Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.health,americast.usa-today.health From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: health Thu, Oct 1 1992 Date: Thu, 1 Oct 92 04:57:26 EDT Message-ID: 10-01 0000 DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update Oct. 1, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network PILLS MAY CUT CANCER RISK 50%: A woman who takes birth control pills for five years may cut her risk of ovarian cancer in half, a new study says. And the effect seems to last at least 10 years after a woman stops taking the pill, say researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health. (For more, see special Pill package below.) BLACK BABIES BORN SMALL: Black babies are two to three times more likely than white babies to be born undersized, says a study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. A review of more than 1,000 infants in Boston, St. Louis and rural Mississippi found this higher rate of blacks born under 3 1:2 pounds. Black women were three times more likely to suffer certain difficulties during pregnancy. AIDS IS AMONG TOP KILLERS: A new report says AIDS is now among the top 10 killers in the USA. It gained that dubious distinction in 1991, moving from 11th to ninth on the list compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics. There were 29,500 deaths from AIDS last year. The top five causes of death are heart disease; cancer; stroke; accidents and lung disease. GENE MAPS TO HELP FIGHT DISEASE: Scientists have created complete maps of two human chromosomes. Researchers hope the move will help them unlock the mysteries of major diseases, such as Alzheimer's, much faster. The efforts are part of the Human Genome Project. The multi-billion dollar global project's goal is to learn the location and function of an estimated 100,000 human genes. LAUGHING GAS AFFECTS CONCEPTION: Workplace exposure to nitrous oxide - laughing gas - isn't funny anymore. The gas may make it harder for women to become pregnant, a new study suggests. Among 418 California female dental assistants studied, those exposed to high levels of unventilated nitrous oxide for five hours or more a week were only 40% as likely to become pregnant when trying as unexposed women, researchers say. EXPOSURE CAN LEAD TO DEATH: Up to half of dental offices in the USA use nitrous oxide, mixed with oxygen, as a sedative to patients. More than 20% of offices may not have adequate ventilation, like patient face masks that vacuum away the gas. Other occupations that use the gas: veterinarians and ambulance workers. Abuse of the gas to get high has resulted in brain damage and death. BLACKS MISS OUT ON SOME DRUGS: A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that insured blacks are less likely to be given new, expensive so-called wonder drugs than insured whites. Johns Hopkins researcher Dr. Neil Powe says that many factors in addition to insurance affect treatment. The study involved patients eligible for an anti-anemia drug. DEFECT MAY BOOST STROKE RISK: Most people who get strokes are over 45 and have fatty deposits in their arteries. But among younger stroke victims, a hole between the upper chambers of the heart is often responsible, and may be a factor in many strokes of unknown cause that hit older people, according to French researchers reporting at the Second World Congress of Stroke in Washington last week. KIDS PROGRAM BUILDS ESTEEM: Skyshapers, a self-esteem program for kids, launches its In-School Program in over 10,000 elementary schools this month. Kids can call the free Skyline through October to hear inspirational space-age messages. Call 800-676-4759. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON PILL: LONGER USE MEANS LOWER RISK: Researchers have long known that birth control pills offer some protection from the fifth leading cancer killer of women. The new study, in the October Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, provides the best estimate yet of how strong that protection is. The Harvard team looked at 20 studies of 98,000 women over 20 years. They found the longer women took the pill, the lower their cancer risk was. PILL LETS OVARY `REST': One important unanswered question: Whether today's low-dose pills reduce risk as much as older pills did. "The data we do have are encouraging," says Dr. Meir Stampfer, one of the researchers. Reseachers say one possibility of how the pill prevents ovarian cancer is that by preventing ovulation - the release of an egg each month - it lets the ovary rest. The pill also reduces levels of certain hormones that might promote cancer in the ovary. WOMEN WHO SMOKE AT RISK: Ovarian cancer strikes 20,000 U.S. women each year and kills 12,000. A woman's lifetime risk is 1% to 2%. Birth control pills also lower the risk of cancer of the uterine lining. But they increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, especially in older women who smoke. And some scientists worry that the pill may raise the risk of breast cancer in some women. (End of package.) Health Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM