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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

REMOVING TONSILS, APPENDIX MAY BE LINKED TO INCREASED RISK OF EARLY HEART ATTACK

HealthDay (6/1, Dallas) reported that "although the tonsils and appendix are not considered vital to the body, Swedish researchers have found that people who had them taken out before the age of 20 may be at a slightly greater risk of an early heart attack." Investigators "identified 54,449 appendectomies and 27,284 tonsillectomies performed on Swedish residents under the age of 20 years." The participants were followed for an average of more than 23 years. The researchers "concluded that tonsillectomy increased the relative risk of a heart attack by 44 percent, and appendectomy increased the relative risk by 33 percent." The study was published online in the European Heart Journal.

POSTED BY STEVEN ALMANY, MD

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