Your Health

By Dara Horn

Good News on Bones

Among patients who take steroids to manage asthma and other chronic conditions, half suffer bone fractures from osteoporosis. A report out last week shows that alendronate, used by postmenopausal women to raise bone density, can also prevent osteoporosis in patients taking steroids.

Bad News on Heat Stroke

Even a trip to the emergency room may not save those stricken by summer heat. A new study tracking 58 heat-stroke victims of the 1995 Chicago heat wave reveals that nearly half died within a year and most survivors were permanently disabled.

Good News: Breast Cancer

The timing of chemotherapy may be important for women with breast cancer. A study of 1,500 patients receiving chemotherapy either before or after surgery found that preoperative therapy shrank tumors without affecting chances of survival, allowing more patients to have lumpectomies instead of mastectomies and enabling doctors to assess more quickly how well the drugs worked.

Bad News for Diabetics

Surestep glucose meters produced before August 1997 have been recalled after reports that they displayed false readings for high blood sugar. And the FDA has warned doctors to monitor closely patients using Rezulin, a diabetes drug whose side effects are blamed for 26 deaths worldwide.

--By Dara Horn

Sources: New England Journal of Medicine; Annals of Internal Medicine; Journal of Clinical Oncology; FDA