Facts & Tips: Health Bites

Information on coronary-bypass surgery, mammograms, Parkinson’s, cranberries and coffee drinking.

By PT Staff, published on November 01, 2003

Bypass Blues Men and women who have undergone coronary-bypass surgery should be screened for depression. A significant number of heart patients suffer from the blues, and treatment of the disorder can reduce the likelihood of their death after surgery by more than half, according to a recent study published in The Lancet.The 12-year study of more than 800 bypass patients confirmed that emotional state has a significant impact on how patients are able to live with heart disease.

Looking Forward Women who focus on the short-term are less likely to get mammograms than those who think about the future, according to a study of middle-aged African-American women in St. Louis, Missouri. African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer than other women, despite getting mammograms at about the same rate as women in other ethnic and racial groups. The study was published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Parkinson’s Risk Regular use of over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and aspirin may be linked to a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease, according to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health published in the Archives of Neurology.Researchers say there is experimental evidence that some anti-inflammatory drugs protect brain cells destroyed by Parkinson’s.

Brain-Cell Protection? Cranberry extract may reduce the severity of a stroke. Under simulated stroke conditions, rat brain cells that were exposed to cranberry juice were half as likely to die as were unexposed cells. However, there’s no evidence that cranberries will stop a stroke from occurring, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth researchers say of the preliminary findings. Previous studies have found that antioxidants in cranberries may lower the risk of heart disease and cancer. The study was presented at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Four Cups a Day Heavy coffee drinkers seem to have a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, according to Harvard researchers who replicated a Danish study that reached the same conclusion. Four or more cups a day lowers one’s risk, but the research didn’t determine whether caffeine or some other component of the brew is responsible for the benefit.