Health bulletin

Higher death risk for early babies

Babies born just a few weeks early are six times more likely to die in their first week of life than full-term babies and three times more likely to die before their first birthday, U.S. researchers said.

"The extent of the difference is quite surprising," said Joann Petrini, director of the March of Dimes Perinatal Data Center, whose study appears in the Journal of Pediatrics.

"Regardless of the cause, the death rate was higher for preterm babies. It suggests they are a more vulnerable group," said Petrini, who collaborated on the study with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Late preterm infants are born at 34 to 36 weeks gestation, just shy of the 37-week mark that is considered full-term.

The leading cause of death was birth defects, with preterm infants about four times more likely than full-term babies to die of congenital deformities.

Petrini said doctors should use this information when weighing whether to induce delivery or perform a C-section before the baby is full term.

Vaccines cut deaths by 99 percent

Vaccines have cut deaths from the diseases they prevent by 99 percent, U.S. government researchers reported.

They looked at the rates of both disease and deaths for 13 illnesses prevented by vaccines, most given in infancy and childhood, and found they have worked as intended.

"The number of cases of most vaccine-preventable diseases is at an all-time low; hospitalizations and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases have also shown striking decreases," the researchers wrote in their report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined the illness and death rates for 13 vaccine-preventable diseases -- diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, invasive Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib), acute hepatitis B, hepatitis A, varicella (chickenpox), Streptococcus pneumonia and smallpox.

The U.S. statistics showed striking reductions in both disease and death. For example, the decline in cases of mumps was 95.9 percent after mandatory vaccination. Tetanus cases fell by 92.9 percent, and whooping cough cases declined by 92.2 percent. Deaths from tetanus and whooping cough fell by 99 percent.

Rates of STDs rise again in U.S.

The rates of three leading sexually transmitted diseases -- chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis -- rose again in the United States last year, public health officials said.

It was the second year in a row of increases for all three of these sexually transmitted bacterial infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

The rate of chlamydia, the most common infectious disease reported to the CDC, increased 5.6 percent in 2006 from 2005. More than 1.03 million chlamydia cases were reported in 2006 -- the highest number since the CDC began tracking it in 1984.

The rate of gonorrhea rose 5.5 percent in 2006, with 358,366 cases reported. The rate of syphilis rose 13.8 percent in 2006, with 9,756 cases.

Pregnant? Don't binge drink just yet

Pregnant women who occasionally overindulge in a night of drinking may not be harming their fetuses, but more evidence is needed to determine whether this is really the case, British researchers said.

A review of 14 studies also suggested children whose mothers binge drank throughout pregnancy may suffer learning problems later in life, prompting a call for further research to see if any links exist.

"Just because we haven't been able to find much evidence doesn't mean there is no effect," said Ron Gray, a clinical epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, who led the study. "There needs to be more research."

A number of studies have linked heavy drinking on a regular basis during pregnancy to stunted growth, birth defects and brain development problems.

Less clear is the effect of occasional binge drinking, which amounted to about 5 drinks in one session in the studies Gray and his team reviewed.

Beta carotene may preserve memory

Beta carotene taken as a dietary supplement for many years may protect against declines in memory, thinking and learning skills that often precede Alzheimer's disease, researchers said.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, pointed to a protective effect against cognitive decline in healthy men who took beta carotene for about 18 years, but not in men who took the supplements for an average of a year.

Exercise found to ease chronic pain

Regular walks and stretching exercises can help ease the chronic, depressing pain of fibromyalgia, a mysterious ailment with no obvious cure, researchers said.

Striking more than 3 percent of U.S. women and 0.5 percent of men, the illness' primary symptoms are debilitating pain throughout the body -- often with sensitivity and stiffness focused in the joints. Other symptoms include sleep problems, fatigue and depression.

Susan Stevens