News of Interest for Late-in-Life Moms March 3, 2008

In the news:

Kids vaccine linked to fever, seizures
Children suffered higher rates of fever-related convulsions when they got a Merck & Co. combination vaccine instead of two separate shots, according to a new study.
In the study of children ages 12 months through 23 months, the rate of seizures was twice as high in toddlers who got ProQuad, compared with those who got one shot for chickenpox and one for the three other diseases. There were no deaths in the new study.

Crowded cribs linked to baby deaths
From 2002 to 2004, 241 children under age 5 died in incidents involving nursery products, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. About 40 percent of the deaths involved cribs, with soft bedding cited as the leading contributing factor. Many of the children suffocated when lying face down on pillows or other bedding, the agency said.

Rise in midlife stroke in women linked to obesity
The rapidly rising incidence of stroke among Americans is primarily due to the increasing number of middle-aged women having strokes. The increase is also associated with abdominal obesity, according to a report given at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2008.