Your Health

Good News
WALK ON BY It was a relief six years ago when health officials announced that engaging in 30 minutes of moderate exercise, like gardening, most days of the week could provide the same cardiovascular benefits as going for the burn. Well, it just got better. Researchers report that, in women at least, one hour a week of walking--even slowly--could cut the risk of heart disease in half. Suggestion: Don't make the ice cream parlor your destination.

WIRED Americans with an irregular heartbeat are used to the idea of a pacemaker implanted in the chest. Now researchers report that patients with congestive heart failure may also be helped by a hunk of hardware. In two-thirds of 134 subjects studied, an implantable device called InSync restored the heart's malfunctioning electrical circuitry. As a result, patients could walk longer distances and climb more stairs without experiencing shortness of breath or fatigue. InSync is not yet approved by the FDA, but the nod is expected in late summer.

APRES ASPIRIN A blood thinner called clopidogrel can reduce the risk of fatal and nonfatal heart attacks and strokes 20% in folks with unstable angina, according to a study of 12,500 subjects worldwide. Clopidogrel is already used after angioplasty procedures--Vice President Dick Cheney took it--but this latest study may make it the most significant advance in the management of heart disease since aspirin. If only clopidogrel were as cheap: it costs about $3 a pill.

Bad News
PREGNANT PAUSE The real No. 1 killer of pregnant women and new moms is not complications of childbirth--like hemorrhage or stroke--but ... homicide. Murder, while still rare, occurs twice as often among those pregnant or recently pregnant, compared with other women of the same age. Researchers have no explanation, but the stress of pregnancy might increase the incidence of domestic violence.

Sources: Good News--Journal of the A.M.A. (3/21); American College of Cardiology. Bad News--J.A.M.A. (3/21)