Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 11, 1991 TAG: 9103090392
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CHICAGO - The drinking rate among pregnant women has declined overall, but not significantly for mothers-to-be who are young, less educated or who smoke, researchers say.
Interviews with 1,712 pregnant women in 21 states showed that overall, alcohol consumption fell from 32 percent to 20 percent between 1985 and 1988, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"Of all subgroups, only three did not show a statistically significant decline in alcohol use during pregnancy: those aged 18 to 24 years, those with a high school education or less, and those who smoked," the report said.
Among pregnant women ages 18 to 24, the drinking rate was 23 percent in 1985, compared with 22 percent in 1988. The rate also declined from 23 percent to 22 percent among women with less than a high school education, while it fell from 42 percent to 37 percent among smokers. - Associated Press
Causes for epilepsy
Severe blows to the head that cause bleeding under the tough membrane surrounding the brain may result in epilepsy.
British doctors found that seven of 29 head-injury patients who had bleeding under the membrane, called the dura mater, developed epilepsy.
Of 66 head-injury patients who did not bleed under the dura mater, four developed the condition, reported the researchers from Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, England.
The researchers found that sophisticated CAT scan X-rays can help differentiate between the two types of head injury.
CAT scans also can assist in determining whether the head injury patient is fit to drive. - Medical Tribune News Service
Follow-up cancer care
> Some elderly women may not receive follow-up treatment after cancer surgery because of unfounded fears that they cannot tolerate the therapy because of their age.
"Advanced chronological age alone is not sufficient to justify withholding treatment," said Dr. Paul P. Carbone, director of the Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center in Madison.
In studies of 645 women ages 20 to 75 with breast or large-bowel cancers, Carbone found that 17 percent of women over age 65 received drug or radiation therapy after cancer surgery.
Of women under age 65, 43 percent received the follow-up treatments, he said.
"Studies show the elderly tolerate chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as younger people," Carbone said at the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.
"Physiology, not age, should determine the extent of therapy."
Carbone said almost all the women had surgery for their cancers. - Medical Tribune News Service
Sex increases virus risk
Sexually active teen-age girls may be increasing their risk of contracting a virus that can cause birth defects and stillbirth.
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that more than three years of sexual activity, having more than two sexual partners and being black increased the risk of infection with cytomegalovirus.
Cytomegalovirus is a herpes-like virus found in saliva, semen and cervical secretions. The disease can be silent or can cause a two- to three- week infection with fever and liver inflammation.
The study was published in the March issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
The researchers found that 68 percent of 254 teen-age girls at a birth control clinic had been exposed to the virus.
Nearly half a million U.S. babies are born each year to women under the age of 20, the investigators wrote.
Teen-age girls who used oral contraceptives had lower rates of infection. The researchers said that girls who use the pill may be more knowledgeable about the risks of sexual activity.
Infected pregnant women can pass the virus to their fetuses. For babies infected in the womb, cytomegalovirus can result in liver infections, birth defects and death. - Medical Tribune News Service
by CNB