Your Health

By Janice M. Horowitz

GOOD NEWS

DEFECT DATA Reassuring news from one of the first major studies to look at kids born to moms with birth defects: on average, women with physical abnormalities deliver normal babies 96% of the time. That's about the same rate as moms without birth defects. Exception: mothers with a cleft palate are two times as likely to transmit the condition to their offspring.

PRIMING THE PUMP Rushing to shock a cardiac-arrest patient with a defibrillator may make great TV, but a preliminary study suggests it may not always be the best approach. If the medics are delayed, 90 seconds of CPR administered prior to defibrillation seems to increase chances of survival 25%. CPR may help by clearing away toxins released by damaged heart cells.

BAD NEWS

DIRTY LITTLE SECRET When it comes to cooking and eating food, Americans still haven't cleaned up their act. Data on 20,000 adults show that 20% eat hamburger meat that's pink after cooking, despite the risk of E. coli infection. Half say they eat undercooked eggs with runny yolks--which may be linked to salmonella infection. And 25% of men and 14% of women do not routinely wash their hands after handling raw meat and poultry. Who's most guilty? Americans with higher incomes turn out to be among the worst offenders.

SLOSHED SENIORS Folks 65 and older may be boozing it up more than they should. A major national survey shows that of the 80% of the elderly who drink, 10% report downing five drinks at a time at least once a month, and 5% have that many drinks every time they imbibe. Heavy drinking can pose problems for seniors, especially if they are on medication that interacts with alcohol.

--By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources--Good News: New England Journal of Medicine (4/8/99); Journal of the American Medical Association (4/7/99). Bad News: American Journal of Preventive Medicine (4/99); Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (4/99)