Harvard Health Content API

People with diabetes tend to die earlier, and not just from heart disease and stroke, a new study finds. A 50-year-old with diabetes dies about 6 years sooner than someone without the disease, the research found. That compares with a 10-year shortened lifespan for longtime smokers. Researchers combined information from nearly 100 studies. They included 820,900 people. No one had been diagnosed with heart disease when the studies began. Average follow-up was about 13 ½ years. In that time, 123,000 people died. Researchers adjusted their numbers to account for other factors that affect life expectancy. These included age, gender, weight and smoking. Even with the adjustments, those who had diabetes were twice as likely to die of a heart attack or stroke as those without the disease. They also were 25% more likely to die of cancer.

Women can get relief from uterine fibroids with any of three procedures, new research finds. But they prefer the ones that avoid removing the uterus. The study included 197 women with fibroids. These are tumors of the uterus, but they are not cancer. Many produce no symptoms. But some women have pain or heavy bleeding. Some have problems getting pregnant. Women in the study chose one of three treatments. Some had a hysterectomy. This is surgery to remove the uterus. Some women had uterine artery embolization. Doctors inject a material to block the blood supply to the fibroids. This is done through a small tube threaded into an artery. The third procedure uses ultrasound to block blood vessels to the fibroids. This is done from outside the body. It is guided by MRI images. Women treated with all three methods reported better quality of life.

About half of adult men may be infected with human papilloma virus (HPV), a new study suggests. This virus causes genital warts. Some strains cause cervical cancer in women. HPV also can cause cancers of the anus, penis, vagina, mouth and throat. The study included more than 1,100 men, ages 18 to 70. They were from the United States, Brazil and Mexico. All were tested for HPV when they enrolled in the study. Half of them were infected, the author told Reuters Health news service. They also were tested every 6 months for another 2 to 3 years. Researchers found that 6% of the men became newly infected each year with HPV 16. That’s one of the HPV strains that causes most of the cancers. The journal Lancet published the study online. Reuters wrote about it March 1.

British health authorities are telling people to eat less red meat. That advice is part of the United Kingdom’s first new nutrition guidelines since 1998. Eating fewer hamburgers, pork chops and sausages should reduce the risk of bowel cancer, officials said. The guidelines say people should eat no more than about 500 grams of red meat per week. That’s equal to just over 1 pound. It averages out to 2 ½ ounces (70 grams) of red meat per day. A large study released in 2005 found a higher bowel cancer risk among people who ate about twice that much red meat. Their risk was one-third higher than for people who ate the least red meat. Red meat includes beef, pork, lamb and some game. An expert told the Associated Press (AP) that people should substitute lean protein such as fish. AP wrote about the guidelines February 25.