Health Report

THE GOOD NEWS

-- Regular workouts may improve the quality of life of the very old, according to a study of men and women in their 80s and 90s. Leg exercises enabled some participants to put aside walkers and use canes.

-- An analysis of data collected during 17 clinical trials of nicotine patches revealed that 22% of smokers who used the patch had not resumed smoking six months later -- more than double the success rate of 9% for smokers who tried to quit while using placebo patches.

THE BAD NEWS

-- More reason for asking pregnant women not to smoke: a study of nearly 9,000 $ children revealed that those whose mothers smoked during pregnancy had nearly 5% less air flow than other children and had more risk of getting respiratory ailments. (The study accounted for the risks of secondhand smoke after birth.)

-- Women who have breast cancer while pregnant are roughly three times as likely to die of the disease as cancer sufferers who have never been pregnant.

Sources -- GOOD: New England Journal of Medicine; Journal of the American Medical Association. BAD: Harvard School of Public Health; Lancet.