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Quality-of-life questions are becoming increasingly important in medical care, especially when it comes to helping patients make decisions about treatments, today’s Informed Patient column reports.

Since the 1970s, researchers have been using quality-of-life measurement tools for a wide variety of medical conditions, primarily in population studies and clinical trials. Outside the U.S. they are often used by national medical systems to help determine payment policies for more costly drugs or treatments.

Very early results from research into embryonic stem cell treatments suggest that the therapy was safe in use against macular degeneration, a major cause of blindness. The findings, though preliminary, are the first published results involving embryonic stem cells in human patients.

For several months, a group of teenage girls in upstate New York have been suffering from a mysterious ailment: twitching and verbal tics similar to those seen in Tourette’s patients, but with no apparent organic cause. Two appeared on the Today Show this week to discuss their plight.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends women aged 65 and up be screened for osteoporosis, without saying exactly how often that should happen.

But new research offers some guidance, suggesting that women with a good bone density score may be able to wait 15 years before their next screening because they are unlikely to develop osteoporosis before then. A poor score, however, might suggest a test the next year.

Attention former smokers: did the patch help you quit?

A study published earlier this week casts doubt on whether nicotine-replacement products like gum, nasal sprays and the patch help reduce relapse rates in the real world — that is, outside of clinical trials.

As the WSJ reports, a survey of smokers who quit found that those who used those products were no less likely to relapse than those who tried to stop without the help of nicotine replacement therapy, or NRT.

On TV crime shows, when people who have been stabbed or shot in the abdomen get to the hospital they’re inevitably rushed into surgery. (Which is why Lennie Briscoe often had to wait for witness statements until after the operation.)

Even a small gap in Medicaid coverage can have consequences for diabetics, new research suggests.

The study looked at 3,384 diabetes patients who received medical care at 50 clinics in Oregon from 2005-2007. The care was mostly free, but some recommended diagnostic tests and other services — including cholesterol screening, HbA1c testing to determine blood-sugar control and the flu shot — required a small co-pay.

Sleep disorders are common among police officers, and are associated with job-performance, health and safety problems.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association covering 4,957 police officers in the U.S. and Canada found that 40.4% screened positive for some kind of sleep disorder, most commonly obstructive sleep apnea.

A smaller percentage of officers screened positive for insomnia and shift work sleep disorder. (We’ve written before about the hazards of shift work.)

Earlier this year the WSJ reported on new research suggesting that a hormone gel can help certain women at risk of preterm birth and its subsequent complications. That study, by the National Institutes of Health, found that using a progesterone gel in women with a short cervix cut the rate of early preterm delivery by 45%.