美国国家公共电台 NPR Drug Test Spurs Frank Talk Between Hypertension Patients And Doctors

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

There is an uncomfortable irony¹ at the center of treatment for high blood pressure. High blood pressure itself often doesn't make people feel that bad, but the medicines used to treat it can make people feel lousy, so some people don't like taking their meds. Now a drug test is available to check if patients actually are taking them. Blake Farmer of member station WPLN in Nashville has the story.

SHARON FULSON: It's starting.

BLAKE FARMER, BYLINE²: Sharon Fulson has her own blood pressure monitoring cuff³ at home because blood pressure is a moving target.

FULSON: Being on the radio might have an effect on me (laughter).

FARMER: Even being in a doctor's office can add enough stress to elevate their results. They call it white coat syndrome⁴. And this is why testing a patient's blood pressure doesn't confirm for cardiologists whether a patient is taking the medication.

FULSON: It's not that you don't want to take it, because you know it's going to help you, but it's the getting used to it.

FARMER: The daily pills make Fulson feel groggy⁵ and nervous. Men can have trouble with arousal. Many report dizziness, nausea⁶ and diarrhea.

FULSON: All of these side effects is worse than the high blood pressure.

FARMER: Hypertension really doesn't have unpleasant symptoms until you have a stroke or a heart attack. That's why it's called the silent killer⁷. Sarah Avery says hypertension runs in her family - her mother, grandmother and her late father.

SARAH AVERY: My daddy died because he didn't take his medicine.

FARMER: Still, the medication is such a drag, she's decided⁸ at times to stop without consulting her doctor.

AVERY: I lied. Really, I lied. He said, you taking your medicine? Mmm hmm. I said yeah, my momma made sure that I do. I was just lying.

FARMER: Research shows half of patients, maybe more, are like Avery and don't take their medicine like they should, even though heart disease is the leading killer in America. Avery had her own brush with death.

AVERY: I had a stroke, and that was because I wasn't taking my medicine.

FARMER: The medical community believes some of the complications could be avoided with better compliance⁹. So this new drug test from Aegis¹⁰ Sciences may inject more honesty into the doctor-patient relationship.

(SOUNDBITE OF SCREENING MACHINE)

FARMER: Most of the time, this Nashville lab screens urine samples for drugs that shouldn't be there. This works the other way. Lab manager Jana Case says the machines search for all kinds of blood pressure and cholesterol¹¹ medication.

JANA CASE: In that one injection, we can detect the 80-plus drugs. Results come out within about three minutes.

FARMER: The test only can tell whether a patient has taken pills in the last day or two, but CEO Frank Basile says it's at least a starting point.

FRANK BASILE: What we give doctors is a tool that enables them to have a very focused conversation with their patients, first of all, to bring the problem into the open and then to talk about, you know, exactly why.

FARMER: This has been effective for cardiologist Bryan Doherty, who works in a relatively¹² rural Tennessee community. Tests he did on one man showed he hadn't been taking his medication.

BRYAN DOHERTY: He immediately turned around and told me that the cost was an issue. And I think there was a degree of, you know, embarrassment¹³ there, potentially, or feeling like he was letting me down in some way, something that had not come up in a 25-minute initial encounter when we'd spoken before.

FARMER: Of course, the test has a cost, too - about $100, though Doherty says insurance seems to cover it. And he says there are usually other drugs that are less expensive and other drug options that have fewer side effects. He says it's worth the potentially uncomfortable discussions between doctor and patient because the medication might make the difference between life and death. For NPR News, I'm Blake Farmer in Nashville.

KING: And that story was part of a reporting partnership¹⁴ with NPR, WPLN and Kaiser Health News.

1 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 cuff   

n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口

参考例句：

• She hoped they wouldn't cuff her hands behind her back.她希望他们不要把她反铐起来。
• Would you please draw together the snag in my cuff?请你把我袖口上的裂口缝上好吗？

4 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

5 groggy   

adj.体弱的；不稳的

参考例句：

• The attack of flu left her feeling very groggy.她患流感后非常虚弱。
• She was groggy from surgery.她手术后的的情况依然很不稳定。

6 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

7 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

10 aegis   

n.盾；保护，庇护

参考例句：

• Medical supplies are flied in under the aegis of the red cross.在红十字会的保护下，正在空运进医药用品。
• The space programme will continue under the aegis of the armed forces.这项太空计划将以武装部队作后盾继续进行。

11 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

12 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

13 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

14 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。