Health Highlights: Oct. 10, 2008

Oct. 11 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Pregnancy Doesn't Cause Memory Problems

There's no evidence to suggest that pregnancy affects a woman's cognitive abilities, says an Australian study that challenges the widespread belief that pregnant women suffer memory problems.

The Australian National University study included 2,500 women aged 20 to 24 when they were first interviewed in 1999. The 76 women who were pregnant in follow-up sessions in 2003 and 2007 scored the same on logic and memory tests as they did in the initial interview, Agence France-Presse reported.

In addition, there were no differences between the pregnant women and the other women.

"It really leaves the question open as to why (pregnant) women think they have poor memories when the best evidence we have is that they don't," study leader Professor Helen Christensen told AFP.

She suggested that normal lapses in memory may be blamed on pregnancy, because that's what's foremost in expectant mothers' minds.

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House Repossession Major Threat to Mental Health

House repossession poses the biggest threat to people's mental health, even more than losing a job or receiving a diagnosis of infertility, according to a U.K. survey released Friday to mark World Mental Health Day.

The survey of about 2,000 people, conducted for the mental health charity Rethink, found that 46 percent of respondents rated house possession as the event that would most damage their mental health.

Rethink officials said the findings show that the current economic downturn could pose a significant threat to mental health and called for action to prevent "a mental health disaster," BBC News reported.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we see a rise in the number of people going to their doctor because of mental health problems in the coming months," said Paul Corry, Rethink's director of public affairs.

"Even for people lucky enough to hang on to their home, the stress and worry of arrears building up can be enough to harm your mental health -- this survey shows it worries millions of us," Corry told BBC News.