Health Highlights: Feb. 25, 2007

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments,compiled by editors ofHealthDay:

Hormone Therapy May Increase Heart Death Risk for Older Prostate Cancer Patients

One of the most common treatments for prostate cancer may give older patients an increased risk of death from heart disease.

Androgen deprivation therapy -- the reduction of male hormones in the body -- offers the possibility of increasing mortality from heart disease in patients over the age of 65, according to a news release from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The results came from an analysis of a national registry of prostate cancer patients called CaPSURE.

The findings need to be confirmed through clinical trials, the researchers say, but they advise oncologists to weigh the benefits of androgen deprivation against the age and general condition of older prostate cancer patient.

This type of therapy is associated with those risks most common in heart disease, "... elevated body mass index, increased body fat deposits and diabetes, all of which raise the risk of death from heart diseased," according to the study's lead author, Dr. Henry Tsai, a resident at Dana-Farber, Brigham and Women's and the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program.

The study was presented over the weekend at a symposium sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology and the Society of Urologic Oncology.

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Governors Ask Congress for More Money for Children's Health Insurance

Putting aside political party differences, 13 governors appealed to Congress and President Bush Saturday to come up with enough money to continue funding a program that provides health insurance to hundreds of thousands of children who would not be eligible under the Medicaid program.

TheNew York Timesreports that seven Republican and six Democract governors from states as diverse as Illinois and Georgia signed the appeal at the national Governors Association winter meeting in Washington, D.C. The program is called the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and it provides some health insurance coverage for about 6 million children whose families make more than the minimum required for Medicaid eligibility but still can't afford to buy private health insurance.

TheTimesreports that while the Bush Administration has budgeted an increase in funding over the next five years, it doesn't compensate for what will be needed to keep the program at its current level or for it to expand to meet additional needs. "Without quick Congressional action," the letter to Congress said, "our states, all facing federal shortfalls, will be forced to make harsh decisions affecting the lives of thousands of families."