Welcome to the e-HealthFlash newsletter, brought to you by Goshen Health System. e-HealthFlash delivers to your mailbox timely medical news and, health and wellness information that matter to you and your family. To visit  Goshen Health System’s Womens website, click here.

Smoking boosts women’s hypertension risk
The list of tobacco’s dangers continues to lengthen for women. Investigators reviewing data on more than 28,000 women determined that women smoking 15 or more cigarettes a day had an 11 percent increased risk of developing hypertension--high blood pressure. Smoking 25 or more cigarettes a day translated to a 21 percent greater risk. Researchers of the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, note that cigarettes’ contribution to heart disease is in addition to the 5,000 chemicals and known carcinogens they contain.

January: Cervical Cancer Screening Month
Start the New Year with an ounce of prevention—be screened for cervical cancer by undergoing a pelvic exam and a Pap test, which detects cell changes in the cervix. Treatment can help prevent cell changes from turning into cancer. If the test does detect cancer, it’s easier to cure the earlier it’s found. Start getting regular Pap tests if you’re under age 21 and began having sex three years ago or if you’re over age 21, even if you haven’t started having sex, and have the test at least once every three years. Almost all cervical cancers are caused by human papillomaviruses (HPV). If your Pap test results aren’t clear, you healthcare provider may want to perform an HPV test. But screening is imperative—cervical cancer often doesn’t have symptoms or cause pain.

Depression may lead to bone loss
Premenopausal women with even mild depression may be at additional risk for osteoporosis—and the level of bone loss may be as great as that associated with smoking, low-calcium intake and limited weight-bearing exercise. In a study reported in Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers examined nearly 90 depressed women and more than 40 nondepressed women between ages 21 and 45. After undergoing dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, or DEXA, scans, depressed women were found to have thinner bone than those who were not depressed. Blood and urine tests revealed that depressed women had higher levels of inflammation-promoting proteins and lower levels of inflammation-fighting proteins than the nondepressed women, which may promote bone loss.  

Shedding baby weight is a dream
Dropping that extra baby weight may require the one thing new moms say is nearly impossible to get: more sleep. In a study of more than 900 women, researchers found that women who slept five hours or less a night when their babies were six months were more likely to have held onto 11 pounds by baby’s first birthday. New moms who slept seven or more hours a day had lost more weight. The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.