Health News - Friday, March 30, 2007
People taking cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins who also consume omega-3 fatty acids -- typically found in fish and fish oil -- have a better chance of avoiding heart problems than patients who take statins alone. That's the conclusion of a new study by Japanese researchers that is published in the March 31 issue of The Lancet.
"Our study shows that long-term use of EPA (an omega-3 fatty acid) at therapeutic doses is effective for prevention of major coronary events in hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol) patients given statins in Japan who consume a large amount of fish," said lead researcher Dr. Mitsuhiro Yokoyama. He is a professor of medicine at the Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine. In the study, called the Japan EPA Lipid Intervention Study, Yokoyama and his colleagues assigned 18,645 people to receive either 1,800 milligrams of one of the omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), every day plus a statin, or a statin alone. Continue reading
Zelnorm, a drug to treat constipation associated with irritable bowel syndrome, has been taken off the market because of an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and death, U.S. health officials said Friday. "Novartis, the maker of Zelnorm, has voluntarily agreed to stop marketing the drug in the U.S.," Dr. John K. Jenkins, director of the Office of New Drugs, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said during a teleconference.
Zelnorm (generic name tegaserod maleate) was first approved by the FDA in 2002 for the short-term treatment of women with irritable bowel syndrome whose primary symptom was constipation. Two years later, the drug was approved for the treatment of chronic constipation in men and women under age 65, Jenkins said. The withdrawal was prompted by a recent review of 29 studies. The review was undertaken by Novartis at the request of a Swiss health agency. The FDA reviewed that data and decided that the risk-to-benefit profile of Zelnorm was no longer favorable, Jenkins said.
The review found that 13 out of 11,614 patients taking the drug had a cardiac event, including one death, compared with one case among 7,031 patients who took a placebo, he said. "While the absolute risk was small, the relative risk was significantly greater," Jenkins said. The FDA is advising patients who take the drug to see their doctor to discuss alternative treatments, Jenkins said. "There may be some patients with severe symptoms that do not have other effective treatment options," he said. Continue reading
Airplane crew and passengers who frequently fly between several time zones face a number of health problems including disruptions in a woman's menstrual cycle and even short-term psychiatric disturbances, researchers from the UK warn in a report published Thursday in The Lancet.
There seems to be no getting use to long-haul flights, according to researchers who report that flight crews who regularly take long journeys are not protected from the effects of jet lag such as poor and interrupted sleep, mood changes, irritability, stomach problems, and decreased brain power. Jet lag from crossing several time zones also causes a dip in an athlete's performance, note Jim Waterhouse and two associates from the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University. Continue reading