatment is effective only with close supervision by doctors. Dr. Franklin and her colleagues devised a system called Sweet Talk, which sends patients personalised text messages reminding them of the treatment goals they have set themselves, and allowing them to send questions to doctors. The Sweet Talk system was tested over a period of 18 months with teenage patients receiving both conventional and intensive diabetes treatment. A control group received conventional treatment and no text messages.
    The researchers found that the use of text-messaging significantly increased "self-efficacy" (the effectiveness of treatment, measured by questionnaire). More importantly, among patients receiving intensive therapy, the level of haemoglobin HbA1e—an indicator of blood-glucose and hence of glycaemic control— was 14% lower than for those in the control group. Since even a 10% decline in HbA1c level is associated with a reduction in complications such as eye and kidney problems, this is an impressive result. It suggests that texting can cheaply and effectively support intensive therapy among teenagers, who often demonstrate poor compliance.
    Despite such promising results, Dr. Rifat notes, many of the medical uses of text-messaging have not yet been subjected to clinical trials, because they are so new. And even where the benefits are proven, the technology has not been systematically deployed on a large scale. But when it comes to improving outcomes and reducing costs, text messages would seem to be just what the doctor ordered.  [br] The result of the teenage diabetic patients shows that
选项 A、those in the control group are more rebellious.
B、text-messaging can motivate them to supervise themselves.
C、conventional treatment isn’t as effective as intensive treatment.
D、adult diabetic patients should also try intensive treatment.
答案 B
解析 推断题。由题干中的teenage patients定位至第六段，前三句对糖尿病的治疗过程进行了说明：糖尿病需要持续性治疗，并要求患者在治疗过程中必须积极主动……最有效的治疗形式就是进行强化治疗，即患者根据饮食调整胰岛素用量。这对患者而言是麻烦，但改食上可以有多种选择。然后指出intensive treatment在什么时候有效：只有在医生密切监控下，强化治疗才有效。之后介绍了“甜言蜜语”系统及对该系统进行检测的过程。第七段末句指出检测数据说明的问题：它显示短信能够便宜有效地辅助少年患者强化治疗，而这些患者在治疗中往往配合性很差。从上述内容可以看出，短信提醒可以敦促少年糖尿病患者进行自我监控，进行持续性治疗，故[B]为答案。第六段最后两句提到Dr．Franklin把实验对象分成两个组，一组只接受传统治疗方案，没有短信提醒，一种接受传统和强化结合治疗，有短信提醒。虽然后者中的病人检测结果好，但因为两组采用的方法不同，不能说明前者中的病人更顿逆，排除[A]。第六段第二句提到了The most effective form of therapy is an intensive regime，但实验中，一组既接受了传统治疗又有强化治疗，外加短信提醒，另一组只接受了传统治疗，虽然[C]是文章提及的内容，但从实验结果本身无法得出此结论，排除。这里没有提及“成人糖尿病患者”，[D]属于过度推断。  
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