An Asthma Danger May Hang in the Air
Using aerosol sprays to mask bathroom odors, clean dusty furniture, and make mirrors glisten could jeopardize your respiratory health. Researchers have found that frequent use of such household cleaners may boost an adult's risk of developing asthma.
The scientists tracked about 3,500 European adults for almost a decade. Initially, none had asthma; 2.1 percent developed it during the study. Those who used cleaning sprays every week had a 30 to 50 percent higher risk of developing symptoms like wheezing and shortness of breath than those who didn't. People who used sprays most often were most likely to get asthma, says Jan-Paul Zock of the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona. He and his colleagues report their findings in the current issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Zock urges aerosol users to take precautions: Open windows, avoid mists of chemicals, and wear a mask. —Lindsay Lyon
The Heartache of a Stressful Job
Chronic on-the-job stress doubles the risk that someone who has had a heart attack will have another major coronary event, a study finds. The study, published in the October 10 Journal of the American Medical Association and led by Corine Aboa-Eboulé, professor of psychology at the Université Laval in Quebec, gathered information on 972 men and women who had returned to work after a heart attack. During the follow-up period of almost six years, 82 of the participants suffered unstable angina (chest pain), 111 had nonfatal heart attacks, and 13 had fatal heart attacks. Workplace stress doubled the odds of such heart troubles, the team found. A review published in the same issue of the journal finds that stress also contributes to depression and HIV/AIDS. Sheldon Cohen, professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, and his team found the strongest evidence for a link between stress and depression. - HealthDay
A High-Pressure Path to Diabetes
Even if they aren't overweight, women with hypertension are about three times as likely to develop diabetes as are women with optimal blood pressure, according to a new study. Moderately elevated blood pressure was also linked to higher diabetes risk. Researchers led by cardiologist David Conen of Harvard Medical School monitored almost 40,000 women for 10 years. During that time, nearly 1,700 developed type 2 diabetes, including 9.4 percent of those who had blood pressure of at least 140/90 but only 1.4 percent of those with blood pressure below 120/75. (Rates of obesity, a known factor in diabetes risk, accounted for part of the difference between the two groups.) Compared with women who maintained a normal blood pressure, those whose blood pressure rose to at least 140/90 during the study's first four years saw their risk of diabetes increase by 64 percent, Conen's team reported in last week's European Heart Journal. - Lindsay Lyon
Halting the Worst With a Shot
Hospitalized patients with pneumonia are less likely to die or end up in intensive care if they've previously received the pneumonia vaccine, Canadian research finds. A team at the University of Alberta analyzed data on more than 3,400 patients with community-acquired pneumonia; 22 percent had previously received the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. The study appears in the October 8 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Of the patients eligible for PPV, only 9 percent received it. Most guidelines recommend the vaccine for people at high risk of developing pneumonia, including older adults and nursing-home residents. - HealthDay
