Women Smokers Suffer Heart Attacks Earlier Than Nonsmokers
Smoking is more of a threat to women's hearts than to men's, according to Norwegian researchers who analyzed data from 1,784 patients admitted to a hospital after suffering a first heart attack.
The study found that women who smoke have heart attacks nearly 14 years earlier than women who don't smoke -- age 81 vs. age 66. Men who smoke have heart attacks about eight years earlier than male nonsmokers -- age 72 vs. age 64, the Associated Press reported.
Smoking may cause women to go through menopause earlier, leaving them less protected against a heart attack, suggested Dr. Morten Grundtvig and colleagues from the Innlandet Hospital Trust in Lillehammer.
The study was presented to the European Society of Cardiology.
"This is not a minor difference," said Dr. Silvia Priori, a cardiologist at the Scientific Institute in Pavia, Italy, the AP reported. "Women need to realize they are losing much more than men when they smoke," said Priori, who was not involved in the study.
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Taking Stairs Could Extend Your Life
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator could reduce your risk of premature death, according to a Swiss study presented at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.
During the 12-week study, 69 volunteers were told to use the stairs exclusively instead of taking the elevator while at work. On average, the number of flights of stairs they climbed or descended increased from five a day to 23, BBC News reported.
At the end of the study, the participants had better fitness, less body fat, trimmer waistlines, and lower blood pressure. Taken together, the physical benefits of using stairs translated into a 15 percent reduced risk of premature death from any cause, the University of Geneva researchers said.
"This suggests that stair climbing can have major public health implications," said lead researcher Dr. Phillippe Meyer, who added that the findings need to be confirmed in larger studies.
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Sex Hormones Linked to Male Heart Disease: Study
Sex hormones may explain why men are more prone to heart disease than women of the same age, say British researchers.
The University of Leicester study of 933 men examined the way that sex hormones interact with three major heart disease risk factors -- cholesterol, blood pressure and weight, United Press International reported.
The researchers found that two sex hormones -- estradiol and estrone -- are associated with increased levels of "bad" low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and low levels of "good" high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.
Dr. Maciej Tomaszewski said the results suggest that sex hormones may play an important role in heart disease in men, even before they have symptoms of coronary artery disease or stroke, UPI reported.
The study was published in the journal Atherosclerosis.
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Bicycle Helmet Law Cuts Deaths by 52 Percent
Deaths among cyclists age 15 and younger decreased 52 percent after bike helmet use for children up to age 17 became law in the Canadian province of Ontario in 1995, a new study found.
The study found that the average number of deaths among cyclists age 15 and younger decreased from 13 a year to six a year, which translates into a life saved every two months, said Dr. Patricia Parkin, of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, and her colleagues. There was no similar reduction among cyclists ages 16 and 17, CBC News reported.
"These findings provide support for extending the law to include adults. The findings also argue for continued enforcement of the existing laws as it applies to bicyclists less than 18 years of age," the researchers wrote.
The study was published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics.
Under the Ontario law, parents of children under 16 can be fined if a child doesn't wear a bike helmet. Cyclists ages 16 and 17 who don't wear a helmet can be fined directly, CBC News reported.
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Sports Talk Stimulates Action-Oriented Brain Areas
Listening to conversations about sports activates a part of the brain that plays a role in planning and controlling actions. This can help improve language skills of both athletes and fans because parts of the brain usually involved in playing sports are instead used to understand sports language, say University of Chicago researchers.
They used MRI scans to monitor brain activity in hockey players, fans, and people who'd never seen or played the game, United Press International reported.
The brain activation linked to sports-related conversations helps improve athletes' and fans' understanding of information about sports, even though they have no intention to act while they're listening to such discussions, said lead author Sian Beilock.
The findings show that the adult brain may be more flexible than previously thought, UPI reported.
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Another Study Finds Farm Life Protects Children Against Asthma
Children born to women who live on a farm during pregnancy have a much lower risk of developing asthma, eczema and hay fever, according to New Zealand researchers who studied more than 1,300 farm children.
The researchers found that children who lived on farms and whose mothers lived on farms during pregnancy had a 50 percent reduction in asthma and an even greater reduction in eczema and hay fever, BBC News reported.
Exposure to animals and the bacteria they carry may affect the developing fetus's immune system, including suppressing production of immune cells linked to asthma, the researchers suggested. They noted this beneficial effect may only persist if a child has the same type of exposure after birth.
"This study adds to existing evidence supporting the hygiene hypothesis, which states that early exposure to potential allergens results in a reduced risk of asthma development," Dr Elaine Vickers, research manager at Asthma UK, told BBC News. "However, the causes of asthma are still largely unknown and the processes involved in asthma development are incredibly complicated, including family history, environment and lifestyle."
The study was published in the European Respiratory Journal.
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