Health Buzz: Migraines Lower Breast Cancer Risk and Other Health News

Women With Migraines Less Likely to Get Breast Cancer

Researchers have found that women who have a history of experiencing migraines are 26 percent less likely to get breast cancer, Reuters reports. The study out of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle included more than 9,000 women, half of whom had breast cancer; the other half were healthy and were studied for scientific comparison. The researchers were motivated to look for a link between migraine and breast cancer because both health problems are related to hormones, they wrote in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. Migraines can be triggered by a drop in estrogen. Increased estrogen levels are known to boost breast cancer risk, Reuters reports. The lower risk of breast cancer in women with migraines could not be explained by differences in menopausal status, age at migraine diagnosis, use of prescription migraine medications, or when analyses were restricted to women who avoided various migraine triggers such as alcohol and smoking, the researchers wrote.

Learn how to lower the odds of getting breast cancer and how researchers are finding that vitamins and other nutrients, obesity, and environmental toxins affect breast cancer risk. Here are 7 things to consider if breast cancer runs in your family. 

Think You Have Swine Flu? What to Do

As of June 25, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that more than 1 million cases of H1N1 swine flu have occurred in the United States. The vast majority of these are mild cases, says one infectious disease expert. But the worry that the H1N1 virus will mutate into a more severe strain—as did the strain behind the 1918 flu pandemic that killed more than 50 million people worldwide—may be justified, U.S. News's Deborah Kotz reports. To protect yourself, she writes, be aware of the telltale signs of H1N1: fever, cough, sore throat, stomach cramps, diarrhea, fatigue, and muscle aches, and if you're experiencing the symptoms, visit your doctor to get tested. Taking an antiviral drug like Tamiflu can help reduce the symptoms and duration of the infection, especially if you start the medication within the first 48 hours after the onset of symptoms, Kotz reports.

Explore whether alternative remedies can help ward off swine flu. Here are 14 things you should know about swine flu and 5 ways to prepare your family.

Treating Heart Failure: The Smartest Approach

About 5 million people in the United States have heart failure, and 300,000 die from it every year. Heart failure is the most common reason older adults wind up in the hospital, and more than 1 in 4 heart-failure patients must be hospitalized again within a month of being discharged, according to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine . Yet most of these rehospitalizations are preventable, the American Heart Association contends.

The problem, says one expert, is that many hospitals and doctors still aren't following the AHA's evidence-based guidelines for treating heart disease, which have been shown to reduce the rate of rehospitalization or death by more than 20 percent in the first two months after patients leave the hospital. Thus, the onus may be on patients to ensure that they're getting the best possible care. U.S. News reports what you need to know if heart failure is a possibility, including information about when to get a diagnostic workup and how to exercise safely.

Check out these 5 steps to alleviate chronic chest pain and 7 reasons not to dismiss statin-caused pain.

— Megan Johnson

Other Popular Articles from USNews.com

• 10 Cities Where Coronary Bypass Surgery Outpaces Angioplasty
• A Better Way to Screen for Heart Disease
• 10 Reasons Not to Skimp on Sleep
• Pregnant With Breast Cancer? 5 Questions Women Need to Ask
• 7 Steps Newly Diagnosed Diabetics Should Take
• 6 Ways to Reduce Inflammation Without Taking a Statin
• Need Care? Scan the Rankings: Best Nursing Homes, Best Health Plans, and Best Hospitals