Harvard Health Content API

Nearly 5,000 U.S. children are hurt each year in falls from windows, a new study reports. And they didn’t just fall from high-rise apartments. In cases where the height of the fall was recorded, 94% were from first- or second-story windows. The new study was based on data from hospital emergency departments. About 1 out of 4 children needed to stay in the hospital. About 1 out of 500 died. But researchers said the death rate is probably a low figure. Some children who died may have not been taken to hospitals. Preschool children were most likely to fall. The study covered 19 years, ending in 2008. Within that period, injury rates from window falls declined slightly. Researchers said that may be because of more public awareness and safety measures. For example, New York City requires window guards in households with children under age 10.

Measuring calcium in arteries can help show whether someone might benefit from taking a statin drug, a new study suggests. The new study included 2,083 adults who did not have known heart disease. Nearly half of them had a high level of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood. A previous study found that people with high CRP levels are less likely to have a heart attack if they take a statin drug. These drugs reduce heart attack risk by reducing LDL (“bad cholesterol”) and inflammation. In the new study, everyone received a high-speed computed tomography (CT) scan. The test measured calcium deposits in the arteries around the heart. Researchers kept track of people for 6 years. In that time, 3 out of 4 heart attacks occurred in people who had high calcium scores. Researchers said calcium scores predicted heart attack risk better than CRP levels did.

An ultrasound test may help doctors to decide who needs surgery on arteries in the neck to prevent stroke. A new study has found that this test can show which people are more or less likely to have a stroke soon. The study included 435 people who had narrowing in their carotid arteries but no symptoms. The carotids are the arteries in the neck. Doctors looked at the arteries using ultrasound. They looked for tiny blood clots and fatty deposits called echolucent plaque. This is fattier than other types of plaque and linked with a higher risk of stroke. Researchers kept track of people for 2 years. In that time, people with the fattier plaque were 6 times more likely than others to have a stroke. Risk of a stroke was 10 times higher for people who had the clots as well as the fatty plaque. For this second group, the stroke risk was about 9% per year.