Research

        Prevention: Women who take multivitamins during pregnancy can cut their babies' risk of neuroblastoma by 30 to 40 percent, a new study says.

        Researchers at the University of North Carolina couldn't pinpoint which vitamins were most responsible for the reduced risk of childhood nervous system cancer, but say their findings support earlier studies indicating that vitamin use during pregnancy seems to help protect against childhood leukemia and brain tumors.

        Neuroblastoma is the most commonly diagnosed tumor in infants and is usually diagnosed in children under 3. Fewer than half of neuroblastoma patients live five years after diagnosis.

        Researchers identified 538 children with neuroblastoma in the U.S. and Canada and 504 children without the illness. Researchers then interviewed mothers of children in both groups about their vitamin use before, during and after pregnancy and other related factors.

        “Findings of our case-control study suggest a beneficial association but do not prove one,” said Dr. Andrew F. Oshan, an epidemiologist at the UNC School of Public Health.

        More study is needed, researchers said.

Hot news

        In sickness, health: Your better half's health status goes a long way toward predicting your own health, says a Utah professor.

        “It turns out that the health of your spouse is as strong a predictor for your own health as your level of education and your economic status, two proven health indicators,” says Sven Wilson, an assistant professor at Brigham Young University. His study appears in the September issue of Social Science and Medicine.

        Mr. Wilson surveyed data from more than 4,700 couples in their 50s from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationwide survey held in 1992. He then used statistical models to test how much the subjects' traits influenced their overall health.

        A man in is his early 50s who is in excellent health has a 5 percent chance of having a wife in fair health and a 2 percent chance of having a wife in poor health. But a man in poor health has a 24 percent chance of being married to a woman in fair health and a 13 percent chance of being married to a woman in poor health.

        Several factors influence the correlation, Mr. Wilson said. People tend to choose spouses with similar backgrounds, “so if people with the same health-related characteristics are marrying each other, it stands to reason they would have similar health.”

        Couples also tend to make similar choices that will influence their health after marriage, including eating habits and whether or not to use tobacco.

Shelf help

        Get smart: High Blood Pressure for Dummies (Wiley; $21.99) by Dr. Alan L. Rubin looks at the causes, consequences and treatments of hypertension. The book includes strategies for managing high blood pressure and resources for more information.

Siting

        Click here: Check out www.health.gov/healthypeople/ for information on Healthy People 2010, the federal health-habits initiative. The site includes information on the initiative and plenty of information on how to upgrade your health habits.

Resource

        Hotline: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have set up a toll-free number to answer questions from the public about West Nile virus. Call (888) 246-2675 from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, or 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, for information on the mosquito-borne illness.

        Reach Peggy O'Farrell at e-mail pofarrell@enquirer.com

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