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Women who suffer from high blood pressure during pregnancy, a condition known as pre-eclampsia, appear to be at increased risk of developing heart disease at an early age, a new study suggests.

"Pregnancy is a kind of stress test," explained the study's lead author, Graeme Smith of Queen's University in Kingston.

"And if you fail the stress test ... it really reflects what your risk of future cardiovascular disease is going to be."

Between 5 and 10 per cent of women get pre-eclampsia, and despite their problem pregnancies, they generally appear to be in good health. But the new study reveals that many of them already have early signs of heart disease.

Dr. Smith and his colleagues examined a group of these women a year after they gave birth. The results showed "a lot of them have underlying cardiovascular risk factors," such as elevated levels of artery-clogging fats circulating in their blood, he said.

"Our data suggest that the development of pre-eclampsia may be the earliest identifiable risk marker ... for future cardiovascular disease," they write in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. Smith added in an interview that pre-eclampsia is essentially "unmasking" a problem.

"This is a glorious opportunity to improve women's health long term, because you can basically prevent most cardiovascular disease if you diagnose the risk factors early and treat them ... through lifestyle modifications or medications," he said.

Previous studies have also pointed to a link between pre-eclampsia and cardiovascular risk. But Dr. Smith said most physicians don't yet recognize pre-eclampsia for what it is - a harbinger of heart disease. As a result, patients aren't getting timely treatment.

Cancer test in doubt

Cholesterol-lowering drugs appear also to drive down blood levels of a protein normally used to measure a man's risk of prostate cancer, a recent study reveals.

The researchers admit they are not sure how to interpret the finding. "We don't know what it means," said Stephen Freedland of Duke University school of medicine in Durham, N.C.

It's possible that the drugs, known as statins, are protecting men from developing prostate cancer. But it's equally possible statins are producing misleading readings that could get in the way of an accurate diagnosis of cancer.

To screen for prostate cancer, doctors order a blood test that measures the level of PSA (prostate specific antigen) - a protein produced by the prostate gland. An elevated PSA reading can be an indication that a tumour is growing in the prostate gland. Doctors usually follow up with a biopsy in which some prostate cells are surgically removed and analyzed for signs of cancer.

The new study showed that PSA levels dropped by an average of 4 per cent in men after they began taking statin medications, which include atrovastatin (brand name Lipitor), pravastatin (Pravachol) and simvastatin (Zocor).

Robert Hamilton, a urologist at the University of Toronto who led the study while he was a research fellow at Duke University, is concerned that doctors might not perform biopsies on men whose PSA readings have been artificially deflated by statins.

"It's really important that we understand what's at work here, so we can be sure we're not missing cancers because of deceptively low PSA levels," he said in a statement accompanying the study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Even so, Dr. Freedland said men with high cholesterol should continue taking their medications. But to play it safe, doctors should keep in mind that smaller changes in PSA levels may now provide enough justification for a biopsy.

Upside to migraines

Migraines are no fun, but a new study may provide some solace to women who are plagued by the debilitating headaches.

Women with a history of migraines have a 30-per-cent lower risk of breast cancer than those who are migraine-free, says the study's senior author Christopher Li at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

The researchers don't know why these women are less likely to develop the disease, but they suspect that hormones are playing a role. Dr. Li noted that many women suffer migraine attacks when they undergo fluctuations in estrogen levels during their menstrual cycles. Certain breast-cancer tumours contain estrogen receptors that help to stimulate their growth.

The study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, "points to potentially new biological pathways" that may lead to the development of novel treatments and prevention strategies, Dr. Li said.

"This is really the first study to look at this association, so there is still a lot of work to be done"