Sleep Apnea :: Treating obstructive sleep apnea, preventing heart attacks and strokes

Researchers in Brazil have found that treating patients who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) dramatically reduces early indications of atherosclerosis in just months, linking OSA directly to the hardening or narrowing of the arteries.

Heart :: Guidelines help patients reduce risk of cardiac event before surgery

People with heart disease should take special precautions before undergoing any kind of surgery, even noncardiac surgery, to reduce their risk of a cardiac event, according to new joint guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.

Breast Cancer :: Alcohol amount, not type – wine, beer, liquor – triggers breast cancer

One of the largest individual studies of the effects of alcohol on the risk of breast cancer shows that it makes no difference whether a woman drinks wine, beer or spirits (liquor). It is the alcohol itself (ethyl alcohol) and the quantity consumed that increases breast cancer risk. In fact, the increased breast cancer risk from drinking three or more alcoholic drinks a day is similar to the increased breast cancer risk from smoking a packet of cigarettes or more a day, according to Kaiser Permanente researchers Yan Li, MD, PhD and Arthur Klatsky, MD.

Cholesterol :: Older American women better informed about cholesterol than younger women

Older adult American women are better informed about cholesterol and more likely to monitor it than younger adult women, but gaps remain in cholesterol knowledge and efforts to screen for it adequately, according to results of a national survey released by the Society for Women’s Health Research, a Washington, D.C., based advocacy organization.

Diabetes :: For some diabetics, burden of care rivals complications of disease

Many patients with diabetes say that the inconvenience and discomfort of constant therapeutic vigilance, particularly multiple daily insulin injections, has as much impact on their quality of life as the burden of intermediate complications, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the October 2007 issue of Diabetes Care.

Weight Loss :: New drug makes weight loss safer

More than 60 percent of American women are overweight, with nearly a third falling into the category of obese and at greater risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Until now, there has been no safe, long-term medical remedy that tackles unwanted weight gain.

Healthcare :: Preventive health examinations account for approximately 1 in 12 outpatient visits among US adults

An estimated 63.5 million US adults visited a physician for a preventive health or gynecological examination each year between 2002 and 2004, at an annual cost of approximately $7.8 billion, according to a report in the Sept. 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.