TUESDAY, Jan. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Women who stop being religiously active are three times more likely to suffer generalized anxiety disorder than women who have always been religiously active, researchers report.

In contrast, the researchers found that men who stopped being religiously active were less likely to suffer major depression compared with men who had always been religiously active.

"One's lifetime pattern of religious service attendance can be related to psychiatric illness," study co-author Joanna Maselko said in a prepared statement. She is an assistant professor of public health at Temple University.

Maselko and her team analyzed data from 718 adults who shared details of their religious activity in youth and adulthood. They found that a majority of the respondents changed their level of religious activity between childhood and adulthood. The data is published in the January issue of Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

According to Maselko, the gender differences in the relationship between religious participation and mental health may be tied to social networks. Women are more likely to build them through their religious activities, and then to feel the loss of those networks when they stop attending church, she explained.

Slightly more than one-third of the women reported always being religiously active. Half said they had not been active since childhood. About 7 percent of the women who were always religiously active could be categorized as having generalized anxiety disorder, compared with 21 percent of those who had ended their religious activities.

People with generalized anxiety disorder experience worries and concerns out of proportion to their daily lives, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. The disorder is diagnosed if the worries do not abate after six months. About 6.8 million Americans suffer from the disorder, which can seriously interfere with sleep and relaxation. Women are two times more likely to suffer from anxiety disorder than men.

"Everyone has some spirituality, whether it is an active part of their life or not; whether they are agnostic or atheist or just 'non-practicing.' These choices potentially have health implications, similar to the way that one's social networks do," Maselko said.

More information

For more on spirituality and health, go to the American Academy of Family Physicians  .

FRIDAY, Dec. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Farm women who come in contact with some widely used pesticides may have an increased risk of developing allergic asthma, a new study suggests.

However, the risk of developing non-allergic asthma does not increase for women exposed to pesticides, according to the study authors.

"Women who apply pesticides on farms were 50 percent more likely to have allergic asthma, although this was not true for non-allergic asthma," said study author Jane Hoppin, a staff scientist with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C. "Also, women who grew up on farms were protected against allergic asthma and that protection was evident whether or not you applied pesticides."

The findings are published in the January issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, non-allergic asthma is caused by factors not related to allergies. But allergic asthma -- the most common form of asthma, affecting more than 50 percent of the 20 million asthma sufferers in the United States -- is characterized by symptoms that are triggered by an allergic reaction. Some typical triggers for allergic asthma include dust mites, pet dander, pollen and mold.

Experts already knew that growing up on a farm minimizes the risk of allergic disease, that pesticides have been associated with respiratory symptoms in farmers, and that farmers are at increased risk for respiratory diseases -- including asthma -- due to exposure to grains, animals, dust and other factors.

Little research, however, has delved into respiratory risk factors for farm women.

Hoppin and her colleagues examined data on 25,814 such women in North Carolina and in Iowa who are participating in the Agricultural Health Study, a large government-funded look at the effects of environmental, occupational and other factors on the health of the agricultural population.

"This is the largest study of farmers and their families in the world, so it gives us an opportunity to look at diseases that haven't been well characterized," Hoppin said.

The women reported whether or not they had been diagnosed with asthma and were then divided into two groups: those with atopic (allergic) asthma and those with nonatopic (non-allergic) asthma.

More than half the women in the study had used or been exposed to pesticides. Sixty-one percent of the women were raised on a farm, which protected against allergic asthma and, to a lesser extent, non-allergic asthma. Using pesticides was associated almost solely with allergic asthma, increasing the risk almost 50 percent, the study found.

The association between pesticide use and allergic asthma was strongest among women who had grown up on a farm. But because of the protective effect of having grown up in an agricultural setting, these women still had a lower overall risk of allergic asthma than women who did not grow up on a farm.

Women who were raised on farms but did not use pesticides had the lowest overall risk of allergic asthma, compared with women who neither grew up on farms nor applied pesticides.

Some less commonly used pesticides such as parathion were associated with triple the risk of allergic asthma. Some more commonly used pesticides such as malathion were also associated with a higher risk, the researchers said.

Other experts said the study findings were far from clear-cut.

"It's a little bit confusing," said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "I would expect that there would be more allergic asthma in anybody who grew up on a farm, but that's not exactly what they're saying. Also, it's difficult to separate farm work from pesticide use. I would need to see more data before coming to the same conclusions as the authors of the article did."

Because Hoppin's analysis was "cross-sectional," it can't show a cause and effect. "But given what we see in animals, it suggests that we should do a prospective analysis where we can then say pesticide use preceded asthma or asthmatic symptoms. That's really the next step," she said.

Hoppin said she and her colleagues are in the process of planning that next study.

More information

To learn more about asthma, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

FRIDAY, Dec. 21 HealthDay News) -- Only a third of breast cancer patients get to discuss their breast reconstruction options with their general cancer surgeon before the tumor is removed, new research finds.

In the study, more than 70 percent of general surgeons who removed the cancer did not talk over options for reconstruction -- which is typically done by a plastic surgeon -- before the woman underwent cancer surgery.

"It's disappointing," said lead researcher Dr. Amy K. Alderman, assistant professor of plastic surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor.

These discussions do matter: Women who discussed their options for reconstructing the breast beforehand with their physician were four times more likely to have a mastectomy (versus lumpectomy) compared to those who did not talk about the option, the researchers noted.

Th findings were published online Dec. 21 in Cancer and were expected to be published in the journal's Feb. 1 print edition.

Alderman and others contend it's crucial for a woman to understand all surgical options, and that includes reconstruction, so they can better choose the best treatment for them. About 180,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, according to the American Cancer Society.

Long-term outcomes are equal, Alderman said, regardless of whether a woman is treated with lumpectomy or mastectomy. Knowing initially about the option to reconstruct definitely affects a woman's decision, as the study showed.

Alderman and her colleagues looked at almost 1,200 women, average age 59. The women were diagnosed with breast cancer and lived in the Detroit and Los Angeles areas. All were candidates for either mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery. They had all undergone breast cancer surgery and were contacted about three months after their diagnosis.

Alderman's team asked them: Did you discuss reconstruction with your surgeon before the cancer surgery?

Just one-third of patients did, with younger, more educated women more likely to hear about the options from their general surgeon. Those with larger tumors were also more likely to hear about reconstruction options.

The operation to reconstruct a breast can be done right after mastectomy, in which the entire breast is removed, or it can be delayed. Immediate reconstruction offers a better cosmetic outcome and is psychologically better, Alderman said.

"It's helpful if they know all their options at that initial decision-making process," Alderman said. "There's no right or wrong answer."

Women will choose their course, she said, based on a number of factors, including their fear of cancer recurrence, their body image, and other factors.

"What we need to get across to consumers is, they need to be educated consumers of their own health care," Alderman said. If the surgeon doesn't bring up the topic of reconstruction, a woman should, she said, and the sooner the better.

The study didn't delve into why the surgeons didn't talk about the reconstruction option or refer the women to plastic surgeons. But Alderman suspected the "hassle" factor may play a role. The general surgeon must make sure, she said, that the women get in to see the surgeon who will do the reconstruction in a timely manner. "And then the general surgeon and the plastic surgeon have to coordinate their operating room schedules," she said.

Women themselves may be so focused on eliminating the cancer that they don't even broach the topic of reconstruction, Alderman said.

Another expert agreed that the small number of surgeons who initially discussed the reconstruction option was surprising.

"It's very sad that that so few surgeons are sending women for reconstructive appointments," said Dr. Mehra Golshan, director of Breast Surgical Services at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, Boston, who reviewed the study.

An initial meeting with a surgeon who does reconstruction will provide a woman with information on all options, "even if they decide to do [reconstruction] down the road," he said.

Like Alderman, Golshan couldn't say for sure why such a low number of surgeons referred their breast cancer patients to plastic surgeons for reconstruction discussions, but he speculated on a few possible reasons. "They may think complication rates are too high with immediate reconstruction," he said.

In truth, Golshan said, complications can be higher with immediate reconstruction if post-mastectomy radiation is required. "But not always," he said. And, "when there is no post-mastectomy radiation, the complications rates are equal between immediate reconstruction and delayed."

It's also possible that surgeons may be so focused on cancer elimination that they may not think about referring the patients for reconstruction information, Golshan added.

More information

To learn more about breast reconstruction, visit the American Society of Plastic Surgeons  .

THURSDAY, Dec. 20 (HealthDay News) -- A hormone called adrenomedullin may prove an effective drug target for treating lymphedema, a painful swelling of the limbs that can follow breast cancer or other cancer treatment, U.S. researchers say.

It may also help prevent the spread of cancer, according to a team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

Adrenomedullin, which is secreted by cells throughout the body, is known to play a role in cardiovascular disease and other cell functions. In a new study, the UNC group found that adrenomedullin also plays an important role in the formation of the lymphatic system in mice.

They said it may be possible to develop drugs that target this hormone in order to help the more than 100 million people worldwide who suffer from lymphedema. The condition occurs when the lymphatic system fails to work properly. In rare cases, it is genetic, but millions suffer lymphedema due to parasitic infections or as the aftermath of cancer therapies.

Currently, the only treatments for lymphedema include massage and the use of low-compression stockings and other garments. But these aren't much help, the UNC researchers said.

"Our research also may lead to therapies to prevent cancer cells from traveling through these lymphatic vessels to infiltrate other parts of the body," senior study author Kathleen M. Caron, assistant professor of cell and molecular physiology and genetics, said in a prepared statement.

The study is published in the Dec. 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

More information

The Society for Vascular Surgery has more about lymphedema  .