Strollerderby : risk factors

They Say: Genetic Testing Doesn't Make Parents Any More Anxious

JeanneSager — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:57:00 GMT

Would knowing your child inherited your family's worst genes make you worry more? If it does, you're in the minority according to a new study in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.

Researchers at the University of Michigan used survey information from more than one thousand parents to conclude parents are just as worried about their family's medical history as they would be by the results of genetic testing. As testing for genetic risk factors has become more accessible to the general public, healthcare practitioners have worried that parents will overreact to the results. This study has done much to allay that fear, putting the observed risk factors (a grandparents' battle with cancer, for example) above test results in making parents fret.

Personally, I think forewarned is forearmed. When my father-in-law learned a medical condition he was suffering from could be inherited, I confess my first thoughts were of my daughter. I pushed my husband to get tested - so we'd be able to act if he had inherited the condition and keep him around to one day walk her down the aisle. We also needed to know for her sake - to see if she'd need a test and then treatment as well. The threat of the family history had me sweating bullets until my husband's test came back negative. The genetic line had stopped with my father-in-law. Phewwww.

What's scarier? The possible or the absolutely positive?

Image: LA Times

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Exercise During Adolescence Decreases Breast Cancer Risk

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Researchers have long advised middle-aged women that regular exercise decreases the risk of breast cancer. But now they’ve discovered that being active beginning at age 12 substantially affects breast cancer risk as well. In a survey of 65,000 women aged 24 to 42, those who had regularly exercised as teens and young adults decreases had a 23 percent lower chance of getting pre-menopausal breast cancer than those who'd been inactive.

This is sad news if, like me, your idea of exercise in high school was to walk to 7/11 and buy a loaf of Wonder Bread and a jar of marshmallow Fluff. (And that, folks, is the result of having strict health nuts for parents. Be forewarned.)

If you have daughters between the ages of 12 and 22—the years when regular activity has the greatest affect on pre-menopausal breast cancer risk—you don’t have to go hire them a personal trainer: just encourage them to do at least three hours and 15 minutes of vigorous activity a week, or 13 hours of walking (well, I did go to 7/11 quite a lot). While older women are encouraged to exercise to reduce fat tissue, a main producer of estrogen, the theory behind the benefits of youthful exercise is that physical activity itself lowers estrogen levels. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that once I got seriously into yoga, my boyfriend became much less irritating.

Photo: www.more4kids.info

Snoring More Than Just Annoying

Amy S.F. Lutz — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:36:00 GMT

Is your spouse a loud snorer? Don't be shy, you're not alone - an estimated 40% of men and 24% of women are habitual snorers.

But instead of sending your honey to the guest room, maybe you should send him/her to a cardiologist.

In a new study published in the journal Sleep, Hungarian researchers interviewed more than 12,000 subjects about snoring and found that loud snorers with breathing pauses had a 34% higher risk of having a heart attack, and a 67% increased risk of stroke. Light snorers, on the other hand, weren't any more likely to suffer either of these conditions than people who didn't snore at all.

The researchers suggest that this extreme type of snoring might be used to help identify people at risk.

The study also uncovered a hopeful trend for women suffering through their husbands' bed-shaking snores: men are less likely to snore once they get past 70. So, hang in there!