DATE: Monday, October 6, 1997               TAG: 9710040049

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
                                            LENGTH:   76 lines

HEALTH NEWS AND NOTES

Antidepressants more

often used to treat PMS

Doctors are turning more and more to antidepressants to treat the most severe cases of premenstrual syndrome. That therapy was buttressed recently when researchers reported that the antidepressant Zoloft can control symptoms of the disorder.

The latest findings, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, ``mean that there are two (drugs) that have demonstrated efficacy,'' said David Rubinow, clinical director of the National Institute of Mental Health and chief of its behavior endocrinology branch. Studies also have shown that the antidepressant Prozac can be helpful in controlling the most severe premenstrual symptoms.

Until recently, premenstrual syndrome has been difficult to diagnose and treat. An estimated 40 to 70 percent of women who menstruate have symptoms at least occasionally that appear mid-cycle.

Salt intake by seniors

linked to blood pressure

Cutting back on salt lowers blood pressure in older people whether they have high or normal pressure to begin with, a small English study reports.

The findings have important implications for prevention of stroke, researchers said, because a majority of strokes occur in older people whose blood pressure is in the high range of normal.

The study was conducted by researchers from St. George's Hospital Medical School in London. Their results appeared in the medical journal Lancet last week.

Researchers tested the effect on blood pressure of a cutback in daily sodium intake from 10 to 5 grams. The 47 participants were at least 60 years old, and none was being treated for hypertension, or high blood pressure. They achieved the salt reduction by not using salt at the table or in cooking and by avoiding high-sodium foods.

With the salt reduction, the average blood pressure fell from 163/90 to 156/87. The drop in blood pressure occurred in people with normal blood pressure as well as those with high blood pressure. It was comparable to the way diuretic drugs lower blood pressure in people with hypertension.

1 in 10 Americans say

they have a disability

One in 10 of us say we're severely disabled, and 20 percent say we have some kind of disability. That's according to a Census Bureau report that found that more than 47 percent of people ages 65 to 79 and 71 percent of people over 80 say they have some disability.

A bad reaction

to licorice?

Licorice lovers, it's possible to get too much of a good thing.

While diarrhea is usually considered to be the most severe complication of eating too much licorice candy, two Utah physicians report in the September issue of the Western Journal of Medicine that a licorice binge appears to be responsible for pulmonary edema - swelling caused by excess fluid around the lungs - in an otherwise-healthy 64-year-old man.

Physicians James J. Chamberlain and Igor Z. Abolnik report that the man was admitted to the Salt Lake City VA Medical Center complaining that he was having trouble breathing. When he was admitted, the man's blood pressure was elevated, measuring 180/80. The man reported that during the previous three days the only deviation from his usual routine was that he had eaten four packages (about 2 1/4 pounds) of a licorice candy.

An X-ray of his heart revealed it was enlarged, compared with previous films, although other tests - an electrocardiogram, cardiac enzymes and an echocardiogram - were all normal. He also was found to have pulmonary edema, which cleared up after two days.

After he was discharged, the patient took no medications and refrained from eating licorice. During visits two months, eight months and 13 months later, his heart and blood pressure were normal.

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