Your Health

By Janice M. Horowitz

GOOD NEWS

MATURE MOMS Getting on in years shouldn't prevent you from having a healthy child, according to a new study. Researchers found that while women who give birth in their 40s may suffer more complications like high blood pressure or gestational diabetes, they are just as likely as their younger counterparts to have healthy babies. That goes for first-time moms as well as those who have had kids before.

FIGHT INFECTION AND HELP THE HEART? Taking certain antibiotics (tetracycline and Ciprofloxacin among them) may reduce the risk of heart attack, suggests a preliminary report published last week. The finding lends credence to a tantalizing new theory that infection may contribute to heart disease by causing inflammation of arterial walls. But don't rush to get a prescription; the data still need verification.

BAD NEWS

CANCER CATCH-22 In a report out last week, scientists found that drugs derived from platinum and used to treat ovarian cancer--the cornerstone of today's treatment--may quadruple a woman's risk of developing leukemia. That's not to say that chemotherapy should be avoided. The odds that an ovarian cancer patient will develop leukemia are still quite slim: only 71 among 10,000 women taking the highest doses for the longest periods became ill with leukemia.

ANOTHER REASON TO QUIT Especially for moms-to-be. A major study warns that smoking during pregnancy--even in moderate amounts--can increase the odds of miscarriage 80%. Cocaine also puts a fetus in the danger zone: it raises miscarriage risk 40%. Both habits reduce blood flow to the uterus--and are of course unhealthy in other ways.

--By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources: Good News--Obstetrics & Gynecology (1/99); Journal of the American Medical Association (2/2/99). Bad News--both items, New England Journal of Medicine (2/3/99)