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TUESDAY, March 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- As the United States witnessed its deadliest day yet of the coronavirus pandemic on Monday, more than 100 million Americans -- nearly 1 in 3 -- have now been ordered by their state's governors to stay home. More than 46,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, with 100 new deaths reported on Monday alone, bringing the country's death toll to 541, CNN reported. Also on Tuesday, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach agreed to postpone the Summer Olympics till at least the summer of 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, a tripling in the number of coronavirus cases could make America the world's next hot spot, World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris...

MONDAY, March 23, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Weight-loss surgery is associated with a significantly lower risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure and death, a new study reveals. The study included more than 7,400 severely obese people, average age 36, in Denmark who had not suffered a heart attack or stroke. Half of the participants had weight-loss ("bariatric") surgery and half did not (the "control" group). Over an average follow-up of 11 years, there were 37 fatal or non-fatal heart attacks or strokes in the weight-loss surgery group, and 93 in the control group, a 60% difference. New diagnoses of heart failure during follow-up were 60% lower in the weight-loss surgery group than in the control group (22 versus 46) and death from any cause was 80% lower in the surgery group...

MONDAY, March 23, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- There's been a sharp increase in high blood pressure-related deaths in the United States, particularly in rural areas, a new study says. Researchers analyzed data on more than 10 million U.S. deaths between 2007 and 2017 and found that death rates linked to high blood pressure (hypertension) rose 72% in rural areas and 20% in urban areas. The increase was highest in the rural South, which had more than twice the rate of high blood pressure-related deaths than other regions. Age-adjusted rates increased in the rural South from nearly 24 deaths per 100,000 people in 2007 to 39.5 per 100,000 in 2017. A combination of poor diet, high rates of obesity and diabetes, and a lack of access to health care may play a part in the regional differences,...

MONDAY, March 23, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Having opioid withdrawal symptoms increases the odds that injection drug users will share needles or have a non-fatal overdose, new research suggests. For the study, the researchers questioned more than 800 injection drug users in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Eighty-five percent said they had had at least one withdrawal episode in the previous six months. More than one-third reported withdrawal symptoms -- such as severe pain, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, agitation and anxiety -- weekly or more often. Most said their withdrawal symptoms were very or extremely painful. Any opioid withdrawal was associated with needle sharing and non-fatal overdose, the researchers found. People who said they had withdrawal symptoms...