Month: October 2012

Men with higher blood levels of a chemical found in tomatoes may have a lower risk of stroke, a new study suggests. The study included more than 1,000 men. Their ages were 46 to 65 when the study began. Researchers measured their blood levels of lycopene, which is found in tomatoes and some other foods. During an average 12 years of follow-up, 67 men had a stroke. Men with the highest lycopene levels were less than half as likely to have a stroke as those with the lowest levels. Lycopene is an antioxidant. Antioxidants consume harmful free radicals in the body. But the researchers found no link between stroke rates and other antioxidants, such as beta-carotene. The journal Neurology published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it October 8.

Reading your doctors’ notes about your conditions and treatments may help you feel more in control of your care. Researchers did a study of 105 doctors and more than 13,000 patients. Patients were given online access to their doctor’s notes for one year. About 5,400 patients read at least one set of notes and completed a survey. The surveys showed that reading the notes helped people understand their medical issues. Nearly 80% of patients who read notes were better about taking their medications. Doctors were worried that patients who read their notes would become worried or offended. They also thought the access to notes would add time to office visits. But none of those things happened. Doctors saw their patients become more empowered, and trust them more. Nearly all of the patients —99%—said that the open notes program should continue.

A CRP blood test for heart disease risk does not add much to the other information doctors use. A review of 52 previous studies found this result. The studies included 240,000 people. None of the people had cardiovascular disease. The test was helpful in less than 2% of people. A CRP test is a blood test. It measures inflammation in the body. Inflammation may lead to narrowing of blood vessels. This can increase a person’s risk for heart attack or stroke. People most likely to benefit from heart-disease screening are those at medium risk. But in that group, regular CRP tests prevented only 1 heart attack or stroke for every 400 to 500 people screened. The study was published October 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

People who take drugs called beta-blockers aren’t always helped by them, a study has found. The study included more than 20,000 adults. All had either stable heart disease or just risk factors for heart disease. Beta-blockers did not appear to help any of the groups. In people with risk factors only, beta-blocker treatment slightly increased the risks for heart attack, stroke and death from heart disease. The authors of the study call for randomized clinical trials to help define which patients would benefit from taking beta-blockers. The study was published October 2 in the online version of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Science News, HealthDay News and other media wrote about it.

A new virus has infected two men. One died, and the other is in critical condition. The new virus is similar to the SARS virus, researchers say. The SARS virus was identified in 2003. The new virus does not appear to spread easily from person to person. Its genes have already been examined. It is closely linked to bat viruses. But it also could have come from sheep, camels or other animals. Both men were infected in the Middle East. They were infected months apart, however. Scientists are now looking for the virus in animals.