Panic attacks put heart at risk, study finds

The rapid pulse and shortness of breath of a panic attack can feel like a heart attack, and it may signal heart trouble down the road, a study of more than 3,000 older women suggests.

Women who reported at least one full-blown panic attack during a six-month period were three times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke over the next five years than women who didn't report a panic attack.

The researchers took into account other risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, inactivity and depression and still found that panic attacks raised risk.

The findings add panic attacks to a list of mental-health issues — depression, fear, hostility and anxiety — already linked in previous research to heart problems, said study co-author Dr. Jordan Smoller of Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital.

The study was published in Monday's Archives of General Psychiatry.

Taking drug soon after stroke urged

Administering the antibiotic minocycline within 24 hours after a stroke significantly reduces brain damage and physical impairment, Israeli researchers reported today.

Researchers hope the drug, which also combats inflammation, might prolong the "golden window" during which strokes can be treated.

Clot-dissolving drugs — now the gold standard for stroke treatment — must be administered to stroke victims in the first three hours to be effective, and many patients do not receive them in time.

If the study can be replicated, "minocycline could be an important means of reducing the disabling effects of stroke," said Dr. Steven Pacia, a neurologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York who was not involved in the study.

The findings were published in the journal Neurology.

Fight Alzheimer's with self-discipline?

A surprising study of elderly people suggests that those who see themselves as self-disciplined, organized achievers have a lower risk for developing Alzheimer's disease than people who are less conscientious.

A purposeful personality may somehow protect the brain, perhaps by increasing neural connections that can act as a reserve against mental decline, said study co-author Robert Wilson of Chicago's Rush University Medical Center.

Astoundingly, the brains of some of the dutiful people in the study were examined after their deaths and were found to have lesions that would meet accepted criteria for Alzheimer's — even though these people had shown no signs of dementia.

"This adds to our knowledge that lifestyle, personality, how we think, feel and behave are very importantly tied up with risk for this terrible illness," Wilson said. "It may suggest new ideas for trying to delay the onset of this illness."

Previous studies have linked social connections and stimulating activities like working puzzles with a lower risk of Alzheimer's. The same researchers reported previously that people who experience more distress and worry about their lives are at a higher risk.

The new findings, appearing in Monday's Archives of General Psychiatry, come from an analysis of personality tests and medical exams of 997 older Catholic priests, nuns and brothers.

Workdays lost to illness tracked

U.S. adults who suffer from mental and physical illnesses miss work or are unable to carry out their usual activities for nearly 32 days a year, according to a study published Monday.

Neck and back pain and depression were the two biggest problems, the report said.

The result is that 2.4 billion days are lost every year to physical problems and 1.3 billion from mental ailments in the population over age 18, said the report from U.S. government and Harvard Medical School researchers.

The study did not put a price tag on the mental and physical disability but said the lack of measurement for such indirect costs in the past has led to "unrealistically low estimates" of what illness costs society.

The study was published in the Archives of Psychiatry and based on a sample of nearly 6,000 adults questioned in person.

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