Health Matters The Rundown On Recent Findings by Missy Lay

risk in heart attack delay Angioplasty is a procedure that can re-open collapsed blood vessels and restore blood flow to the heart muscle after suffering a heart attack. A recent study lead by University of Michigan cardiologist Mauro Moscucci, M.D. found that women typically wait longer than men to receive this emergency surgery. Also, not surprisingly, the study suggested the longer the delay in angioplasty after a heart attack, the more likely a patient is to die while hospitalized. Out of 1,551 heart attack patients tested, women waited more than 118 minutes on average compared to 105 minutes for men. In addition, it took 20 minutes longer for women to get help after their symptoms began. For more information on heart attack symptoms and treatment, visit the University of Michigan’s women’s heath advisor Web site at www.med.umich.edu.

pregnancy age rising Introductory birth findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show the birth rate for women aged 40 to 44 years rose 5 percent from 2002 to 2003. Consequently, this is the first time women aged 40 and older have exceeded 100,000 births in a single year. In contrast, the CDC found female adolescents aged 10 to 14 had a 38 percent decline in birth rate — the lowest level since 1946 — despite a 16 percent rise of the female population in that age group. Notably this is the 12th straight year that teenage birth rates have fallen. For more information or to see the complete report, visit www.cdc.gov/nchs.com.

obesity affects sex life Duke University Medical Center researchers recently discovered that obese men and women have much to be desired when it comes to their sex lives. Among more than 1,200 study participants from the Duke Diet and Fitness Center, obese individuals (those having an average body mass index of 40) reported a general lack of desire and enjoyment for sex, were considerably more likely to avoid sex and reported performance anxiety and difficulty at a much higher rate than their normal weight counterparts. Additionally, almost half of the obese treatment group reported sometimes, usually or always feeling no desire for sex compared to only two percent of the normal weight group. For more information, visit www.dukemednews.duke.edu.

national cancer report For the first time, the most comprehensive federal report on state-specific cancer rates detailing incidence and mortality for 43 states and the District of Columbia (covering 92 percent of the United States population) is available. According to the report, the leading cause of cancer death among men and women is lung cancer, the most common cancer diagnosed in men is prostate cancer and the leading cancer among women is breast cancer. (Interestingly, Texas has the lowest incidence rate of female breast cancer.) From this information, the National Cancer Institute hopes to lead states to focus on suitable cancer control interventions and access to screening. For more information or to see the complete report, visit the CDC at www.cdc.gov/cancer and the National Cancer Institute at www.seer.cancer.gov/statistics.