FAMILY SUPPORT HELPS AGING
Common wisdom prevails: A new study reveals friends, family and positive experiences accumulate over a lifetime to promote healthy aging. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles found men and women with good childhood and marriage histories scored considerably better on a broad range of risk factors for disease and death. Individual factors, called allostatic loads, include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and abnormal hormone levels. Researchers said each component alone does not necessarily affect overall health, but together they can predict risks of diseases and death. The study, which appears in the in the May/June issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, included 106 men and women interviewed at ages 58 to 59, as well as nearly 1,200 participants between ages 70 and 79. Researchers found allostatic load was generally higher in older men and women, consistent with the idea that allostatic load represents the normal wear and tear of aging. But men and women who had lots of friends were much more likely have lower allostatic load than those with two or fewer close friends. Women seemed especially to benefit from good relationships with their parents and spouses.
CLUELESS ABOUT IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
A new survey of 1,000 adults shows Americans are not aware of the widespread presence of irritable bowel syndrome. IBS affects up to 20 percent of all Americans, but only 1.2 percent of people in the survey knew that IBS is more prevalent in the United States than depression, asthma, diabetes or coronary heart disease. IBS is a leading cause of school and work absenteeism, second only to the common cold. IBS is characterized by abdominal pain, or discomfort, bloating and altered bowel movement, such as constipation or diarrhea. The survey was sponsored by Novartis, maker of an investigational drug, Zelnorm, for treatment of IBS.
HEPATITIS C -- TRANSMISSION BY TOOTHBRUSH?
Sharing toothbrushes may be hazardous to your health. German researchers offer new evidence that toothbrushes, and perhaps razors and nail scissors, may transmit hepatitis C from infected individuals. Researchers examined contaminated toothbrushes from patients with chronic hepatitis C as a model for a possible unconventional way of transmission. In a study of 30 patients with the disease, after examining the patients' toothbrushes, they concluded, "In spite of the low infection risk usually published for household contacts, transmission by contaminated every-day household objects appears to be possible." They found 12 of the toothbrushes were contaminated. Other researchers say hepatitis C is difficult to transmit, however, and note the study only showed it was passed from person to toothbrush.
DRUG MAY FIGHT HEPATITIS B
Asian American children have 20 times higher risk of infection from the hepatitis B virus than other American children. Hepatitis is the fourth leading cause of death among Asian and Pacific Islanders, the Asian Liver Foundation said. Hepatitis B, or HBV, is 50 to 100 times more contagious than HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. There are 1.25 million cases of chronic hepatitis B virus in the United States. Some strains are resistant to treatment by a currently available drug, lamivudine. Recently the Food and Drug Administration granted priority review status for a new hepatitis B drug, called adefovir dipivoxil, that appears to reduce levels of the virus in patients with the more-difficult-to-treat type of chronic hepatitis B. No virus resistance has been seen against this drug.
(EDITORS: For more information on AGING, contact Rachel Champeau at 310-794-2270 or [email protected]. For BOWEL, call 973-781-7845. For TOOTHBRUSH, call 49-941-9447080 in Germany. For HEPATITIS, call 650-574-3000.)
