FINDINGS

Mammograms, MRIs Urged if Risk Is High

Women ages 35 to 54 with mutations in the BRCA1 gene, which raises the risk of cancer to as much as 85 percent, may benefit from using both mammograms and magnetic resonance imaging to screen for breast cancer, a study said. The research used a computer model to weigh the costs of the tests against the lives saved at various ages.

The findings may increase pressure on doctors and insurers to provide MRI screening to this group, who receive only manual exams and mammograms. MRIs cost about $1,000 -- 10 times as much as mammograms alone -- and can identify even tiny tumors, but they also have higher false-positive rates that can lead to unnecessary biopsies and additional tests.

"In general, there is no doubt that screening women with the mutation is cost-effective at certain ages," said lead researcher Sylvia Plevritis of the Stanford University School of Medicine. Her study appears today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Women with the gene mutations have a 36 to 85 percent of developing cancer during their lives, compared with 13.2 percent of the general population.

Teen Obesity Linked To Poverty, Study Says

Older adolescents who live in poverty are more likely to be overweight than their peers from more affluent households, a study found.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that in 2004, poor children ages 15 to 17 were more than 50 percent more likely to be overweight than children the same age from more affluent families. There was no such disparity among children age 12 to 14, according to the study, which used federal data.

Poorer children may be more susceptible to obesity because of a lack of access to stores that sell nutritious food and because of neighborhoods that are perceived as too dangerous for children to go out and play in, said Richard Miech, who led the study.

Those factors may take a greater toll on older teenagers who buy their own meals and determine their leisure activities, the researchers said in the study being published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Study Details Dangers Of Air Fresheners

A new study suggests that household cleansers and air fresheners -- particularly those with pine, orange and lemon scents -- may emit harmful levels of toxic pollutants.

Exposure to some of these pollutants and their byproducts may exceed regulatory guidelines when used repeatedly or in small, poorly ventilated rooms, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concluded after a four-year study.

Among the conclusions: