Keep abreast of what your patients are currently seeing in the media with our round-up of popular news stories, available from WHF as abstracts with links to the full-text articles.

From the week of May 5, 2008:

FDA Approves Amitiza for IBS-C

The US Food and Drug Administration approved Amitiza^® (lubiprostone) for the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation (IBS-C) in women aged 18 and over. This marks the first approval in the US by the FDA for a medical treatment for IBS-C. IBS causes cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea, and can be quite disabling for some patients. The recommended dosage for Amitiza in patients suffering from IBS-C is 8 micrograms, twice a day. Its safety and efficacy has been established in adult women, but not in men or children. Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Rare side effects observed in the study of Amitiza include urinary tract infections, dry mouth, fainting, swelling of the extremities, difficulty breathing, and heart palpitations. Patients taking Amitiza should report such side effects to their healthcare provider immediately. Amitiza was previously approved by the FDA for the treatment of chronic idiopathic constipation in a higher dose.

Read the full news release on fda.gov

Younger Women Often Miss Signs of Heart Attack

A recent study on cardiovascular disease found that younger women often dismiss warning signs of a heart attack as symptoms of stress, indigestion, or fatigue. Heart attack symptoms in women vary greatly from the signs portrayed in the popular media, such as severe chest pain and loss of sensation in the left arm. Cardiovascular disease is the leading killer of women in America, with almost half a million lives being claimed every year. According to study authors, 40,000 women under the age of 55 are hospitalized for heart disease each year, and 16,000 die from cardiovascular problems. The study focused on women aged 30 to 55 who had recently experienced a heart attack. Only 42% of the women suspected that the warning signs they were experiencing were heart-related, and only half of the women sought care within the first hour of their symptoms appearing. Some women reported that hospital workers also dismissed their symptoms, attributing them to acid reflux. Atypical symptoms experienced by the women in the study included jaw pain and vomiting. Study authors are calling for better representation of heart attacks in women in the popular media. Women who believe they are experiencing a heart attack should be assertive with healthcare workers, and have the proper tests administered to check for heart trouble.

Read the full story on healthday.com

Quick Benefit to Smoking Halt, With a Caveat, Study Finds

Women who stop smoking may see a significantly lower risk of dying from heart disease within the first 5 years after quitting. Respiratory damage takes longer to correct, including the risk of lung cancer. In a study of 121,000 American women that was begun in 1976, data shows that there is a 13% reduction of risk of death from all causes within the first 5 years of smoking cessation. 20 years after women quit smoking, their risk of death from all causes was equal to that of women who had never smoked. Smoking had a more lingering effect on women’s respiratory systems, with only an 18% reduction in risk of respiratory disease after 10 years. It took women 30 years of abstaining from smoking to shed the excess risk for lung cancer. The study also found that women who begin smoking at older ages are at less risk for heart and lung disease than women who take up smoking at a young age. Looking at current smokers, 64% of all deaths are attributed to smoking, while only 28% of deaths in past smokers are attributed to their former smoking habit. These findings emphasize that quitting smoking significantly reduce the mortality risk incurred by smoking for all major causes of death.

Read the full story on nytimes.com

Alcoholism Gender Gap Is Closing

While alcoholism was once considered a “man’s disease,” alcohol use and dependency has risen among women. Male alcohol use has remained steady over the years, but researchers note a sharp rise in alcohol use among white and Hispanic women born since 1945. Researchers attribute the growing number of female alcoholics to increased stress levels among women, as they take on a greater share of problems both at home and at work. Greater purchasing power and diminishing gender stereotypes have also empowered women to drink freely, which has led to abuse of alcohol for some women. Race appears to play a factor in alcohol use in women, as black women have a lower drinking rate than all other demographics studied. Also of issue, women tend to metabolize alcohol differently than men, making them more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol at equal doses. This heightened vulnerability often leads to women more easily growing dependent on alcohol. Researchers suggest female-targeted alcohol education and prevention programs, which would focus on the gender differences in processing alcohol.

Read the full story on healthday.com