Heart Disease and Stroke

• Heart Attacks More Common in Women. [WALB-TV] Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women. Medical researches say far too few women *or* first responders actually know it! It was the topic today of a training program Thursday for emergency medical workers across the state. They're mixing fun with some very important issues. 200 medical responders across Georgia are competing for bragging rights. Beyond the laughs and cheers, there's learning taking place. "Cardiovascular disease and its sequella is the leading cause of death among women period," says RN Robin Godwin.

• AHA: Women Receive Less Cardiovascular Secondary Prevention. [MedPage Today] Women receive significantly less recommended secondary prevention for coronary artery disease than do men, researchers reported here. However, the all-cause mortality difference between genders was not significant at seven years (21.5% versus 17.8%, P=0.09), said Leslie Cho, M.D., of the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues, at the American Heart Association meeting. Dr. Cho said that the lack of a significant difference in survival between the genders despite the significant treatment differences is difficult to interpret because a substantial proportion of men are not receiving secondary prevention according to guidelines either.

• Breast Cancer Risk Increased by Red Meat. [Fashion Monitor Toronto, Canada] Eating more red meat may be associated with a higher risk for hormone receptor–positive breast cancers in premenopausal women, according to the new report. “Breast tumors are often characterized by hormone (estrogen and progesterone) receptor status,” the authors write as background information in the article, meaning that the cancer is classified by whether these hormones can bind to proteins on the surface of the tumor. “Although the incidence rates of hormone receptor–negative tumors have remained relatively constant, the incidence of hormone receptor–positive tumors has been increasing in the United States, especially among middle-aged women.” The diets of American women may be linked to this increase, since some foods — including certain components of red meat — can contain hormones or hormone-like compounds that influence tumors through their hormone receptors.

• One-in-Four Women Fail to Attend Breast Exam. [Irish Examiner, Ireland] One-in-Four   women called for breast cancer screening under the BreastCheck programme fail to turn up for their mammogram appointment. The programme’s annual report published yesterday shows more than 79,000 women were called for screening last year — the highest number in a single year to date — but just under 60,000 kept their appointment. Sheila Caulfield of BreastCheck said the take-up rate was above the target of 70% but it was still very much a goal of the programme to have 100% of women accepting their invitation. “It’s an unusual service in that, if you or I make an appointment for the dentist, we make a conscious decision for ourselves. With BreastCheck the woman is invited, she’s well, she’s walking around feeling fine and there not always the same impetus to keep the appointment.

• Women Needed For Breast Cancer Study. [KXAN-TV] What causes breast cancer? Right now, doctors have not found the answer to that question, but they're attempting to with a new study, and they need your help. They're looking to follow 50,000 women across the country over the next 10 years to see if they can find why breast cancer happens. 

• Breast Cancer Risk for Younger Black Women. [Ivanhoe] There has been an overall decline in the rate of invasive breast cancer, but the rate has not declined in young black women, according to new research. Researchers studied the changed in breast cancer rates in the United States between 1975 and 2002. In 2006, breast cancer will account for nearly one out of every three cancer diagnoses in women in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. White women have the highest overall breast cancer incidence rates when compared to all other ethnic groups. However, a closer look at the figures reveals black women younger than 40 have an even higher incidence of breast cancer and a higher rate of death than white women.

• Survey: Most Women Don't Know Virus Causes Cervical Cancer. [FOX News] Americans are in the dark about a virus linked to cervical cancer that can kill them, two new studies suggest. A vaccine exists to protect against types of the virus, called human papillomaviruses (HPV). But when the vaccine is presented under the umbrella of sexually-transmitted-disease protection, women are less likely to get inoculated. Every year in the United States, about 6.2 million people get HPV. Anyone who has ever had genital contact with another person can get HPV. Both men and women can get it — and pass it on to their sex partners — without even realizing it. The studies were presented Sunday at the American Association for Cancer Research's Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting in Boston.

• Ovarian Cancer: Younger Women Survive Ovarian Cancer Better. [SpiritIndia, India] Younger women with ovarian cancer have better survival rates than older patients, even if they have surgery to conserve their fertility, added family history of the illness is the most important risk factor and it is influenced by hormones.

• Government Plans Pilot Study on Female Condom Acceptability. [Hindu, India] The [Indian] Government is planning a pilot study soon to examine acceptability of the female condom before including it in the national programs of family planning and AIDS control. "It is a pilot project to study whether people will accept it. The study will be conducted in six states among sex-workers and married couples to get their response," a senior official of the National Aids Control Organization (NACO) said Saturday. The study will be given a final approval by the Technical Advisory Panel of NACO next week. Though the female condom is sold in the market, it is not widely popular as the male condoms are, with the main reason being its cost. A pack of two is sold for Rs 200. But for the study it will be available for Rs 5.

• Barr Begins Shipping Plan B Emergency Contraceptive to US Pharmacies. [ Associated Press] Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday its Duramed Pharmaceuticals unit has begun shipments of the Plan B emergency contraceptive. The Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-company said the over-the-counter/prescription product will be available in U.S. pharmacies by mid-November. Barr also said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Duramed three-year exclusivity for Plan B, valid until August 2009. Plan B will be sold over the counter to customers age 18 or older, and prescription-only for women 17 and younger.

• Nearly Half US Abortions Are Repeats for Women: Study. [Scientific American] About half of all U.S. women who had abortions in 2002 had undergone at least one previous abortion, according to a study released on Tuesday. Women who had repeat abortions tended to be over age 30 and to have more children, and most were using contraception at the time, the report from the nonprofit Alan Guttmacher Institute found. The Institute used several different surveys by both the government and private groups to come up with its estimate. For instance, in one 2001-2002 government survey, 48% of women having abortions said they had undergone a previous abortion.

• Female Protein May Hold Treatments for Infertility. [The West Australian, Australia] Researchers have identified a protein in women that destroys unfertilized eggs with genetic damage, an important step in discovering how to treat infertility, according to a study in the journal Nature. The protein, p63, guards against irregularities that could cause diseases in children by detecting and killing eggs with genetic mutations - the first mechanism found to control which unfertilized eggs survive, according to the study. The research could help physicians treat female infertility, which affects as much as 12% of the world's population and isn't believed to be hereditary, said Frank McKeon, a Harvard Medical School cell-biology professor who worked on the study.

• Births to Unmarried Women Hit High in US. [Fort Worth Star Telegram] Births to unmarried women in the United States have climbed to an all-time high, accounting for nearly 4 in 10 births last year, government health officials said Tuesday. While out-of-wedlock births have long been associated with teen mothers, the birth rate among girls ages 10 to 17 dropped last year to the lowest on record. Instead, births among unmarried women rose most dramatically among those in their 20s. Experts said the overall rise reflects the burgeoning number of people who are putting off marriage and couples living together without getting married. They said it also reflects the fact that having a child while unmarried is more acceptable nowadays -- not the shame it once was. The number of such births increased in all ethnic groups but rose most sharply among Hispanics. It was up among all age groups except girls ages 10 to 17.

• Study Finds Smoking Affects Female Fertility. [All Headline News] A study carried out by Spanish and Portuguese researchers has found that smoking reduces the chances of becoming pregnant. Woman smoking more than 10 cigarettes daily are less likely to become pregnant even through IVF (in-vitro fertilization) treatment, using donated eggs. That is because an embryo's chances of being implanted in the wall of the womb are reduced. The team analyzed the rate of pregnancy in women who underwent a cycle of IVF treatment with donated eggs. The study found that 52.2% of light smokers became pregnant at the first time of asking. But the rate of pregnancy among heavy smokers was 34.1%. According to the team, tobacco makes the uterus less receptive. The BBC quotes Dr Sergio Soares, who led the study, as saying, "The fact that we see this result in a situation in which the oocytes (eggs) were donated by other women demonstrates that cigarette smoking negatively affects the receptiveness of the uterus independently of its effect on ovarian function."

• “Rent-A-Womb”: The Latest Indian Export. [People's Democracy] When it comes to providing new possibilities for the outsourcing and offshoring of services, no one can beat us Indians. The proof of this comes from the latest form of such offshoring that is increasingly using India as the preferred location: the phenomenon of surrogate motherhood. It is still very much a grey area in ethical terms. Different societies have responded to this possibility in different ways. Several countries, such as Sweden, Spain, France, and Germany, have banned the possibility of surrogate motherhood after it was rejected by voter referendum. Even in countries where it is allowed, there are restrictions. In Canada, payments are banned in surrogacy cases, to prevent commercialisation, and in the United Kingdom only some costs can be provided for. In developing countries that do allow it, such as Argentina and South Africa, there are stringent norms mandated for the process, including case-by-case reviews and monitoring by independent ethics committees. There are many reasons for concern. Quite apart from the purely ethical reasons, the most obvious problems relate to the risks involved for the surrogate mother. These include both the physical risks to health and the psychological and emotional damage that can be caused by having to part with the child after birth.

• Risk of Stillbirth Doubles in Mothers over 35. [China Post, Taiwan] The risk of stillbirth among expectant mothers aged over 35 is more than double that of younger women, according to the results of a study released Saturday. The research was conducted by Taipei City Hospital by analyzing records of approximately 940,000 newborns around Taiwan between 2001 and 2004. Of these newborns, 8,481 were dead at birth, accounting for 0.9% of total births, the study shows.

• C-Section Rates in North Worry Women's Group. [CBC New Brunswick, Canada] A baby born in parts of northern New Brunswick is nearly twice as likely to have been delivered by caesarean section than babies in other parts of the province, a statistic that worries the province's Advisory Council on the Status of Women. Half the babies born in the province's northwest in the last year arrived by caesarean birth, a surgical procedure traditionally reserved for cases when a natural, vaginal birth could endanger the life of the mother or child. The Restigouche Health Authority reported the highest rate in New Brunswick, with one in every two births happening via c-section.

• Pregnant Women Lacking Folic Acid: Study. [The Age, Australia] Less than one third of Australian mums-to-be take enough folic acid to protect their unborn children from spinal defects, research has revealed. The poor observance of the need for folic acid is blamed on a lack of awareness about when to take the vitamin and inadequate quantities of it in women's multivitamins. The research, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, is the latest to support the controversial push to add the chemical to bread-making flour.

• Risks for Pregnant Women With Lupus. [WebMD] Pregnant women who have lupus are at greater risk for serious complications -- including infection and death, according to the largest study ever to look at pregnancy outcomes in lupus patients. However, this sounds far worse than it is, experts tell WebMD. Such complications still occur infrequently. Most women with lupus will have healthy pregnancies and babies.

• HMS Conference Examines Research on Women's Aging. [Harvard University Gazette] With the decline in hormone replacement therapy in women, dermatologists like Sandy Tsao are seeing more patients with skin complaints. Tsao, an instructor in dermatology at Harvard Medical School and a dermatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said that's because the skin is the largest nonreproductive organ that is affected by estrogen. Estrogen, Tsao said, has been shown to fight the visible effects of aging on the skin. Tsao was one of six speakers Thursday (Nov. 2) at the seventh Annual Research Conference, sponsored by Harvard Medical School's Center of Excellence in Women's Health. This year's conference, held in the New Research Building, was on the subject, "Healthy Aging: Current Research Affecting Women." Aging skin was just one of several topics investigated during the morning event. Other speakers discussed recent developments with Alzheimer's disease, delaying menopause, bone health, and disability prevention.

• Study Highlights Older Women's Bone Risk. [Forbes]  A number of factors predict an older woman's risk for bone fractures, according to a long-term U.S. study of more than 170,000 women, ages 50 to 99. Postmenopausal women have reduced levels of estrogen, which results in weaker bones and an increased risk of fractures. In older women, fractures can have serious consequences, including reduced quality of life, ongoing health problems and death. In this study, researchers tracked 170,314 postmenopausal women who took part in the U.S. National Osteoporosis Risk Assessment (NORA) study. The women had no prior diagnosis of osteoporosis and no history of taking osteoporosis-specific medications. At the start of the study, the women completed a baseline survey and underwent a bone mineral density test. In follow-up surveys completed by the women at years one, two and five, nearly 8,000 of the women reported new fractures. The researchers found that the strongest predictors of fracture in these women were a history of fracture after age 45; indications of osteoporosis and osteopenia (bone weakness) as detected by bone density testing; increasing age; poor/fair self-rated health; loss of height; and depression.

• Female Genital Mutilation Incident in Georgia. [Washington College Elm] Last month, Ethiopian immigrant Khalid Adem was arrested for circumcision of his then 2-year-old daughter's genitals in 2001. He was living in Duluth, Ga. at the time. This is a common practice in Ethiopia, where Adem is from; where it is thought to preserve a girl's virginity and eliminate her sex drive. It is often performed as a coming of age or pre-marriage ritual. Health experts and human rights activists say that it is extremely painful, medically unnecessary and unsafe. However, because the practice is accepted in Africa, some argue that because it is a part of Adem's culture, he meant no harm and should not have been arrested. This argument is not only absurd but also incredibly dangerous.

• Muslim Scholars Join Rare Anti-Female Circumcision Conference. [International Herald Tribune, France] Prominent Muslim scholars from around the world, including conservative religious leaders from Egypt and Africa, met Wednesday to speak out against female genital mutilation at a rare high-level conference on the age-old practice. The meeting was organized by a German human rights and held under the patronage of Dar Al-Iftaa, Egypt's main religious-edicts organization. It was held at the conference center of Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni Islamic institution in the world. Al Azhar's grand sheik, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, attended as well as Egypt's Grand Mufti, Ali Goma'a, whose fatwas are considered binding religious edicts. It is rare for such religious figures in Egypt to attend such a conference on an issue that remains sensitive and controversial here. An estimated 50% of schoolgirls in Egypt are thought to undergo the procedure, according to government statistics.

• Study Says Healthy Fats Cut Women's Heart Risks. [San Francisco Chronicle] Women who eat a diet moderately low in carbohydrates, but rich in vegetable fat and vegetable protein, can cut their risk of heart disease by as much as 30% compared to just following a low-fat approach, according to a new Harvard study. The findings, drawn from a study of more than 80,000 nurses, reinforce a growing shift in nutritional advice toward moderate amounts of healthy fat found in such foods as nuts, avocados, liquid vegetable oils and seafood along with less-processed carbohydrates, including whole-grain bread and cereal, fruit and vegetables. Among the groups that have recommended that approach in recent years are the writers of the 2000 and 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines, the American Heart Association and the federal government's National Cholesterol Education Program. All advise eating 25% to up to 35% of daily calories as fat, most of it from healthy sources, and boosting consumption of beans and legumes, fruit and vegetables, and healthy whole grains.

• High-Fat, Low-Carb Diet Okay For Women's Hearts. [Xinhua, China] A new long-term study of low-carb, high-fat diets -- such as the Atkins diet -- reports that for women there is no increased risk of heart disease or eventual heart. The study followed thousands of women over two decades and found that those who had a high intake of carbohydrates from refined sugars and highly processed foods nearly doubled their risk of heart disease. And those who ate a low-carb diet but got more of their protein and fat from vegetables rather than animal sources cut their heart disease risk by 30% on average, compared with those who ate more animal fats.

• Older Women Not Immune to Eating Disorders. [Reuters.uk] Even into their 60s, many women are unhappy with their weight and body shape, and a small percentage suffer from full-blown eating disorders, a new study suggests. Though anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders are mainly problems of young women, there has been some evidence that body-image issues and eating disorders also affect women in middle-age and beyond. In the new study, Austrian researchers found that among 475 women 60 to 70 years old, 60% said they were dissatisfied with their bodies. Moreover, 4% met the criteria for an eating disorder diagnosis. For most of these women, the diagnosis was "eating disorder-not otherwise specified" -- where a person has eating disorder symptoms but does not meet all the criteria for anorexia or bulimia.

• FDA to Allow Some Silicone Breast Implants. [TechNewsWorld, CA] The FDA ended its long ban on silicone gel breast implants last week in a move that returns decision making about cosmetic surgery to women and their physicians. The news is especially welcome for women who require breast reconstruction after undergoing mastectomies. American women once again will be able to get silicone breast implants, following a controversial decision announced late Friday by the federal government. Women of any age who want silicone implants for reconstruction after cancer surgery or because of abnormalities can get the devices, as well as women over 21 who want breast enhancement procedures.

• Survey: Middle-Aged Women Not Very Happy. [Jackson Clarion Ledger] Women from the mid-30s to mid-50s are less likely than Americans overall to be very happy, and many are racked by worries about aging parents and other family members, a national survey released Monday reports. Money, time and health concerns loomed large in the poll by independent pollsters Pursuant Inc. of more than 1,100 women who have at least one living parent. About 20% said they were very happy, compared with 34% for the U.S. population overall in another survey by the Pew Research Center this year. More than half of the women were concerned about an elderly relative's health. About two out of three women were employed.

• PTSD Diagnosed More in Women. [Forbes, NY] Even though men are more likely to experience a traumatic event, women are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). That's one of the conclusions of a new study appearing in the November issue of the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin. "Men and women might react to traumas in very different ways," explained the study author David Tolin, director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Institute of Living, in Hartford, Conn. "The way the diagnosis is currently written may stack the deck for more symptom endorsement in women."

• Women Beware: Caring Too Much Can Be Deadly, Say Health Experts. [PhysOrg.com] Women are still the world's dominant caregivers but they increasingly fail to care for themselves - with deadly consequences, according to experts presenting at an international health conference this week. Associate Professor Patricia Davidson, from the University of Western Sydney's School of Nursing and co-convenor of the International Council on Women's Health Issues (ICOWHI) Congress says a range of forces like work and family pressures are placing extra stresses on women's health and well being - putting them at higher risk of diseases and illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. "There is an inherent resilience among women which has served them well, but rapid social changes have placed an increasing burden on women which threatens their individual health, and global trends of increasing life expectancy," says Associate Professor Davidson. "Statistics reveal that worldwide, women now make up a third of the labor force, but perform two thirds of the working hours for just a tenth of the income.

• Mixed Wards Cause Trauma in Female Patients in Britain. [MedIndia, India] The Patients Association says that In Britain, women admitted in hospital wards are facing inconvenience and trauma on being housed along with men. They are unable to rest comfortably as they fear sexual assault. The Patients Association says that a number of female patients have been calling them complaining of inconvenience and invasion of privacy on having their beds placed near men. In one instance, a woman in her 70s was totally upset and shocked when on account of some confusion a male patient tried to get into her bed in a mixed ward. The Government had promised to end the concept of mixed ward four years ago.

• Report Warns Lung Disease 'Crucial' Female Issue. [CTV.ca, Canada] Doctors are warning in a report released Wednesday that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has emerged as a "crucial women's health issue," but that screening remains unacceptably low. The report released by the Canadian Lung Association says that more than 425,000 women in Canada have been diagnosed with this respiratory disease and more than 4,300 die every year. COPD is an umbrella term for respiratory diseases that include bronchitis and emphysema, which cause the airways of the lung to be inflamed and become blocked.