(Reuters Health).A high body mass index in middle-aged men is associated with the risk of stroke during 28 years of follow-up, even after taking into account other risk factors, such as hypertension and diabetes, Swedish investigators have found.

Obesity is increasingly accepted as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but its role in stroke is less clear, Dr. Katarina Jood and colleagues note in a rapid access October 28th issue of Stroke. They therefore prospectively followed men enrolled in the Multifactor Primary Prevention Study.

(Reuters Health) Patients with stable coronary artery disease and preserved left ventricular function who are already on intensive standard therapy show no clinical benefit from additional treatment with an angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor, investigators report.

The findings were reported Sunday at the American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans, and are being published in the November 11th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

(CDC) The Surgeon General’s report, The Health Consequences of Smoking (1), was released on May 27, 2004. This report provides an update, evaluation, and synthesis of evidence on the health consequences of active smoking and examines cancer, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and adverse reproductive and other effects.

(Reuters Health) The use of beta-blocker therapy in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) complicated by airway disease does not increase the rate of respiratory events and may actually improve outcome, according to results presented here today at CHEST 2004, the 70th annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Reuters Health: The results of a Danish study strongly indicate that the risk of stroke imposed by atrial fibrillation (AF) is significantly greater in women than in men.

“This finding is supported by other studies,” Dr. Jens Friberg from Bispebjerg University Hospital in Copenhagen noted in comments to Reuters Health. “Therefore, when evaluating patients with atrial fibrillation for anticoagulant therapy, the patient’s gender should be taken into account as an independent risk factor,” the researcher added.