Chlorine May Up Colon Cancer Risk

Drinking chlorinated water may increase the risk of colon cancer, a study suggests. A large-scale, prospective women's health study found a greater than expected likelihood of colon cancer, depending on the level of exposure to chloroform and other byproducts associated with chlorine. As a disinfectant, chlorine is added to about 75% of the nation's drinking water.

Some Smokers at Increased Risk

Smokers whose can't achieve a target heart rate during exercise are at greater risk of heart disease and death than other smokers, a new study suggests. Overall, male smokers had five times the risk of heart disease and more than twice the risk of dying than nonsmokers if they were unable to achieve an adequate heart rate while exercising, according to the report in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation. Compared with other smokers they had twice the risk of heart disease and a slightly greater risk of dying during an eight-year period.

Heart Clot Busters Also for Lungs

Clot-dissolving drugs widely used to stop heart attacks may also save people from life-threatening blood clots lodged in lung arteries, according to researchers in Germany. In the new study, researchers from Universitaetsklinic Freiberg in Germany found that the thrombolytic (clot-busting) therapy can save lives in a particular group of patients with lung clots: those who arrive at the hospital in stable condition, without severe symptoms.

Bedsharing Affects SIDS Risk

How, and where, an infant sleeps may reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), according to two articles in the August issue of Pediatrics. Several factors increase infants' risk for SIDS, especially sleeping on their stomachs. That's why parents are encouraged to put babies to sleep lying on their backs.

Plutonium Found in Teens' Teeth

Plutonium is showing up in the teeth of teenagers in Britain and Ireland who live near the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant, according to a report in the magazine New Scientist. The analysis of 3,300 teeth taken from adolescents during orthodontic treatment found that the levels of plutonium were greater the closer the teens lived to the plant, which is in West Cumbria, in Northern England.

Help Kids Prevent Escalator Injury

Young children who do not hold an adult's hand, and older children who do not ride an escalator properly, are most at risk for escalator-related injuries, according to a new study in the Pediatrics electronic pages. "Parents don't realize that small children can get injured on escalators and they don't pay attention as much as they should," says one of the researchers, Dr. Shari L. Platt from Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City.

Cost of Care Not Linked to Survival

High rates of health care spending in the United States does not seem to correlate with improved survival for cancer patients, according to a new study in the American Journal of Public Health. Similar survival rates were found among people in certain parts of the U.S. and Ontario, Canada, for three types of cancer: colon, lung, and Hodgkin's disease. Only survival rates for breast cancer patients in the U.S. were better, which may be related to this country's greater use of screening mammography.

Nursing Home Residents Healthier

Patients in U.S. nursing homes may be healthier, thanks to new government standards used to assess several health conditions in these facilities. But more elderly patients in nursing homes experience pain on a daily basis. Researchers studied the records of residents in nursing homes in 10 states before and after the government implemented the National Resident Assessment Instrument to help improve the treatment of nursing home residents. According to Dr. Brant E. Fries from the University of Michigan, "More accurate information about the patient is being collected, and that data is being used to develop care programs that address each resident's problems."

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