Doctors' Orders: Feb. 14, 2005

STRONG, SILENT AND OBLIVIOUS

A new study finds that feeling loved and having a warm, cuddly support group helps women ward off depression but doesn't do much for men. Paradoxically, men may suffer more than women do from the adverse effects of isolation--such as a weakened immune system.

CHICKEN POX: GOOD NEWS AND BAD

The chicken-pox vaccine introduced in the U.S. in 1995 has cut infections, and the number of deaths per year from the childhood disease is down from 145 to 66. But some doctors are worried it could also lead to an increase in shingles, a related but even nastier disease. Adults exposed to kids with chicken pox tend to be protected against shingles, but now there will be fewer infected children around to help. The kids, however, as they age, may be resistant to shingles.

DON'T FORGET TO TAKE YOUR ASPIRIN

Stroke survivors taking aspirin daily to prevent a second stroke should know that patients in a study who stopped taking it tripled their risk of having another stroke within a month. Two-thirds of the patients quit--probably unnecessarily--on their doctor's say-so in preparation for surgery or because of minor intestinal bleeding.