Health Buzz: Study Finds Flame-Retardant Chemical May Harm Fertility

A new study suggests that flame-retardant chemicals called PBDEs, found in some items around the home, might be making it more difficult for women to get pregnant, HealthDay reports. Researchers studied PBDE blood levels in 223 pregnant women and asked how long it took them to conceive. The team found that those with high levels were up to 50 percent less likely to get pregnant in a given month than women with lower levels. Nearly all Americans (97 percent) have PBDEs at detectable levels in their blood. The study doesn\'t conclusively find that fertility is affected by the chemicals; more research is necessary, the researchers said. So far, most research on the effects of PBDEs has been done in animals, says study author Kim Harley, of the University of California-Berkeley, HealthDay reports. The study is published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

More evidence supporting the value of exercise in preventing diseases of aging was released yesterday: A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that a strength-training program reduced the risk of a decline in executive function, which is associated with decision making and focusing on something without becoming distracted, U.S. News\'s Katherine Hobson reports.

Authors of an editorial accompanying the study write that more randomized controlled trials are needed to see whether prescribing a long-term exercise program in the populations who are at most risk of disability, cognitive decline, and other age-related problems can make a difference. One study will be recruiting participants next year to answer the question of whether a structured exercise program can prevent major mobility disability, the authors write.

Teen pregnancies are on the rise according to a report issued yesterday by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonpartisan research organization that focuses on sexual health. The report found that the pregnancy rate among American teens rose 3 percent in 2006 (the latest year for which statistics are available), teen birthrates rose 4 percent, and abortion rates were up 1 percent.

Overall, about 7.2 percent of girls ages 15 through 19 became pregnant in 2006, compared with nearly 7 percent in 2005, U.S. News\'s Deborah Kotz reports. Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association told the Washington Post that she blamed the increase on \"an oversexualized culture, lack of involved and positive role models, and the dominant message that teen sex is expected and without consequences.\"

Heather Boonstra, Guttmacher\'s senior public policy associate, says the reasons for the increase are probably complex and multifold. \"We\'ve been seeing declines in contraceptive use,\" she says, probably at least in part because of complacency about HIV, the AIDS virus that fueled a rise in condom use among teens in the 1990s. Read more.
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