Harvard Health Content API

The United States has greatly improved stroke care in the last decade, the American Stroke Association says in a new report. But now more focus must be placed on prevention and recovery, the report says. The association’s main goal is to reduce deaths from heart and artery disease by 20%. This would include a reduction in stroke, which is caused by blockage of a blood vessel or bleeding in the brain. The report was published February 24 in the journal Stroke.

Surgery and angioplasty unclog arteries equally well. But angioplasty may not last as long, a new study finds. Bypass surgery reroutes blood around clogged arteries. Angioplasty flattens the blockage with a tiny balloon. Then a tube called a stent is used to prop open the artery. The new study included about 3,000 people with blocked arteries. More than 1,200 needed a specific procedure. The others were randomly assigned to one or the other. In the next year, about 14% of those who had angioplasty needed another procedure. So did about 6% of the surgery group. The Associated Press wrote about the study September 2. Results were presented at a heart conference.

Common versions of genes increase the risk of cancer of the testicles, a study has found. Researchers scanned all genes of 277 men with testicular cancer and 919 men without it. The biggest risk was linked to a gene called KTLG. Men with two copies of the most common version of this gene were 4½ times more likely to get testicular cancer than men with two copies of the less common versions. Researchers also looked at versions of genes next to a gene called SPRY4. Men with two copies of the common versions were about 1½ times more likely to get cancer than men with two copies of less common versions. Many men have these common gene versions. More study is needed to find out what other factors lead to cancer. Nature Genetics published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it June 1.

Many cancer patients use complementary therapies, a survey shows. These are therapies not used in conventional medicine. More than 4,000 cancer survivors took the survey. This occurred 10 months to 2 years after diagnosis. The one used most often was prayer (61%). Other top choices included relaxation techniques (44%), spiritual healing (42%) and supplements such as vitamins (40%). Women used all therapies more often than men did. HealthDay News wrote about the study August 4. It appeared in the journal Cancer.

A PET brain scan can diagnose types of “parkinsonian” disease, new research finds. The study looked at the brains of 167 people. All had signs of what could be Parkinson’s disease. But two other diseases can have similar symptoms. PET stands for positron emission tomography. PET scans use small amounts of a radioactive chemical to produce images of the body’s functions. Researchers said the scans accurately showed whether a person had Parkinson’s disease or a similar disease. The journal Lancet Neurology published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it January 11.

Americans are spending twice as much on diabetes drugs as they did just six years ago, a new study finds. Costs rose to $12.5 billion in 2007. There were two reasons for the change. More people were treated, and doctors often prescribed costly new drugs for them. But another new study found that an old, low-cost drug may be better. The study found that metformin helped to prevent heart disease. A newer drug, Avandia, did not. The Associated Press wrote about the studies October 28. Both were in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

Some athletes use anabolic steroids to help build muscle. But long-term use weakens the body’s most important muscle, the heart, a small study concludes. The study included 19 male weight lifters. Seven said they never used steroids. The other 12 said they had taken the drugs for about 9 years. Researchers used echocardiograms to view each man’s heart function. They looked at a measurement called ejection fraction. This is the amount of blood pumped with each heartbeat. In 10 of the 12 steroid users and 1 of 9 non-users, the ejection fraction was below normal. The steroid users’ hearts also relaxed only half as much as normal between beats. These signs of heart weakness could lead to heart failure. Researchers said more study is needed on larger groups of steroid users. The journal Circulation: Heart Failure published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it April 27.

A lot of sugar in your diet may lead to unhealthy cholesterol levels, a new study finds. Researchers looked at sugar intake and blood fat levels for more than 6,100 adults. They consumed an average of 21.4 teaspoons of added sugars each day. Added sugars do not include natural sugars, such as those in fruit. People who took in more added sugar had lower levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol. They also had higher triglycerides, another blood fat. Added sugars amounted to about 16% of total calories. That’s up from an average of 11% in the late ’70s. The study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association. USA Today wrote about it April 21.

More people gain control of high blood pressure if their doctors and pharmacists work as a team, a new study finds. The study included 402 people with high blood pressure. They were divided into two groups. One group received the usual treatment. Their doctors wrote prescriptions, and pharmacists filled them. In the other group, pharmacists had a more active role. They were trained to assess people’s blood pressure. They recommended adjustments in the type and dose of drugs based on the results. After 6 months, blood pressure dropped to recommended levels in 64% of the group cared for by doctor-pharmacist teams. About 30% of the people with usual care by doctors achieved recommended levels. The study appeared in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. HealthDay News wrote about it November 23.

Does eating a lot of fiber decrease people’s risk of getting colon cancer? Research studies have reached different conclusions. But a new study suggests that the results may depend on how people report what they eat. The study included 579 people who developed colorectal cancer and 1,996 people who did not. Everyone kept food diaries, writing down what they ate for four to seven days. Most people also filled out questionnaires that asked what foods they had eaten. People whose food diaries showed that they ate more fiber had a lower risk of colon cancer. Those who ate 24 grams per day were 30% less likely to develop cancer than those who ate 10 grams per day. This means there were about 7 colorectal cancers in the high-fiber group for every 10 cancers in the low-fiber group. But the questionnaires showed different results.