News Tips for Tuesday, Nov. 10
From the American Heart Association's 71st Scientific Sessions Nov. 8-11, 1998, Dallas County Convention Center, Dallas, Texas
To complement our news releases, here are additional news tips reported by News Media Relations from more than 4,000 abstracts. Note: Stories are embargoed until papers are presented or poster sessions begin. For more information, Nov. 8-11, call Cathy Yarbrough, Carole Bullock, Brian Henry, Bruce Lewis, (broadcast), Darcy Spitz or Berna Creel in Room A215-217 of the Dallas County Convention Center: (214) 853-8056. Before or after those dates, call News Media Relations in Dallas: (214) 706-1379 or 706-1135.
9:30 a.m. -- #1692 -- Scouting for trends in youngsters' health. Because heart disease often begins silently during childhood, proper dietary fat intake even at early ages may help assure future heart health. A Baltimore research team examined the eating habits of 145 Girl Scouts and 158 Boy Scouts who were taking part in a local health program. Researchers compared how their fat intake measured up to national dietary guidelines. Only 50 percent of the scouts met desired goals of limiting total calories from all forms of fat to 30 percent, and even more important, the amount from saturated fat to 10 percent. And 10 percent of the children consumed 22 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) of cholesterol more than the recommended daily maximum. Recommended daily intake of dietary cholesterol is 300mg/dl. While they saw signs of improvement, researchers say new community efforts are needed to further improve youngsters' dietary patterns. Kerry J. Stewart, Johns Hopkins Bayview!
Medical Center, Baltimore: phone (410) 550-0870; fax (410) 550-7727; e-mail: [email protected].
1:30 p.m. -- #2823 (poster) -- Fatty acids from fish oil linked to reduced risk of heart attack. In a study of 1,871 men in eastern Finland, high proportions of two "omega-3" fatty acids found in fish oil were associated with reduced risk of heart attack. Scientists measured blood levels of the fatty acids DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and DPA (docosapentaenoic acid) in the healthy men. There were 161 fatal or non-fatal heart attacks during the 12-year study. Men were divided into five groups based on their blood levels of DHA and DPA. Those with the highest proportion of DHA and DPA had a 44 percent lower risk of heart attack compared to those in the lowest fifth. Men in the highest fifth of DHA and DPA also had higher HDL "good"cholesterol, lower blood insulin levels and less blood platelet "stickiness," the researchers found. Tiina H. Rissanen, University of Kuopio, Finland: phone 358-17-162957; fax 358-17-162936; e-mail: [email protected].
1:30 p.m. -- #3040 (poster) -- Depression, social isolation predict poor outcomes for women. In an investigation of how psychological factors affect women with heart disease, researchers in Stockholm and Boston found that symptoms of depression and lack of social support were associated with more heart attacks, open-heart surgeries and deaths from cardiovascular disease. Adjustments were made for factors that could influence the study's results, including age, family history of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, heart failure and other signs of disease severity. After these adjustments, female patients with the lowest degree of social support had twice as many new "events" such as another heart attack or severe, persistent chest pain. Participants with the highest depression ratings had slightly more than twice as many such new occurrences. Not unexpectedly, women who were both depressed and socially isolated had the highe! st risk of dying of heart disease. Kristina Orth-Gomer, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden: phone 468-585-85021; fax 468-585-85020; e-mail: K.Orth-Gomer @phs.ki.se.
1:30 p.m. -- #3061 (poster) -- Passive, active exposure to tobacco smoke thickens arteries. Whether it's from your own habit or that of others in your house, California researchers report that exposure to tobacco smoke increases your risk of early-stage atherosclerosis -- the build-up of fatty substances in blood vessels that causes heart attacks. Thickening of the vessel wall of the large carotid artery -- which brings blood to the brain -- increased according to the number of cigarettes smoked per day and years of smoking. The thickening of blood vessel walls is an early sign of atherosclerosis. Among non-smokers, the scientists found a similar trend of increased artery-wall thickening along with the number of smokers in the home. Exposure to tobacco smoke outside the home was not related to carotid artery thickening in the study of 653 men and women, average age 56. Wendy J. Mack, University of Southern California, Los Angeles: phone (213) 342-1820; fax (213) 342-2993! ; e-mail: [email protected].
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