all Nurses' Health Study stories

Postdiagnosis aspirin use reduces risk of dying from colorectal cancer

404132862 — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:32:46 -0400

Regular use of aspirin after colorectal cancer diagnosis may reduce the risk of cancer death, report Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In today's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study’s authors also find that the aspirin-associated survival advantage was seen primarily in patients with tumors expressing the COX

Newly identified genetic variants found to increase breast cancer risk

50443248 — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:58:43 -0400

A large-scale effort to identify genetic markers of breast cancer has uncovered two common genetic variants that increase risk of the disease in women of European ancestry.

Passage of time reduces smoking mortality risk for women who quit

404132862 — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:24:54 -0400

Women who quit smoking significantly reduce their risk of
death from coronary heart disease within 5 years and have about a 20
percent lower risk of death from smoking-related cancers within that
time period, according to a study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

Consumption of some foods associated with decrease in ovarian cancer risk

404132862 — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:47:20 -0500

New research from the Channing Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) reports that frequent consumption of foods containing the flavonoid kaempferol, including non-herbal tea and broccoli, was associated with a reduced risk of ovarian cancer. The researchers also found a decreased risk in women who consumed large amounts of the flavonoid luteolin, which is found in foods such as carrots, peppers and cabbage. These findings appear in the November 15,

Obesity protects against breast cancer

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:47:02 -0400

Being overweight or obese from adolescence to menopause reduces a woman's chances of getting breast cancer, researchers at Harvard Medical School have found. The earlier in life that the researchers looked, the stronger the association, leading to the conclusion that a woman's weight at age 18 is a strong predictor of breast cancer.

In this body size-breast cancer connection, risks are calculated by a height-to-weight comparison known as body mass index, or BMI. Men and women with a BMI lower than 25 are considered normal, as far as their weight is concerned. A BMI between 25 and 30 raises someone to overweight status. Higher than 30 earns an obese rating. Women with a BMI of 27.5 or higher have 43 percent less chance of getting breast cancer than those who fall between 20 and 22, according to the new study.

To compute your BMI, convert your weight to kilograms (1 pound equals 0.45 kilogram) and your height into meters (1 meter equals 3.3 feet), and then divide your weight by the square of your height (your height multiplied by itself). To give some idea of the actual sizes involved, a 5-foot, 7-inch woman with a BMI of 20 weighs 127 pounds. BMIs of 25, 27.5, and 30 or more raise weights to 159, 175, and 191-plus pounds.

This finding doesn't mean that it's OK for younger women to binge on french fries and chocolate. Other studies suggest that, for women, the risk of death from all causes increases for every pound of weight above the normal range. Obesity doubles to triples that risk.

Also, protection from breast cancer reverses after menopause. Then, overweight women have a much higher risk for breast cancer than thin women. 'Although a high birth weight is fairly consistently linked to an increase in premenopausal breast cancer, things seem to reverse around puberty,' notes Karin B. Michels, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology who led the study. 'We don't know exactly when the reverse occurs, but then it reverses again after menopause.'

Exercise cuts risk of sudden cardiac death

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:25:47 -0400

Exercise improves your health, but can you kill yourself with too much snow shoveling, yard work, jogging, or playing tennis?

"Despite all of the known benefits of exercise, there are also well-documented associations between acute episodes of exertion and sudden cardiac death," notes Christine Albert, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Although relatively rare, these deaths commonly occur in an unexpected fashion among those who appear quite healthy."

In the largest study ever done to get a better handle on this question, Albert and her colleagues followed the exertions of almost 85,000 women for 24 years, while keeping track of their hearts. The women, selected from an ongoing study of registered nurses known as the Nurses Health Study, were between 34 and 59 years old in 1986. From then until 2004, the women filled out questionnaires about how much time they spent jogging, running, bicycling, swimming, playing tennis or squash, and undertaking other activities that require moderate to vigorous exertion.

"To our knowledge, this analysis is the first to assess both the transient and long-term risk of sudden cardiac death associated with physical activity among women," says Albert, senior author of the study and also director of the Center for Arrhythmia Prevention at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Results of the study appeared in the March 22/29, 2006 Journal of the American Medical Association's theme issue on Women's Health.

The findings are encouraging. Out of almost 85,000 women, only nine died while doing yard work, housework, swimming, or physical therapy. To put this in numbers, as scientists always like to do: Their investigation covered 1.93 million person years of exercise and recorded only one death for each 36.5 million hours of exertion. In other words: Sudden cardiac death during exertion is an extremely rare event in women.

And there's still more good news. Regular exercise may significantly minimize this small risk, in both the short and long term.

Moms who breastfeed may be protected from type 2 diabetes

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:42:34 -0400

Researchers have demonstrated that breastfeeding a child for one year may reduce a woman's risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 15 percent. This study appeared in the Nov. 23, 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"We've known for a long time that breastfeeding is good for babies," said lead author and Brigham and Women's Hospital researcher Alison Stuebe, MD. "In this study, we found that it's good for moms, too."

The production of milk requires a breastfeeding mother to use an average of 500 calories each day - the equivalent of running four to five miles. According to Stuebe, the additional energy required for lactation is associated with short-term changes in insulin, and glucose. Her study was among the first to look at the long-term association between breastfeeding and incidence of type 2 diabetes. "Our study supports the theory that breastfeeding may be associated with important metabolic changes that influence diabetes risk," she said. "However, more research is needed to determine what hormonal and biological factors are involved."

Coffee gets cleared of blood pressure risk

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:41:57 -0400

Harvard researchers set out to test the idea that a lot of coffee isn't good for your circulation. They followed 155,000 female nurses for 12 years, questioning them regularly about their caffeine-drinking habits and their blood pressure. No connection was found between their coffee intake and a risky rise in blood pressure.

In fact, results went the other way. Women who drank the most coffee seemed to develop some protection against the problem. The investigators continue to look into this possibility.

Caffeine may not be the reason, however. The researchers found that things went the other way when women drank copious amounts of caffeine-containing colas. Sugared or diet, the soft drinks increased their risk of high blood pressure by as much as 44 percent, compared with those who drank very little soda.

Tea drinking produced mixed results. That beverage increased hypertension risk in younger but not older women. The study did not collect information on that warming winter favorite - hot chocolate.

The results are reported in the Nov. 9, 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Phobic anxiety increases risk of sudden cardiac death in women

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:19:42 -0400

According to lead author Christine M. Albert, M.D., M.P.H., an epidemiologist at BWH and an electrophysiologist and cardiologist at MGH, "Phobic anxiety is associated with coronary heart disease risk factors. However, in this study, in which these risk factors were controlled, we found a correlation between higher levels of phobic anxiety and death from CHD, particularly from sudden cardiac death, despite these risk factors. In the past, there have been several studies that suggested that psychosocial factors, such as emotions, anxiety and anger have been associated with an elevated risk of heart disease; particularly, death from heart disease. This study furthers this knowledge and indicates that phobic anxiety may increase risk of coronary heart disease and sudden cardiac death in women."

Researchers reviewed data from women age 30 to 55 who participated in the Nurses' Health Study by evaluating their phobic anxiety levels and then monitoring cardiovascular events later on. They found that women with higher levels of phobic anxiety were more likely to die suddenly from coronary heart disease than those in the lowest quarter of the population. These risks were lower after controlling other cardiac risk factors linked to phobic anxiety, but a trend toward an increased risk for sudden cardiac death persisted.

Weight and weight gain may predict breast cancer survival

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:19:45 -0400

The study included 5,204 women with invasive breast cancer who were between the ages 30 to 55 when enrolled in the study in 1976. The researchers found that women who weighed more before they were diagnosed with breast cancer and those who were lean but gained weight after diagnosis and treatment tended to have worse survival outcomes. Intriguingly, the association was strongest in women who did not smoke.

"By combining smokers and non-smokers in analyses, it may be more difficult to understand the true relationship between weight and survival. This study suggests a more complex relationship between weight and breast cancer survival than was originally considered," said lead researcher Candyce Kroenke, Sc.D., M.P.H., and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Among non-smokers, the study showed that overweight women were 1.5 times as likely and obese women two times as likely to die during follow-up than were women with normal BMIs before diagnosis. It also showed that women with substantial weight gain after diagnosis had a more than 50 percent greater risk of death or recurrence than women who maintained their weight after diagnosis. Finally, the strongest link between weight gain and death/recurrence were in pre-menopausal women, those with early stage cancer and those who were lean prior to diagnosis.

Weight gain and obesity linked to higher risk of kidney stones

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:19:47 -0400

"Our study demonstrated that multiple measures of larger body size, including larger waist circumference, higher weight, and higher body mass index, were related to an elevated risk of kidney stones," said Eric Taylor, M.D., a BWH researcher and nephrologist.

The data are based on a study of approximately 45,000 men and more than 200,000 women enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study and the Nurses' Health Study who were followed for up to 20 years.

The researchers, who accounted for difference in diet, fluid intake, and medications in the study participants, report that women in the highest weight category had an 89-percent greater risk, and men a 44-percent greater risk, of kidney stones than those in the lowest weight category.

Study finds that both weight and exercise are key to longevity

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:38:51 -0400

Over 115,000 participants who were free of cardiovascular disease or cancer, who were between the ages of 30 and 55 and had filled out biennial health and lifestyle questionnaires between 1976 and 2000, were chosen for the study from the Brigham and Women's Hospital-based Nurses' Health Study. The women answered questionnaires that asked on average how much time was spent per week on moderate physical activities and vigorous physical activities. Women who spent 3.5 hours per week or more exercising were considered physically active. The researchers found that both obesity and physical activity significantly and independently affected mortality. A high level of physical activity did not eliminate the risk of premature death associated with obesity and leanness did not counteract the increased risk in mortality conferred by inactivity. Compared to physically active, lean women, there was nearly a two-and-a-half- fold increase in risk of death for inactive and obese women. The researchers estimated that excess weight (BMI over 25) and physical inactivity accounted for 31 percent of all premature deaths among the study participants with 59 percent of the deaths attributable to cardiovascular disease and 21 percent from cancer among the non-smoking women. "It is clear that both weight and exercise are important for health and longevity," said Frank Hu, lead author of the study and an associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Grandkids can make you sick

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:33:23 -0400

A study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School shows that women who care for grandchildren more than nine hours a week have a 55 percent greater chance of developing coronary heart disease than those women who don't provide such care. Though the study didn't probe the reasons behind the findings, Sunmin Lee, research fellow at the School of Public Health and instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, said that providing care for children is physically and mentally demanding. Small children, in particular, require constant attention as well as frequent picking up and carrying. Looking after children also takes away grandmothers' time to socialize, Lee said. This eliminates opportunities to relieve stress - both from caregiving and from other daily hassles - by interacting with friends and family members. The demands on caregiving grandmothers probably also results in less time caring for themselves. For example, they may have less time to sleep, rest, exercise, and get regular checkups, Lee said. Lee's study, published in the November 2003 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, was conducted with Professor of Medicine Graham Colditz, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Health Lisa Berkman, and Professor of Social Epidemiology Ichiro Kawachi.

Walking improves cognitive functions in older women

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:35:24 -0400

In a study, elderly women who engaged in the most activity -- for example, walking at least 6 hours per week -- had a 20 percent decrease in risk of cognitive impairment compared to those who were inactive. they also demonstrated the cognitive functioning of someone three-years younger than their actual age. The findings were published in the Sept. 22, 2004, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Walking is a popular, accessible and inexpensive activity for older adults that appears to provide many health benefits. In addition to studies showing a reduced risk of heart disease, pulmonary disease and diabetes, a moderate level of walking also appeared to reduce the rate of cognitive decline in our study,” said lead author Jennifer Weuve of the Harvard School of Public Health. “What is most striking is that for older women who are able to engage in several hours per week of physical activity, their cognitive function seemed to be comparable to that of a woman several years younger.” Researchers analyzed the data from 18,766 U.S. women, aged 70 to 81 years, from the Nurses' Health Study.

High intake of vitamin D linked to reduced risk of multiple sclerosis

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:33:44 -0400

More than 185,000 women from the Brigham and Women's-based Nurses' Health Study and Nurses' Health Study II, who were free of multiple sclerosis (MS), were selected for a research study. The participants filled out dietary questionnaires every four years between 1980 and 1999 that assessed their vitamin D intake along with other dietary information.