TUESDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- High or low levels of the hormone thyrotropin may be associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease in women. Thyrotropin affects thyroid gland function and thyroid hormone levels.

Between 1977 and 1979, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School measured thyrotropin levels in 1,864 people, average age 71, without cognitive problems. The participants were then assessed for dementia every two years.

After an average of 12.7 years of follow-up, 209 participants developed Alzheimer's disease. After they adjusted for the other factors, the researchers found that women with the lowest (less than one milli-international unit per liter) and highest (more than 2.1 milli-international units per liter) levels of thyrotropin had more than a twofold increased risk of Alzheimer's.

No association between thyrotropin levels and Alzheimer's risk was noted in men.

"Whether altered thyrotropin levels occur before or after onset of Alzheimer's disease, the neuropathologic mechanism is unclear," the study authors wrote.

Brain changes caused by Alzheimer's disease may cause a decrease in the amount of thyrotropin released or changes in the body's responsiveness to the hormone, the researchers said. Or, it may be that high or low thyrotropin levels damage neurons or blood vessels, resulting in cognitive problems.

"In conclusion, low and high thyrotropin levels were associated with an increased risk of incident Alzheimer's disease in women but not in men. These findings should be considered hypothesis-generating and should be validated in other populations before clinical conclusions are drawn," the researchers wrote.

The study was published in the July 28 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Aging has more about Alzheimer's disease.

TUESDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- The typical U.S. breast cancer screening strategy results in women being tested twice as often as a different approach use in Norway, but both are equally good at detecting disease, a new report says.

A study in the July 29 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute finds that a traditional physician- and self-referral screening strategy held up well against the Norway approach, in which the government sends letters to all women in a specific age range inviting them to have a screening mammogram. The Norway program aims for women to be screened every two years, while the U.S.-based "opportunistic screening" strategies advise women to have annual screening mammograms.

In comparing the strategies as applied to 45,050 women in Vermont and 194,430 women in Norway from 1997 to 2003, the researchers found that the age-adjusted screening detection rate of cancers was similar between the two populations (2.77 per 1,000 woman-years in Vermont versus 2.57 in Norway).

However, more than three times as many women in Vermont were recalled for further examination than in Norway (9.8 percent versus 2.7 percent).

When all cancers detected during regular screening and between screening mammograms were combined, no substantial differences were found in the prognostic features of invasive cancers detected in the two populations.

Given the shorter interval between screenings, the report's authors hypothesized that "Vermont women and/or their health care providers may more readily pursue evaluation of symptoms and clinical findings than their Norwegian counterparts."

"Our results demonstrate that despite its longer screening interval, the organized population-based screening program in Norway achieved similar outcomes as the opportunistic screening in Vermont," the team wrote.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Cancer has more about breast cancer.

THURSDAY, July 17 (HealthDay News) -- Eating more fiber during the first trimester of pregnancy seems to reduce the risk of developing preeclampsia, a potentially fatal condition characterized by elevated blood pressure.

The finding appears to be another good reason for pregnant women to maintain good fiber intake, one expert said.

"There's not really a downside to taking more fiber," noted Dr. Jennifer Wu, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "Many women suffer from constipation in pregnancy, and it can only help that. If you can increase your fiber anyway for constipation, it may also decrease preeclampsia."

There are other benefits to increasing fiber intake, including lowering blood pressure.

According to the Preeclampsia Foundation, some 5 percent to 8 percent of women experience the dangerous condition during pregnancy. The only way to end preeclampsia is to deliver the baby -- obviously a more reasonable strategy the further along a pregnancy is.

Risk factors for the condition include obesity, a family history of type 2 diabetes and/or hypertension, depression, anxiety, diets low in fruits and vegetables, and low levels of physical activity.

The findings, published July 17 in the online edition of the American Journal of Hypertension, seem to corroborate previous findings on the subject from somewhat smaller studies.

For this study, more than 1,500 pregnant women in Washington State filled out a 121-item questionnaire listing the types of food they ate, both before they conceived and during the early weeks of their pregnancy.

Women who consumed 21.2 grams a day or more of fiber were 72 percent less likely to develop preeclampsia compared with women who ate less than 11.9 grams a day, the researchers found

Triglyceride concentrations were lower and levels of HDL or "good" cholesterol concentrations higher in women consuming more fiber, the study noted.

It wasn't clear if the authors adjusted for other dietary factors and weight.

The authors, from the Swedish Medical Center and the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Seattle, noted that adding an extra 5 grams of fiber a day was associated with a 14 percent reduction in the risk of developing preeclampsia. Consuming two slices of whole-grain bread daily would be the equivalent to adding 5 grams of fiber a day, they said.

More information

Find out more on this topic at the Preeclampsia Foundation  .

TUESDAY, June 24 (HealthDay News) -- Women who give birth at top-rated hospitals have fewer complications for Caesarean section and fewer complications for vaginal birth, according to a HealthGrades study that compared the quality of maternity and cardiac/stroke care for women at U.S. hospitals in 17 states.

This is the fifth annual Women's Health in American Hospitals study released by HealthGrades, a health care ratings organization.

The study found that:

• Among women who had vaginal birth, there were almost 51 percent fewer complications at the best-performing hospitals than at poor-performing hospitals.
• Among women who had Caesarean sections, there were almost 76 percent fewer complications at the best-performing hospitals than at poor-performing hospitals.
• Overall, the risk-adjusted cardiovascular disease death rate for women decreased almost 15 percent from 2004 through 2006.
• The risk-adjusted cardiovascular disease death rate among women at the best-performing hospitals was almost 40 percent lower than at poor-performing hospitals and 22 percent lower than at average-performing hospitals.

"The impact of women's health on the U.S. health care system is tremendous, accounting for nearly 60 percent of all hospital admissions," lead author Dr. Samantha Collier, chief medical officer at HealthGrades, said in a prepared statement.

"It is imperative, based on the huge differences in the quality identified in our study, that women research their local hospital's clinical outcomes before choosing where to receive their care," she said.

The analysis of maternity care included more than 12.5 million hospital delivery and newborn records from 2004 through 2006 in 17 states. The analysis of cardiac/stroke care included more than one million hospitalizations over the same three-year period.

More information

The National Women's Health Information Center has more about women's health.