Healthtips ... from UPI

EXTRA BENEFITS OF HYPERTENSION DRUGS

We know there is an increased risk of vascular dementia and Alzheimer's among patients who have high blood pressure. Researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium report in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine the same medications that deal with the hypertension also may reduce that risk by 55 percent. The study of almost 3,000 patients followed their progress for a median time of four years and results were compared with a control group taking a placebo. The authors say the study has important public health consequences because dementia is a world-wide and growing problem among the elderly.

WOMEN OVERRATE BREAST CANCER RISK

University of Toronto researchers question whether women are too quick to opt for mastectomy when faced with a potential breast cancer diagnosis. Their study suggests many women who have both breasts removed to help prevent cancer may have an exaggerated perception of their risk. "We asked the women in our study group what they thought their risk of developing breast cancer was on a scale of zero to 100 percent," says Professor Kelly Metcalfe. "Looking at all the 75 women in the study, 30 percent of them estimated their risk to be 100 percent. We don't even allot that level of risk to women who carry a mutation in one of the two breast cancer susceptibility genes." Metcalfe says the highest risk cancer experts issue is 80 percent, so some women overestimated their chances by at least 20 percent, particularly those who did not carry the genetic mutation BRCA1 and BRCA2 for breast cancer, which dramatically increases the likelihood of getting it. Among women with a family history of breast cancer, the objective risk was 17 percent and for those with the genetic mutation it averaged 59 percent -- even though on average the women in the study pegged their risk at 76 percent.

DEODORANT ADVICE: ROLL ON

Breast cancer is not linked to using deodorant. Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle did a case-control study of 813 women who had breast cancer and 793 who did not to look at any possible link between women using any type of antiperspirants under their arms and the subsequent development of breast cancer. There was no increased risk among those who used the deodorants, those who used the products and shaved under their arms or those who applied an antiperspirant within an hour after shaving. The researchers say there are no published reports to support such a hypothesis and no epidemiologic studies that indicate concern is warranted. They say even though cancer centers have emphatically stated there is no link, rumors about antiperspirants continue to circulate periodically.

EARLY GLAUCOMA TREATMENT SAVES VISION

The key to glaucoma treatment is to get it early, National Eye Institute experts say. A National Institutes of Health-funded study shows immediately treating the newly diagnosed who have early stage glaucoma -- by lowering the pressure inside of the eye -- delays progression of the disease. Glaucoma, which has no early warning signs and often is diagnosed only in later stages, is one of the leading causes of vision loss and is a particular problem among the elderly. The Early Manifest Glaucoma Trial followed 255 patients, ages 50-80, with early stage glaucoma in at least one eye. One group was treated immediately with medicines and laser therapy to lower eye pressure and the other group was left untreated. After six years, the researchers found progression was less frequent in the group that got treatment -- 45 percent -- than in the control group that did not -- 62 percent.

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(EDITORS: For more information on DEMENTIA, contact Sharon Parmet at 312-464-2515 or e-mailsharon_parmet@ama-assn.org. For BREAST CANCER, Janet Wong, 416-978-5949 or jf.wong@utoronto.ca, for ANTIPERSPIRANT, Kristen Woodward, 206-667-5095 or kwoodwar@fhcrc.org and for GLAUCOMA, Michael Coogan, 301-496-5248 or mjc@nei.nih.gov)