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MONDAY, May 19 (HealthDay News) -- Cosmetic skin fillers called polyalkylimide implant injections may cause infrequent, but sometimes severe, immune-related side effects months after treatment, Spanish researchers warn.

These implants, which consist of gel and water, are used in cosmetic procedures for facial features such as the lips, cheeks, forehead and lines that develop between the nose and mouth (nasolabial folds).

"In the early reports on polyalkylimide implant injections for cosmetic purposes, there were no significant signs of bioincompatibility (rejection of, or reaction to, the foreign material). However, more recent evidence refutes these statements, and so the complete safety of polyalkylimide implant gels can no longer be assured," wrote Dr. Jaume Alijotas-Reig, of Vall d'Hebron University Hospital and Autonomous University of Barcelona, and colleagues.

They assessed 25 patients who developed adverse effects 12 months or more after polyalkylimide implant injection. The problems included swelling, hardening, and swollen or tender nodules (skin lesions) near the injection site, along with systemic troubles such as fever, arthritis, and dry eyes or mouth.

"Eight patients were previously injected with another implant," the study authors wrote. "Tender inflammatory nodules were seen in 24 patients. Systemic or distant manifestations appeared in six cases. Laboratory abnormalities were found in 20 cases. After an average of 21.3 months of follow-up, 11 patients appeared to be free of adverse effects, and 10 still had recurrent bouts."

The actual rate of these kinds of delayed adverse events is unclear, said the authors, whose findings were published in the May issue of the journal Archives of Dermatology.

"Considering the increased use of polyalkylimide implants in European countries and in the United States, physicians should be aware that intermediate or delayed adverse effects can occur with polyalkylimide implants just as they can with collagen, polyacrylamide, polylactic acid or methacrylate (cosmetic fillers)," the authors wrote.

More information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has more about cosmetic procedures.

FRIDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) -- Women with breast cancer who have a vitamin D deficiency at the time of diagnosis are more likely to have a recurrence or to die from their disease, a new study shows.

Surprisingly, the researchers also found that only 24 percent of the patients had adequate levels of vitamin D when they were diagnosed.

"This study found that vitamin D deficiency is very common among women with breast cancer, and it suggests that vitamin D deficiency is linked to poorer outcomes in these women," Dr. Nancy Davidson, director of the breast cancer program at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, said during a May 6 press conference. Davidson is president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Nevertheless, the evidence isn't strong enough to suggest women with breast cancer take more of the vitamin.

"It's premature to tell all women diagnosed with breast cancer that they should take vitamin D supplements over and above what's recommended for bone health," said study author Dr. Pamela Goodwin, a medical oncologist with Mount Sinai Hospital and a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. "If you're a woman with breast cancer, it's probably worthwhile having vitamin D levels checked. If they're deficient, they should take more to get it in the range that we think is beneficial."

The optimal levels of vitamin D associated with breast cancer risk in this study do overlap with optimal levels for bone health, Goodwin added.

Prior research has suggested that vitamin D levels may be associated with breast cancer risk, an idea that is biologically plausible.

"We know from basic science studies that breast cancer cells have vitamin D receptors and can interact with vitamin D," explained Goodwin, who plans to present her findings at the ASCO annual meeting, being held from May 31-June 3, in Chicago.

There is, however, a lot of confusion about the different health benefits of vitamin D and, the authors said, daily allowance recommendations vary greatly around the world.

The study involved 512 women newly diagnosed with localized breast cancer (confined to the breast and arm pit) between 1989 and 1995. All participants had had blood taken at the time of diagnosis and had also filled out a questionnaire on diet. Vitamin D levels were measured by radioimmunoassay.

The women, whose age averaged about 50, were followed for just under 12 years. Of the total, 37.5 percent were deficient in vitamin D (the lowest levels), 38.5 percent had insufficient levels of vitamin D (not deficient but not quite healthy levels), and 24 percent had levels in the healthy range.

Women who were premenopausal, weighed more, had high insulin levels and had more aggressive tumors were all more likely to have low vitamin D levels.

"Fat tissue acts as a trap for vitamin D," Goodwin explained. "Levels were also lower in younger women, which was a bit of a surprise, until we realized older women were taking more supplements."

The risk of breast cancer spreading was almost double in women with deficient levels of vitamin D at diagnosis, compared with women whose levels were healthy, the researchers said.

The risk of dying of breast cancer was 75 percent higher in women with too-low levels of vitamin D versus women in the optimal range, they added.

However, there was no survival difference between women with healthy levels and insufficient levels. The data also suggested that there may be a small increased risk of metastasis or death if vitamin D levels are high, but not a statistically significant effect, Goodwin said.

"This suggests that there's a healthy level for vitamin D and, if you are deficient, you have an increased risk of metastasis, but if you go above [a certain point], your risk of death goes up again," Goodwin said.

Although it's not a firm conclusion, Goodwin added, the finding "is raising a red flag. It's probably not safe to take very high levels and get vitamin D levels up really high."

And the findings are consistent with another study which found that men with prostate cancer who took vitamin D died earlier than those taking a placebo.

More information

The American Society of Clinical Oncology   has more information on breast cancer.

THURSDAY, May 15 (HealthDay News) -- Statins appear to be associated with a lower risk of the heart rhythm abnormality known as atrial fibrillation in postmenopausal women with coronary disease.

"Our finding alone doesn't prove that statins prevent atrial fibrillation, but it certainly supports the hypothesis that they may," said study author Dr. Cara Pellegrini, an electrophysiology fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. "Most likely, we will need a randomized, controlled study that includes both men and women to further prove this question."

But as a practitioner, Pellegrini added, "I would have a low threshold for putting a patient in whom I'm concerned about atrial fibrillation on a statin. If they perhaps were somewhat borderline for other reasons, this might tip the scale, even in the absence of a formal clinical trial."

The study findings are to be presented Thursday at the Heart Rhythm Society's annual meeting, in San Francisco.

Atrial fibrillation occurs when the two upper chambers of the heart quiver, rather than beat in a coordinated way. Blood can pool in the chambers, and clots can form that travel to the brain, causing a stroke. One 2006 study put the number of Americans with atrial fibrillation at more than 5 million.

Researchers have been looking at the possibility of using statins in people with atrial fibrillation since the early part of the decade. Most prior studies focused on men, although men and women tend to be affected differently by atrial fibrillation. Women have more frequent episodes and seem to be harder hit by some of the complications, including bleeding and stroke.

The new study looked at nearly 2,700 postmenopausal women with existing coronary disease, following them for an average of about four years. The odds of having atrial fibrillation at the start of the study was 65 percent lower among women taking statins. The risk of developing atrial fibrillation during the study period was 55 percent lower in the statin group, the researchers found.

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of women and heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said: "Statins aren't anti-arrhythmic, but they are definitely one of the medications that can be used adjunctively to treat and prevent atrial fibrillation. Trials like this remind us that statins do a lot more than decrease cholesterol. They have this anti-inflammatory component, and when you see a study like this that shows such a decreased incidence of atrial fibrillation, you have to assume that it's through that anti-inflammatory pathway. This is pretty compelling."

Other research being presented at the meeting found no association between the consumption of omega-3 fatty acids or vitamin E and atrial fibrillation in women.

The first study, by researchers at Northwestern University, involved 46,704 women participating in the Women's Health Initiative who completed questionnaires about their intake of omega-3 fatty acids.

The second study looked at 38,933 healthy women over the age of 45 who had been randomly selected to receive either vitamin E or a placebo. The study, which lasted for about a decade, was conducted by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

More information

Visit the American Heart Association   for more on women and heart disease.

TUESDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) -- Women who breast feed for more than one year reduce their risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by half, according to a new Swedish study.

The researchers also found that having children but not breast-feeding offered women no protection against the disease.

Taking oral contraceptives also failed to reduce the risk of RA. It's been suspected that oral contraceptives offer protection against the disease because they contain hormones that are elevated during pregnancy.

The Malmo University Hospital study included 136 women with rheumatoid arthritis and 544 women without the disease. Women who breast-fed for 13 months or more were half as likely to get RA as those who never breast-fed. Women who had breast-fed for one to 12 months were 25 percent less likely to get the disease than those who never breast-fed.

Over the past 30 years, the number of women breast-feeding for more than six months has increased dramatically, the researchers noted. They said it's difficult to say whether there's a link between higher rates of breast-feeding and a corresponding decline in the number of women with rheumatoid arthritis.

However, the results of this study offer yet another reason why women should breast-feed their babies, the researchers concluded.

The study findings were published online May 13 in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease, characterized by inflammation of the lining -- or synovium -- of the joints. It can lead to long-term joint damage, resulting in chronic pain, loss of function and disability, according to the Arthritis Association.

More information

The Arthritis Foundation has more about rheumatoid arthritis  .