Health Highlights: Sept. 12, 2008

Between 1990 and 2007, the number of deaths of children under age five decreased from 12.8 million to 9.2 million, including a drop of 200,000 between 2006 and 2007, Agence France Presse reported.

The 2007 death rate for young children in rich nations was six deaths for every 1,000 live births, compared with 68 deaths worldwide, and 147 deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and 78 deaths in South Asia.

Between 1990 and 2007, death rates for young children declined by 52 percent in the East Asia and Pacific region, and by 53 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, UNICEF said. But the rate declined just 21 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, AFP reported.

The study appears in The Lancet.

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Black Lumpectomy Patients Less Likely to Get Radiation

Black American breast cancer patients who have a lumpectomy are less likely than white patients to receive follow-up radiation therapy, which reduces the risk of cancer recurrence and improves survival odds.

Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center analyzed the treatment history of more than 37,000 breast cancer patients over age 66 who had a lumpectomy, United Press International reported.

They found that 65 percent of black patients and 74 percent of white patients had follow-up radiation treatment. The researchers said the cause of the racial disparity wasn't clear.

The study will be presented at the Sisters Network Inc. 10th National African American Breast Cancer survivorship conference, being held Sept. 19 to 21 in Houston, UPI reported.

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Botox May Relieve Migraines

The anti-wrinkle injection Botox may help relieve migraine headaches, according to preliminary findings of two new studies released Thursday by Allergan, Inc.

The phase III clinical trials compared Botox to a placebo and included patients who generally suffered from migraines at least 15 days a month, MarketWatch reported. One study showed that Botox didn't reduce the number of migraines, but did reduce the number of days that patients had migraines. The second study showed that Botox decreased both headache episodes and headache days.

Full study results are expected to be released in mid-2009. Allergan plans to file for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for use of Botox in the treatment of migraines next year.

Up to 3.6 million Americans suffer from chronic migraines, according to Allergen.

Botox -- which is made from the toxin that causes botulism -- is currently used to treat wrinkles, excessive sweating under the armpits, and certain head and neck pain conditions, MarketWatch reported.

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FDA Hires 1,317 New Staff

More than 1,300 professionals have recently been hired by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a staffing drive mean to better protect the public, the Associated Press reported.

The push for new staff will result in an estimated 10 percent boost in the agency's workforce and give the FDA much-needed medical and scientific expertise after years of losing valuable people in those areas, said Kimberly Holden, the senior manager directing the recruitment initiative.

About 1,000 of the new hires have already started, including biologists, chemists, statisticians, medical officers, pharmacologists, microbiologists and field inspectors.

While a staffing increase is a good first step, much more needs to be done to improve the FDA's ability to ensure food and drug safety, say independent observers.

"This is really just bringing them back to where they were in earlier years. It restores losses that they have incurred, but they still have a long way to go to where they can make improvements," former FDA associate commissioner William Hubbard, who now leads a lobbying effort for sustained increases in the agency's budget, told the AP.