Personal Health: News and Notes

Risk factors linked to sudden cardiac death

University of Pennsylvania researchers have identified risk factors that put postmenopausal women with heart disease at high risk of sudden cardiac death - abruptly dying of a lethal arrythmia.

Currently, the only established risk factor for sudden cardiac death is weak heart contractions, measured by an echocardiogram. But many heart disease patients whose heart develops a lethal arrythmia don't have this weakening.

For their study, the Penn researchers analyzed data from a previous study of 2,763 postmenopausal heart disease patients. Of the 254 women who died of heart-related causes over almost seven years, more than half suffered sudden cardiac death.

Five risk factors were linked to sudden death: a previous heart attack, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, physical inactivity, diabetes and reduced kidney function. Women with at least three factors were 10 times more likely to die suddenly than women with none.

The findings, in last week's Archives of Internal Medine, may help doctors counsel patients about risk-reducing strategies such as exercise and controlling diabetes. - Marie McCullough

Cranberries seem less effective than pill

Can cranberries fight urinary tract infections?

A Dutch study of 221 women who were prone to the unpleasant afflictions found that a daily antibiotic pill (480 mg. of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole) was more effective at preventing new infections than taking a 500 mg. cranberry capsule twice a day. After 12 months, four women taking cranberry capsules had at least one infection; two women on antibiotics did.

Those numbers are hardly conclusive. Plus, 85 percent of the antibiotic users developed resistant bacteria after just one month. And a commentary accompanying the study in last week's Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that the cranberry dose may have been inadequate.

Cranberry's purported anti-bacterial ingredients are "type-A proanthocyanidins." Recent studies suggest that 72 mg. of proanthocyanidins a day are needed to keep urinary bacteria in check; the Dutch study had only 9 mg. per cranberry pill.