Combined impact of lifestyle factors on mortality among Chinese women
In research published this week in PLoS Medicine, results from the Shanghai Women’s Health Study reveal the impact of lifestyle-related factors on mortality in a cohort of Chinese women – confirming the results from other Western research studies.
The large prospective cohort study by Wei Zheng and colleagues (from Vanderbilt University & Shanghai Cancer Institute) showed that lifestyle factors other than active smoking and alcohol consumption, have a major combined impact on total mortality on a scale comparable to the effect of smoking. For example healthier lifestyle-related factors, including normal weight, lower waist-hip ratio, participation in exercise, never being exposed to spousal smoking, and higher daily fruit and vegetable intake, were significantly and independently associated with a lower risk of total, and cause-specific, mortality.
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Funding: Supported by National Institutes of Health grant R37 CA070867. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Industry has sway over food safety system: study
The food industry is jeopardizing U.S. public health by withholding information from food safety investigators or pressuring regulators to withdraw or alter policy designed to protect consumers, according to a survey of government scientists and inspectors.
A study released on Monday by the Union of Concerned Scientists found one in four of those surveyed have seen corporate interests forcing their agency to withdraw or modify a policy or action designed to protect consumers during the past year.
Pressure to overhaul the food safety system has grown following several high-profile outbreaks involving lettuce, peppers, eggs, peanuts, spinach and most recently eggs that have sickened thousands and shaken the public’s confidence in the safety of the food supply.
Want to live longer? Get a grip!
A firm handshake could be a sign of a longer life expectancy, according to British researchers.
Scientists at the Medical Research Council found that elderly people who could still give a firm handshake and walk at a brisk pace were likely to outlive their slower peers.
They found simple measures of physical capability like shaking hands, walking, getting up from a chair and balancing on one leg were related to life span, even after accounting for age, sex and body size.
Disease risk eases in parts of flooded Pakistan
The risk of outbreaks of disease has eased in parts of flood-hit Pakistan as water recedes from many areas, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday, but the hard-hit south remains a worry.
The floods that began six weeks ago have inflicted havoc from the northwest to the far south of the country, destroying villages, bridges, roads, damaging millions of acres of cropland and displacing millions of people.
The government and aid agencies have warned of the spread of epidemics, particularly of water-borne diseases such as cholera, in the flood-stricken areas.
Prepared Patient: Uncovering Your Health Risks
At various points in our lives, we’re curious about our health risks, wondering about our susceptibility for everything from high cholesterol to a deadly inherited disease. We might want to learn more about our risks when we reach a certain age or experience a bout of bad health; when we hear about a friend or co-worker coping with a dreaded illness; or read the latest headlines about disease research.
People can choose many paths to find out more about their personal risk(s) of disease, including community health screenings, health assessments provided by a doctor or an employer, or online calculators offered by hospitals, insurance providers and nonprofit health groups.
But the information and usefulness of these sources can vary, and may leave you with more questions than answers. For some, these first forays into sorting out personal risks can be more distressing than helpful.
White Americans living longer with muscular dystrophy than African-Americans
A new study shows that white men and boys are living longer with muscular dystrophy due to technological advances in recent years, but that the lives of African-American men and boys with muscular dystrophy have not been extended at the same rate. The research will be published in the September 14, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Muscular dystrophy is a group of inherited muscle diseases that often lead to early death due to respiratory or heart failure.
“More research is needed to determine the causes of this difference between whites and African-Americans with muscular dystrophy so it can be addressed,” said study author Aileen Kenneson, PhD, who conducted the study while with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Possible contributing factors could be differences in the types of muscular dystrophy, environmental or genetic factors, other health conditions such as high blood pressure, individual social and economic factors or access to and use of treatment options.”
Fla. med student study reveals disparity of skin cancer knowledge—Ben-Gurion U. study
There is a significant disparity between knowledge and attitudes on the dangers of skin cancer among male and female medical students in Florida according to a new study by a joint team of researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The study was published in the American Medical Association’s Archives of Dermatology.
While their overall knowledge was judged to be satisfactory there was a significant difference between male and female students’ knowledge survey scores: 93.1 percent for women vs. 87.7 percent for men. Female students reported more frequent sunscreen use and sun-avoidance behavior and more frequently engaged in other sun-protective behaviors than their male peers.
Overall, men had a lower knowledge level, less appreciation for the importance of sun protection and were less likely to use active sun-protective measures. It is known that men are at higher risk for melanoma than woman (1:41 compared to 1:61). Gender differences in knowledge and behavior possibly contribute to the higher melanoma incidence and mortality among men over women.
