Health & Wellness
Issues concerning the well-being of the African American community
Be positive
Poor attitude linked
with heart problems
BY TODD SPANGLER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PITTSBURGH - Having a
positive outlook may help stem the
risk of recurring coronary prob
lems, according to a study released
today.
The study, which appears in the
current issue of Psychosomatic
Medicine, looked at nearly 300
patients who had undergone an
angioplasty - a procedure in which
a balloon-like device is used to
relieve arterial blockage.
Patients with lower measures
of self-esteem, optimism and feel
ings of control over their lives were
more likely to experience a second
blockage within six months than
those with better attitudes, accord
ing to the study.
"Our study certainly suggests
that health care professionals can
try to identify people who are at
risk for subsequent events and per
haps monitor their behavior," said
Vicki Helgeson, a psychology pro
fessor at Carnegie Mellon Univer
sity who directed the study.
Researchers questioned 292
angioplasty patients to measure
their feelings of self-esteem, opti
mism and control. Patients were
then divided into three group)
based on their scores.
Follow-up visits showed that ir
20 percent of the patients, arteriei
began to dose again within si;
months, a condition known a:
"restenosis."
According to the study, of the
third that scored the highest on the
attitude tests, less than 10 percent
reported a second coronary prob
lem. Correspondingly, of those
who scored the lowest on the tests,
more than 29 percent reported
experiencing restenosis.
Helgeson said she looked for
other indicators, such as age, edu
cation, occupation and race, but
could find no correlation as strong
as the one seen with the attitudinal
measurements.
The study has its limitations,
however. The researchers could
only collect data on the patients
who reported restenosis. Others
could have experienced it and not
known it or kept the information
from their doctors.
Martha Hill, a professor at the
Johns Hopkins University School
of Nursing and past president of
the American Heart Association,
said the study is another example
of why medical research must take
social factors and behavior ? as
well as physiological indicators -
into account.
Past studies have shown that
people with depression may suffer
more heart problems. This, she
: said, appears to show the inverse is
! also true.
"One reason we have a big
1 problem now ... is th?t our studies
5 have been too narrow," Hill said.
1 "This is another piece of informa
s tion that tells us the psychological
variables are important."
. '"vo Pile photo
Having a positive attitvde may help reduce the risk of recurring
coronary problems.
Low birth weight affects black babies more
BY DAVID HO
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON <- Black
babies die from problems related
to low birth weight four times as
often as white babies, the govern
ment says.
"We know that black mothers
are much more likely to have a low
birth-weight baby than white
mothers and that's primarily
what's driving this," said Dr. Mar
ian MacDorman, author of the
report released Thursday by the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
? If the proportion of under
weight births among black moth
ers could be reduced to the level of
white mothers, it would cut the
overall black infant death rate by
16 percent, she said.
In 1997, the latest data avail
able, about 13 percent of black
i babies and 6.5 percent of white
babies weighed under 5.5 pounds
at birth, the CDC reported.
The figures show that overall
infant mortality continued :to
decline, but black infants still died
at more than twice the rate of
white babies.
Black mothers fell into high
risk categories more often than
their white counterparts. They
were twice as likely to be teen
agers and nearly three times as
likely to be unmarried, MacDor
man said. Black mothers also got
slightly less prenatal care.
Dr. Henry Spring, acting
deputy commissioner of the New
Jersey Department of Health, said
the death rate disparity between
black and white infants has existed
for as long as such records have
been kept ? nearly 100 years.
"There is no clear answer" for
why this happens, he said, but the
problem goes beyond "the com
mon myths of teen pregnancy,
drugs, and poverty."
"When you compare women of
equal position, the only difference
being black or white," the higher
death fate for black infants still
exists, he said.
Yvonne Wesley, director of the
Black Infant Mortality Reduction
and. Resource Center, said black
mothers are more likely to deliver
prematurely. Black women suffer
more often from an infection
called bacterial vaginosis that con
tributes to premature births, she
said, adding that there is also a
more controversial suspect: high
stress in the lives of black women.
? *
Some researchers have pointed
to' factors such as living in high
crime areas and discrimination at
work or school. Stress raises levels
of hormones called - corticos
teroids that may trigger premature
labor, Wesley said.
The CDC report found that for
every 1,000 births, nearly 14 black
babies died before age 1, com
pared with six deaths for white or
Hispanic infants. For the nation
overall, the infant death rate was
just over seven deaths per 1,000.
American Indian babies also
had a higher mortality rate, with
almost pjne of every 1,000 dying.
Of all the groups surveyed, Amer
ican Indians had the most deaths
from Sudden Infant Death Syn
drome, a rate two and a half times
that of whites. t
Asian infants were most likely
to survive, with only five deaths
for every 1,000 births.
MacDorman. said the lower
Asian death rate might be caused
by "fewer births to traditionally
high-risk" mothers, such as tpens
and smokers. (J
In 1997, the leading causes of
death among infants were birth
defects, low birth-weight disorders
and SIDS.
Drug-recant pneumonia on the rise
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ? /
ATLANTA - The bacteria that
cause pneumonia, meningitis and
other serious illnesses are becom
ing increasingly resistant to peni
cillin, federal health officials said.
The number of cases of strep
tococcus pneumoniae bacterium
that proved resistant to antibiotics
increased from 14 percent in 1993
94 to 25 percent in 1997, the Cen
ters for Disease Control and Pre
n
vention said Thursday.
Although the study did not
address the reason for the increase.
Dr. Daniel Feikin of the CDC said
one of the leading factors is
overuse.
"A lot of infections are viral,
and antibiotics don't do anything
for viral infections," he said. "So
when people go in with a viral
infection like a cold they come out
with an antibiotic when they
shouldn't."
The data came from a CDC
study of hospitals in seven states.
The prevalence of. drug-resistant
pneumonia varied from 15.3 per
oent in Maryland to 38.3 percent
in Tennessee. Other States included
in the study were California, Ore
gon, Connecticut, Minnesota and
Georgia.
?
The Chronicle's
e-mail address
is:
wschron@net
unlimited.net
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Private scientist
faults V. A. over
radium study
BY MELISSA B. ROBINSON V , .
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ^
WASHINGTON - A public health scientist who has spent
years investigating nasAHadium treatments on veterans and chil
dren is criticizing the Department of Veterans Affairs' recent
study on submariners.
Stewart Farber, of Warren, Vt? said the VA diluted its results
by including 770 men in its treated group who may never have had
nasal radium at all.
"The treated group invalidates the entire study," said Farber,
who started the nonprofit Radium Experiment Assessment Pro
ject to promote greater public awareness of nasal radium's poten
tial health rict?
The VA study, released last week by Sen. Joseph Lieberman,
D-Conn., found that Navy submariners may be at higher risk for ?'
cancer if they got nasal radium in the 1940s, '50s and '60s.
Nasal radium was given to thousands of military sub
mariners, divers and pilots who were troubled by drastic changes
in atmospheric pressure. Many submariners were treated while
training in Groton, Conn.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimat
ed that as many as 2 million civilians were also treated, mostly as
children for colds, tonsillitis, ear infections and sinus or adenoid
problems.
Typically, applicators containing 50 milligrams of radium
were inserted into the nostrils to shrink tissues at the entrance of
the eustachian tubes, which help drain and balance pressure on
the inner and outer ear.
A typical military regimen consisted of three to four treat
ments, each lasting up to- i2 minutes, a few weeks apart.
Eventually, radium treatments were abandoned as antibiotics
were developed, the military went to pressurized aircraft cabins
and questions were increasingly raised about radiation's health
effects.
In recent years, former radium patients have come forward to
complain of tumors, thyroid and immune disorders, brittle teeth
and reproductive problems.
The VA study compared deaths among 1,214 submariners
who had the treatment vs. deaths in a control group of 3,176 ran
domly selected veterans who were not treated. It found a 47 per
cent increased risk of deaths from head and neck cancers in sub
mariners who were treated, as well as a higher, overall death rate.
But Farber said the treated group should have been much
smaller, because only 431 of the 1,214 men - jvho were identified
from a log book kept at the Groton naval base actually had an
"D" Kv th*?ir namp< indicating radium was adminis
?X IIVIUIIV11 VJ
tered.
1 Another 13 were found to have radium from other records.
That amounts to a total group of 444 men who definitely had the
treatment, said Farber. Comparing those to thousands of
untreated men would have yielded stronger conclusions of radi
um's potential harm, he said.
The VA acknowledges the difficulty of determining just who
was treated with radium, given the sloppiness of records.
"Looking at what the best population is to study is very prob
lematic," said Terry Jemison, a department spokesman.
In the study, the department says it would have been too easy
to miscalculate the treated group by using only the "R" notation.
It used all 1,214 men because logbook researchers believed those
men were the same ones described in a 1946 research study on
nasal radium's effectiveness by Dr. Henry Haines, who adminis
tered treatments at the base.
Farber said all those men couldn't possibly have had radium
because Haines didn't begin using radium until 1945, while the
logbook men enlisted as early as 1944.
t '. , '
: ? > . t "
Women's Health Center of Excellence , M
of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
-And
Carver School Road Branch of the Forsyth County Public Library
?. ? ? ? ' ? ' *
Invite you to join us for the following:
"STRESS '? -
f REDUCTION"
A demonstration by:
Catherine Jourdan
I#
August 17, at 7:00 p.m.
Conference Room
Carver School Road Branch Library
A part of the "Health at the Well" series of lectures/demonstrations.
* M