REUTERS
Mon Nov 26, 6:46 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One third of people who breath in high levels of secondhand smoke have damage to their lungs similar to that seen in smokers, doctors reported on Monday.
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They used a special kind of magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scan to look at the lungs of non-smokers who had high exposure to other people's cigarette smoke and found evidence of the kind of damage that causes emphysema.
"We interpreted those changes as early signs of lung damage, representing very mild forms of emphysema," said Chengbo Wang, a magnetic resonance physicist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who led the study.
"Almost one third of nonsmokers who had been exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke for a long time developed these structural changes," Wang added in a statement.
"To our knowledge, this is the first imaging study to find lung damage in non-smokers heavily exposed to secondhand smoke. We hope our work strengthens the efforts of legislators and policymakers to limit public exposure to secondhand smoke."
Wang, who presented his team's findings to a meeting of the Radiological Society of North American in Chicago, said 35 percent of U.S. children live in homes where someone smokes regularly.
The team studied 60 adults between ages 41 and 79, 45 of whom had never smoked. The non-smokers were considered to have high exposure if they had lived with a smoker for at least 10 years, often during childhood.
"It's long been hypothesized that prolonged exposure to secondhand smoke may cause physical damage to the lungs, but previous methods of analyzing lung changes were not sensitive enough to detect it," said Wang.
His team used a technique called long-time-scale, global helium-3 diffusion magnetic resonance imaging.
"With this technique, we are able to assess lung structure on a microscopic level," Wang said.
They found that 57 percent of the smokers and 33 percent of the nonsmokers with high exposure to secondhand smoke had signs of early lung damage as measured by the scan.
In February, U.S. researchers reported that up to 20 percent of women who develop lung cancer have never smoked.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Will Dunham and Cynthia Osterman)
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Doctors offer holiday hints for allergy-prone
REUTERS Tue Nov 20, 2007 11:58am EST
By Anne Harding
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Family feasts, air travel and even moldy Christmas trees make the holiday season a risky time for allergy sufferers, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) warns.
So it's particularly important for people with allergies or asthma to anticipate potential triggers for their condition at this time of year, and to be prepared by bringing asthma or allergy medication along while traveling. Medications must be on hand in a person's carry-on luggage or purse rather than stowed with checked baggage, the AAAAI advises.
"Always have your as needed medicine as well as your daily medicine," says Dr. Pamela Georgeson, president and CEO of the Kenwood Asthma and Allergy Center in Chesterfield Township, Michigan and an AAAAI spokesperson. People traveling by air should either have a note from their doctor or the prescription label on their medication with them, she added, so they won't have any trouble making it through airport security.
And people with food allergies are now advised to carry not one but two Epi-pens for treating a severe allergic reaction, Georgeson said, because as many as 30 percent of patients may have a second reaction up to eight hours after the first.
Just being on an airplane can dry out the nasal passages, making people with asthma more prone to catching respiratory infections, which can in turn worsen asthma symptoms. "If they have underlying inflammation due to asthma, they just pick up the bug faster and it causes more problems," adovrg.nakar, an allergist and immunologist at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and a spokesperson for the AAAAI.
Holiday treats can contain hidden nuts, dairy or other food allergy triggers, notes Dinakar, so make sure hosts know about any food allergies you have; it may make sense to bring your own home-made dessert, she added.
If an animal-allergic person is visiting a pet owner's home, Dinakar advised, he or she should take asthma medication before arriving there.
Christmas decorations can be full of dust and mold when they're brought out of storage, Dinakar said. They should be cleaned outdoors, if possible, she said, while cloth decorations should be washed in soapy water. Georgeson pointed out that Christmas trees that have been cut in the fall and stored in damp conditions frequently carry mold. "People who are exquisitely sensitive to mold have real issues with that," she said. However, freshly cut trees aren't usually a problem.
More AAAAI holiday tips for people with asthma and allergies:
* Try to keep stress, which can trigger an asthma attack, to a minimum.
* Bring along your own pillow with an allergen-proof cover, or ask for non-down pillows if you're staying at a hotel or with a relative or friend. Down pillows harbor more dust mites than pillows with synthetic fill.
* If you're using artificial snow spray to decorate, follow instructions carefully; the spray can be a lung irritant.
* Request that your hosts refrain from burning wood in their fireplace while you are at their home, as breathing wood smoke can lead to an asthma attack.
By Anne Harding
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Family feasts, air travel and even moldy Christmas trees make the holiday season a risky time for allergy sufferers, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) warns.
So it's particularly important for people with allergies or asthma to anticipate potential triggers for their condition at this time of year, and to be prepared by bringing asthma or allergy medication along while traveling. Medications must be on hand in a person's carry-on luggage or purse rather than stowed with checked baggage, the AAAAI advises.
"Always have your as needed medicine as well as your daily medicine," says Dr. Pamela Georgeson, president and CEO of the Kenwood Asthma and Allergy Center in Chesterfield Township, Michigan and an AAAAI spokesperson. People traveling by air should either have a note from their doctor or the prescription label on their medication with them, she added, so they won't have any trouble making it through airport security.
And people with food allergies are now advised to carry not one but two Epi-pens for treating a severe allergic reaction, Georgeson said, because as many as 30 percent of patients may have a second reaction up to eight hours after the first.
Just being on an airplane can dry out the nasal passages, making people with asthma more prone to catching respiratory infections, which can in turn worsen asthma symptoms. "If they have underlying inflammation due to asthma, they just pick up the bug faster and it causes more problems," adovrg.nakar, an allergist and immunologist at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and a spokesperson for the AAAAI.
Holiday treats can contain hidden nuts, dairy or other food allergy triggers, notes Dinakar, so make sure hosts know about any food allergies you have; it may make sense to bring your own home-made dessert, she added.
If an animal-allergic person is visiting a pet owner's home, Dinakar advised, he or she should take asthma medication before arriving there.
Christmas decorations can be full of dust and mold when they're brought out of storage, Dinakar said. They should be cleaned outdoors, if possible, she said, while cloth decorations should be washed in soapy water. Georgeson pointed out that Christmas trees that have been cut in the fall and stored in damp conditions frequently carry mold. "People who are exquisitely sensitive to mold have real issues with that," she said. However, freshly cut trees aren't usually a problem.
More AAAAI holiday tips for people with asthma and allergies:
* Try to keep stress, which can trigger an asthma attack, to a minimum.
* Bring along your own pillow with an allergen-proof cover, or ask for non-down pillows if you're staying at a hotel or with a relative or friend. Down pillows harbor more dust mites than pillows with synthetic fill.
* If you're using artificial snow spray to decorate, follow instructions carefully; the spray can be a lung irritant.
* Request that your hosts refrain from burning wood in their fireplace while you are at their home, as breathing wood smoke can lead to an asthma attack.
Stem cells without embryos: skin cells transformed
REUTERS Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:14pm EST
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two separate teams of researchers announced on Tuesday they had transformed ordinary skin cells into batches of cells that look and act like embryonic stem cells -- but without using cloning technology and without making embryos.
Their breakthroughs could make possible the long-sought goal of tailor-made medicine, but without the political, scientific and ethical roadblock of using human embryos.
Both teams call the new cells induced pluripotent stem cells and say they look and act like embryonic stem cells -- the master cells that give rise to every cell and tissue in the body.
"We can now envisage a time when a simple approach can be used to produce stem cells that are able to form any tissue from a small sample taken from any of us," Ian Wilmut of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, said in a statement.
"This will have enormous implications for research and perhaps one day for therapy," added Wilmut, who helped clone the first mammal, Dolly the sheep, in 1997.
James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin in Madison and colleagues reported their finding in the journal Science while Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan and colleagues reported theirs in the journal Cell.
Both teams used just four genes to transform ordinary skin cells called fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells -- iPS cells for short.
"We are now in a position to be able to generate patient- and disease- specific stem cells, without using human eggs or embryos," Yamanaka said in a statement.
FOUR GENES
"These cells should be useful in understanding disease mechanisms, searching for effective and safe drugs, and treating patients with cell therapy," he added.
"By introducing four genes (OCT4, NANOG, SOX2 and LIN28), into human fibroblasts, stem cells sharing essentially all features of human ES cells were obtained," Thomson's team wrote in their report in Science.
"Similar to human embryonic cells, human iPS cells should prove useful for studying the development and function of human tissues, for discovering and testing new drugs, and for transplantation medicine," added Thomson, whose team first discovered human embryonic stem cells in 1998.
Yamanaka's team used a slightly different cocktail of genes -- OCT3/4, SOX2, C-MYC, and KLF4 -- to get their iPS cells.
Both teams said the new cells are not ready to use in people yet because they used a type of virus called a retrovirus to carry the new genes into the skin cells. It is not clear whether this virus might cause genetic mutations that could cause cancer or other side effects.
"More research is necessary to determine how closely related these cells are to embryonic stem cells, but these methods should be useful for developing disease models and for drug development," Thomson's team wrote.
Yamanaka said the new technology might still raise some red flags for some people.
"Our technology, however, create a new ethical concerns. It might be possible to generate sperm and eggs from skin cells, via iPS cells. This might help people with infertility problem, but it will be essential to have a proper regulation regarding the generation and usage of human iPS cells to avoid misusages of this technology," he said.
(Editing by Doina Chiacu)
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two separate teams of researchers announced on Tuesday they had transformed ordinary skin cells into batches of cells that look and act like embryonic stem cells -- but without using cloning technology and without making embryos.
Their breakthroughs could make possible the long-sought goal of tailor-made medicine, but without the political, scientific and ethical roadblock of using human embryos.
Both teams call the new cells induced pluripotent stem cells and say they look and act like embryonic stem cells -- the master cells that give rise to every cell and tissue in the body.
"We can now envisage a time when a simple approach can be used to produce stem cells that are able to form any tissue from a small sample taken from any of us," Ian Wilmut of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, said in a statement.
"This will have enormous implications for research and perhaps one day for therapy," added Wilmut, who helped clone the first mammal, Dolly the sheep, in 1997.
James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin in Madison and colleagues reported their finding in the journal Science while Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan and colleagues reported theirs in the journal Cell.
Both teams used just four genes to transform ordinary skin cells called fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells -- iPS cells for short.
"We are now in a position to be able to generate patient- and disease- specific stem cells, without using human eggs or embryos," Yamanaka said in a statement.
FOUR GENES
"These cells should be useful in understanding disease mechanisms, searching for effective and safe drugs, and treating patients with cell therapy," he added.
"By introducing four genes (OCT4, NANOG, SOX2 and LIN28), into human fibroblasts, stem cells sharing essentially all features of human ES cells were obtained," Thomson's team wrote in their report in Science.
"Similar to human embryonic cells, human iPS cells should prove useful for studying the development and function of human tissues, for discovering and testing new drugs, and for transplantation medicine," added Thomson, whose team first discovered human embryonic stem cells in 1998.
Yamanaka's team used a slightly different cocktail of genes -- OCT3/4, SOX2, C-MYC, and KLF4 -- to get their iPS cells.
Both teams said the new cells are not ready to use in people yet because they used a type of virus called a retrovirus to carry the new genes into the skin cells. It is not clear whether this virus might cause genetic mutations that could cause cancer or other side effects.
"More research is necessary to determine how closely related these cells are to embryonic stem cells, but these methods should be useful for developing disease models and for drug development," Thomson's team wrote.
Yamanaka said the new technology might still raise some red flags for some people.
"Our technology, however, create a new ethical concerns. It might be possible to generate sperm and eggs from skin cells, via iPS cells. This might help people with infertility problem, but it will be essential to have a proper regulation regarding the generation and usage of human iPS cells to avoid misusages of this technology," he said.
(Editing by Doina Chiacu)
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Managing Diabetes With Exercise
Type 2 Diabetes Can Be Prevented -- Or Reversed -- With Exercise
By STEFAN ASCHAN
Nov. 19, 2007—
When it comes to just about anyone, there is no excuse not to exercise. But this advice may be even more pertinent to those diagnosed with diabetes -- evidenced by the fact that the American Diabetes Association highly recommends activity for these individuals.
Unfortunately, many people just come up with excuses not to be active.
Fighting a Downward Trend
When we are young we believe we are indestructible. You remember that glorious time when you thought there was nothing out there that could kill you. Staying up all night dancing and partying, eating pizza, smoking and drinking alcohol and Red Bull -- does this sound familiar?
Inevitably, one day we wake up and find ourselves older, in a relationship and possibly with children.
Sure, we may still continue to eat pizza, drink sugary sodas and keep our energy levels up with stimulants. But four things have changed:
Our bodies' metabolisms have slowed down;
We are less active;
We have lost lean muscle tissue; and
We have started to gain weight.
Those initial signs are the beginning of a downward spiral that we need to be aware of that naturally accompanies aging. And we need to meet these challenges by replacing our unhealthy behaviors with strategies that work toward a healthier lifestyle.
How Exercise Can Help
Now for a growing number of us, a routine checkup could culminate in receiving the news from our doctors: "You have type 2 diabetes!"
Type 2 diabetes is a form that affects 90 to 95 percent of all those who have the disease. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas does produce the blood sugar that regulates the hormone insulin, but only in small quantities.
Many who have type 2 diabetes remain unaware of their condition. But an important point is that type 2 diabetes occurs in adults who are overweight, and is characterized by a reduced sensitivity of insulin-target cells to available insulin.
So if you're diagnosed, what are you to do? One of the first recommendations is to change your lifestyle through exercise and nutrition.
Activities that are recommended include walking, running, biking, dancing, hiking, resistance training and many more. These daily exercises bring us many benefits besides weight loss. They help us to stay healthy, control our appetite, increase our energy, boost our mental clarity, prevent cardiovascular disease, help our digestion -- and the list goes on.
For those with diabetes, exercise helps stabilize insulin levels, which is important in any kind of weight-loss program. Regular exercise also helps diabetics stay focused on maintaining a healthy diet so that they lose the desire to eat foods that cause spikes in their blood sugar.
The good news is that once diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, you can reverse the diagnosis. But the protocol needs to be specifically adjusted by paying attention to the following:
Intensity: Use 50 percent to 60 percent of cardiac reserve, gradually progressing to 60 and 70 percent.
Frequency: Exercise four to seven days a week, though you might need to start out with several short daily sessions.
Duration: Individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) should work up to 20 to 30 minutes a session; 40 to 60 minutes are recommended.
Actually, this is the general protocol for anybody who has been inactive for a while.
Catching Diabetes Before It Starts
Of course, we don't have to let it get to this point. Think back on all the activities that you liked to do in high school or college. Find something that makes you move. Wrestle, start dancing classes, or hunt around for activity classes that you enjoy.
We also live at a time when technology can truly help our fitness aspirations. Start using it. Use your iPod to receive downloadable programs. Or use it in such a way to keep you going. For example, use your wireless phone with a headset and start moving while you talk instead of lying in bed or on the couch. Why not? Do a home workout to start sweating in a way that does not require going to the gym.
You don't need to join a gym to stay in shape and stay healthy. What you do need is a willingness to change, to try, to not quit, to stay motivated, especially if you are obese or otherwise at risk for diabetes. Changes in your diet and exercise routine start with you.
Start moving now.
Stefan Aschan is the owner and founder of www.stefanaschan.com, which provides nutrition and exercise programs online and on-site in New York City.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
By STEFAN ASCHAN
Nov. 19, 2007—
When it comes to just about anyone, there is no excuse not to exercise. But this advice may be even more pertinent to those diagnosed with diabetes -- evidenced by the fact that the American Diabetes Association highly recommends activity for these individuals.
Unfortunately, many people just come up with excuses not to be active.
Fighting a Downward Trend
When we are young we believe we are indestructible. You remember that glorious time when you thought there was nothing out there that could kill you. Staying up all night dancing and partying, eating pizza, smoking and drinking alcohol and Red Bull -- does this sound familiar?
Inevitably, one day we wake up and find ourselves older, in a relationship and possibly with children.
Sure, we may still continue to eat pizza, drink sugary sodas and keep our energy levels up with stimulants. But four things have changed:
Our bodies' metabolisms have slowed down;
We are less active;
We have lost lean muscle tissue; and
We have started to gain weight.
Those initial signs are the beginning of a downward spiral that we need to be aware of that naturally accompanies aging. And we need to meet these challenges by replacing our unhealthy behaviors with strategies that work toward a healthier lifestyle.
How Exercise Can Help
Now for a growing number of us, a routine checkup could culminate in receiving the news from our doctors: "You have type 2 diabetes!"
Type 2 diabetes is a form that affects 90 to 95 percent of all those who have the disease. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas does produce the blood sugar that regulates the hormone insulin, but only in small quantities.
Many who have type 2 diabetes remain unaware of their condition. But an important point is that type 2 diabetes occurs in adults who are overweight, and is characterized by a reduced sensitivity of insulin-target cells to available insulin.
So if you're diagnosed, what are you to do? One of the first recommendations is to change your lifestyle through exercise and nutrition.
Activities that are recommended include walking, running, biking, dancing, hiking, resistance training and many more. These daily exercises bring us many benefits besides weight loss. They help us to stay healthy, control our appetite, increase our energy, boost our mental clarity, prevent cardiovascular disease, help our digestion -- and the list goes on.
For those with diabetes, exercise helps stabilize insulin levels, which is important in any kind of weight-loss program. Regular exercise also helps diabetics stay focused on maintaining a healthy diet so that they lose the desire to eat foods that cause spikes in their blood sugar.
The good news is that once diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, you can reverse the diagnosis. But the protocol needs to be specifically adjusted by paying attention to the following:
Intensity: Use 50 percent to 60 percent of cardiac reserve, gradually progressing to 60 and 70 percent.
Frequency: Exercise four to seven days a week, though you might need to start out with several short daily sessions.
Duration: Individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) should work up to 20 to 30 minutes a session; 40 to 60 minutes are recommended.
Actually, this is the general protocol for anybody who has been inactive for a while.
Catching Diabetes Before It Starts
Of course, we don't have to let it get to this point. Think back on all the activities that you liked to do in high school or college. Find something that makes you move. Wrestle, start dancing classes, or hunt around for activity classes that you enjoy.
We also live at a time when technology can truly help our fitness aspirations. Start using it. Use your iPod to receive downloadable programs. Or use it in such a way to keep you going. For example, use your wireless phone with a headset and start moving while you talk instead of lying in bed or on the couch. Why not? Do a home workout to start sweating in a way that does not require going to the gym.
You don't need to join a gym to stay in shape and stay healthy. What you do need is a willingness to change, to try, to not quit, to stay motivated, especially if you are obese or otherwise at risk for diabetes. Changes in your diet and exercise routine start with you.
Start moving now.
Stefan Aschan is the owner and founder of www.stefanaschan.com, which provides nutrition and exercise programs online and on-site in New York City.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Heart Disease Kills More Women Under 45
Study Shows More Women Under 45 Dying of Heart Disease, While Rate for Men Is Leveling Off
ABC News By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA Nov 20, 2007 (AP)
For decades, heart disease death rates have been falling. But a new study shows a troubling turn more women under 45 are dying of heart disease due to clogged arteries, and the death rate for men that age has leveled off.
Heart experts aren't sure what went wrong, but they think increasing rates of obesity and other risk factors are to blame.
The rates will have to be monitored to see if this is the beginning of a real trend. But if the data holds, the new study may be an early glimpse of the impact of escalating obesity and diabetes on U.S. deaths, said Wayne Rosamond, a University of North Carolina epidemiology professor and expert on heart disease statistics.
"This could be a harbinger of things to come," Rosamond said.
To be sure, the overall trend is still positive: From 1980 through 2002, the death rate from blocked heart arteries was cut in half for men and women over 35. Improvements in treatment and preventive measures, including cholesterol-lowering medications, get the credit.
But what's going on with younger adults is startling, said Dr. Anthony DeMaria, editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, which is publishing the study and released it Monday.
"We have a pretty rosy view of how things are going in the war against cardiovascular disease," DeMaria said. "I view this paper as a wake-up call that says there is a very important segment of our population that needs some attention."
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, killing almost 700,000 Americans each year.
Nearly 500,000 of those deaths are attributed to coronary heart disease, in which fat and plaque clog the arteries feeding blood to the heart, sometimes called hardening of the arteries. Heart attacks are a common result.
It can take many years for arteries to get dangerously blocked. About 93 percent of deaths occur in people 55 and older.
But a combination of factors including genetics, obesity and high cholesterol are sometimes fatal for younger adults. In 2002, about 25,000 men and 8,000 women ages 35 to 54 died of coronary heart disease.
The study was done by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Control and Prevention and Britain's University of Liverpool. They looked at U.S. vital statistics for artery-related deaths in adults ages 35 and older for the years 1980 through 2002, the most recent year for which data was available when the analysis was done.
When they compared age groups, they detected the worrisome difference. The study found the death rate for women ages 35 to 44 rose from 1997 to 2002, when the rate was 8.2 per 100,000 women, the highest it's been since 1987.
In actual numbers, the increase amounts to roughly 100 added deaths a year of women in that age group. That's a relatively small impact in the entire U.S. population.
Still, the results are statistically significant and a legitimate cause for concern, said Dr. Wayne Giles, director of the CDC's division of adult and community health.
"That's like an MD-88 crashing every year," he said, referring to a medium-size commuter jet plane.
The rates for men age 35 to 44 were relatively stable in the last few years of the study period. The rate was 26 deaths per 100,000 men in that age group in 2002.
The fact the male rate didn't worsen may indicate doctors are more likely to suspect heart disease in men that age than in women, said the CDC's Dr. Earl Ford, a study co-author.
For all ages, the female death rate fell to 261 from 514 per 100,000; the male rate fell to 430 from 898 per 100,000.
On the Net:
Journal of the American College of Cardiology: http:// http://www.acc.org/JACC/Ford.pdf
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
ABC News By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA Nov 20, 2007 (AP)
For decades, heart disease death rates have been falling. But a new study shows a troubling turn more women under 45 are dying of heart disease due to clogged arteries, and the death rate for men that age has leveled off.
Heart experts aren't sure what went wrong, but they think increasing rates of obesity and other risk factors are to blame.
The rates will have to be monitored to see if this is the beginning of a real trend. But if the data holds, the new study may be an early glimpse of the impact of escalating obesity and diabetes on U.S. deaths, said Wayne Rosamond, a University of North Carolina epidemiology professor and expert on heart disease statistics.
"This could be a harbinger of things to come," Rosamond said.
To be sure, the overall trend is still positive: From 1980 through 2002, the death rate from blocked heart arteries was cut in half for men and women over 35. Improvements in treatment and preventive measures, including cholesterol-lowering medications, get the credit.
But what's going on with younger adults is startling, said Dr. Anthony DeMaria, editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, which is publishing the study and released it Monday.
"We have a pretty rosy view of how things are going in the war against cardiovascular disease," DeMaria said. "I view this paper as a wake-up call that says there is a very important segment of our population that needs some attention."
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, killing almost 700,000 Americans each year.
Nearly 500,000 of those deaths are attributed to coronary heart disease, in which fat and plaque clog the arteries feeding blood to the heart, sometimes called hardening of the arteries. Heart attacks are a common result.
It can take many years for arteries to get dangerously blocked. About 93 percent of deaths occur in people 55 and older.
But a combination of factors including genetics, obesity and high cholesterol are sometimes fatal for younger adults. In 2002, about 25,000 men and 8,000 women ages 35 to 54 died of coronary heart disease.
The study was done by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Control and Prevention and Britain's University of Liverpool. They looked at U.S. vital statistics for artery-related deaths in adults ages 35 and older for the years 1980 through 2002, the most recent year for which data was available when the analysis was done.
When they compared age groups, they detected the worrisome difference. The study found the death rate for women ages 35 to 44 rose from 1997 to 2002, when the rate was 8.2 per 100,000 women, the highest it's been since 1987.
In actual numbers, the increase amounts to roughly 100 added deaths a year of women in that age group. That's a relatively small impact in the entire U.S. population.
Still, the results are statistically significant and a legitimate cause for concern, said Dr. Wayne Giles, director of the CDC's division of adult and community health.
"That's like an MD-88 crashing every year," he said, referring to a medium-size commuter jet plane.
The rates for men age 35 to 44 were relatively stable in the last few years of the study period. The rate was 26 deaths per 100,000 men in that age group in 2002.
The fact the male rate didn't worsen may indicate doctors are more likely to suspect heart disease in men that age than in women, said the CDC's Dr. Earl Ford, a study co-author.
For all ages, the female death rate fell to 261 from 514 per 100,000; the male rate fell to 430 from 898 per 100,000.
On the Net:
Journal of the American College of Cardiology: http:// http://www.acc.org/JACC/Ford.pdf
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
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