Childhood maltreatment, especially emotional abuse and neglect, are prevalent in migraine patients, U.S. researchers found. Dr. Gretchen E. Tietjen of the University of Toledo Medical Center and colleagues recruited a cross-sectional survey of headache clinic patients with physician-diagnosed migraine at 11 outpatient headache centers. Childhood maltreatment was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, a 28-item self-reported quantitat ... Jump to full article >>

Childhood exposure to environmental tobacco smoke correlated with increased evidence of emphysema on lung scans of nonsmoking adults, data from a large cohort study showed. Structural and quantitative indices of emphysema differed significantly on CT lung scans of adults with a childhood history of secondhand smoke exposure compared with those with a negative exposure history, Gina S. Lovasi, PhD, of the Mailman School of Public Health of Columb ... Jump to full article >>

Children exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke are at increased risk for lung cancer later in life — even if they never smoke themselves, researchers said. That risk is also modulated by genetic variation in a gene involved in innate immunity, according to Curtis Harris, MD, of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues. The findings come from a study in the December issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Preventi ... Jump to full article >>

Tue, May 26, 2009 (Reuters Health) — A new report provides both encouraging and discouraging data regarding the use of alcohol, cigarettes and illicit drugs by pregnant women and new mothers, according to a statement from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to national survey data, most women are paying attention to warnings about the d ... Jump to full article >>