Health Highlights: June 2, 2009

June 3 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

FDA to Warn of Antidepressants' Impact on Tamoxifen: Report

The U.S. government plans to warn doctors that the interaction between the breast-cancer drug tamoxifen and popular antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft increases the risk of breast-cancer recurrence, the Wall Street Journal reported.

A study that included about 1,300 women found that the drug combination increases the risk of breast-cancer recurrence from the normal rate of 7.5 percent to 16 percent. As a result of the findings, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it would alert doctors to the negative interaction, the Journal said.

The study, led by researchers at Medco Health Solutions Inc., found that tamoxifen does not have this negative association with all antidepressants. Women who took drugs such as Celexa, Lexapro and Luvox didn't have a statistically higher rate of breast-cancer recurrence.

The findings were released last weekend at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Tamoxifen is used to prevent the return of estrogen-dependent tumors, one of the most common types of breast cancer.

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Slower Growth in Health Spending Would Boost U.S. Economy: Report

The national economy would benefit if growth in health-care spending slowed from 6 percent per year to 4.5 percent, according to a report released Tuesday by President Obama's chief economic advisers.

The Council of Economic Advisers said such a change would create as many as 500,000 jobs a year and boost annual income for the average annual family of four by $2,600 over the next decade, the Washington Post reported.

In addition, cutting costs while extending coverage to the 46 million uninsured Americans would remove "unnecessary barriers" to job mobility, improve the federal budget outlook and benefit the nation's overall economic well-being by about $100 billion a year, the council predicted.