News of Interest for Late-in-Life Moms May 19, 2008

News to know:

Stress during pregnancy may raise baby's risks
Moms-to-be who are stressed about money, relationships and other problems during pregnancy may give birth to babies who are predisposed to allergies and asthma, according to new reseach.
The study found that mothers who were the most distressed during pregnancy were most likely to give birth to infants with higher levels of immunoglobulin E or IgE — an immune system compound — even though their mothers had only mild exposure to allergens during pregnancy.


FDA stresses birth defect risks with Roche drug
Health regulators again warned that Roche and Novartis drugs prescribed to organ transplant patients can cause miscarriages and birth defects when used by pregnant women.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first issued a warning in October 20007 after receiving reports of miscarriages and infants born with ear and mouth birth defects after their mothers took Roche's CellCept. At the time, the FDA added its most serious warning to CellCept and a similar Novartis AG drug, Myfortic.
Concern that some physicians may not have seen the initial warning prompted the FDA to reissue its notice that that before prescribing the drugs doctors should confirm their transplant patients are not pregnant, and are using effective contraception.

Breastfeeding may cut mom's arthritis risk
Women who breast-feed their babies longer are less likely to get rheumatoid arthritis, according to a recent study. Mothers who breast-fed for 13 months or more were half as likely to get the painful joint condition as women who never breast-fed, according to the study which was published in British Medical Journal's Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Exercising as teen may stave off breast cancer
New research shows exercise during the teen years — starting as young as age 12 — can help protect girls from breast cancer when they’re grown.
Researchers tracked nearly 65,000 nurses ages 24 to 42 who enrolled in a major health study. Women who were physically active as teens and young adults were 23 percent less likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer than women who grew up sedentary, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.