"If I'd been kept in the dark by a federal task force, I might not have been here to write this."

A reader sent me an article from the Mercury News entitled "Milken: Why block a cancer test that saves lives?"

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a panel supported by a congressional mandate, now recommends that healthy men not receive prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests, which measure a protein in the blood produced by prostate tissue. I agree that the current PSA test is inexact and, in many cases, leads to overtreatment that can have terrible side effects such as incontinence and impotence. However, research supported by the Prostate Cancer Foundation has led to the development of several new molecular markers that could soon complement or even replace the PSA test. These new tests, now in clinical trials pending approval from the Food and Drug Administration, should greatly improve diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. In the meantime, the USPSTF recommendation is a disservice to the majority of men. While it would eliminate some short-term health care costs, long-term costs of treating metastatic disease would be higher. And some men will die. A recent European study showed that testing reduced deaths significantly among men ages 55 to 69....

The Prostate Cancer Foundation agrees with the American Urological Association that PSA screening provides important information for men and their doctors. In 1993, I was one of those "healthy" men the task force says should not be tested. I asked for the test. The result was a reading six times the upper limit of normal. If I'd been kept in the dark by a federal task force, I might not have been here to write this.

Study Subjects Needed

I have been informed of a new study on domestic violence against men and am passing it along to readers:

The Men's Experiences with Partner Aggression Project is a research study at Clark University and is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Denise A.Hines, Ph.D., Clark University Department of Psychology, is the lead researcher on this project.

She is conducting this project in conjunction with Emily M. Douglas, Ph.D., Bridgewater State College Department of Social Work, the Survey Center at the University of Southern Maine, and the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women.

Our goal is to better understand the experiences of men who are in relationships with women who use violence. Extensive research has shown that men are at risk for sustaining partner violence in their relationships, yet few studies have investigated their experiences, and there are few resources available to such men. This is an under-recognized problem in the United States, and by conducting this research project, we hope to provide much needed information on these men, their relationships, and their needs.

If you are a man between the ages of 18 and 59 and you have been physically assaulted at least one time in the last 12 months by a current or former intimate female partner you may be eligible to participate in this study.

If you are interested in participating, please call the DAHMW at 1-888-743-5754 or email dahmwagency@gmail.com for information about the study and directions for participating. For more information about DAHMW visit their website:
http://www.dahmw.org/.

It's about time.

What I Learned in Men's Health

Warning--do not read this post should you be one of those types who suffers from Internet Induced Hypochondria.

I often read Men's Health magazine, it's not the best read in the world but one can generally get some no-nonsense information on diet, exercise and health. There was a very good article in the September 2007 issue on a heart condition that often afflicts fit men. There is probably a lot of recycling of these stories in various magazines, but I found this one informative.

The article, entitled, "The Fit Man's Heart Threat" takes a look at a condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. The author of the article is distraught that his friend, 43-year-old Bill died suddenly while running a marathon. He finds out his friend had cardiomyopathy and talks to the president of a foundation for this disease:

"Anything more than 1.5 centimeters is definitive," says Salberg. She explains that HCM is characterized by the thickening of heart muscle. As the muscle wall separating the right and left ventricles bulges, it obstructs the flow of oxygenated blood leaving the heart through the aorta, making it more difficult for the heart to function, particularly during exercise. It's caused by a genetic flaw that can be passed down from either parent. So far, researchers have pinpointed 14 genes associated with the condition. Those who carry any one of these genes generally develop HCM during adolescence or early adulthood.

Then she drops a whopper: One in 500 people has HCM. It's more prevalent in the United States than is HIV and Parkinson's.

And then another whopper: You know you have HCM if you die unexpectedly. That's often the first symptom. About 15 people in this country drop dead from the condition each day. It's the most common heart-related killer of men younger than 30.

One of the scary things about this disease is that exercise can bring it on:

.... In April, the American Heart Association released a scientific statement noting that although regular physical exercise is now widely advocated by the medical community, studies show it can increase your risk of early death. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that joggers in Rhode Island were 7.6 times more likely to die early than people who didn't run. In another study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers reported that the incidence of cardiac arrest during exercise was 25 times higher than during light activity or while resting. The AHA statement concluded that exercise "acutely" increases the risk of sudden death in "susceptible persons." For these people, "the health risks of vigorous physical activity almost certainly exceed the benefits."

Are you a susceptible person? I was, although my heart condition was a bit different. The only way to find out if you are at risk is to ask your doctor if you need tests such as an ECG or EKG and if abnormalities are found, to follow up with an echocardiogram (an ultrasound of the heart) or whatever tests the doc recommends.

If you have gotten this far in the post, don't get paranoid but do take care of your heart health; it's important.