Health Report

THE GOOD NEWS

-- If you reach 70, you may be able to stop worrying about cholesterol. Of nearly 1,000 men and women in that age group who were studied, one-third of the women and one-sixth of the men had high cholesterol levels but did not suffer any more heart attacks than those with normal or low levels of cholesterol. Some experts noted, however, that too few patients were involved in the study for it to be conclusive.

-- Troglitazone, an experimental drug for treating the most common form of diabetes, may also help prevent the disease in nondiabetic obese people who have trouble metabolizing sugars even though they produce normal amounts of insulin.

THE BAD NEWS

-- A recent survey of people ages 18 to 44 shows that more white women are lighting up (2% more in 1992 than in 1987), reversing a trend that saw the percentage of females who smoke slip from 34% in 1965 to 27% in 1992. But at least one group is quitting: the percentage of black women between the ages of 18 and 24 who smoke went from 22% in 1987 to 6% in 1992.

-- Colon cancer does seem to run in families. A study of more than 1 million Utah residents showed that a person with parents, siblings or children with colon cancer is almost three times as likely to develop it as a person whose immediate family is free of the disease.

Sources -- GOOD: Journal of the American Medical Association; New England Journal of Medicine. BAD: Centers for Disease Control report; Journal of the National Cancer Institute