Latest Health News

TUESDAY, Jan. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly two decades after terrorists attacked New York's World Trade Center, certain cancers are striking police and recovery workers who saved lives, recovered bodies and cleaned up the wreckage. This particular group of responders appears to have an increased risk of developing thyroid cancer, leukemia and prostate cancer, as well as a slightly elevated overall risk of cancer, researchers report. Yet, "there is no evidence of an epidemic of cancer. There is evidence of increased risk for certain cancers among WTC-exposed responders," said lead author Moshe Shapiro, a biostatistician with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. U.S. federal programs provide continuing care for the different types of rescue workers who...

TUESDAY, Jan. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Learning how to control the urge to urinate may be all the therapy men need to treat an overactive bladder, a new study suggests. A combination of drugs and behavioral therapy seems to work better than drugs alone, but behavioral therapy alone also worked better than drugs, the researchers found. The trial of 204 men with overactive bladder suggests behavioral therapy may be a good way to start treatment, the study authors said. "The study provides good evidence that for the group of men with overactive bladder, symptoms without obstruction from an enlarged prostate can be successfully managed with behavioral therapy alone," said Dr. Manish Vira, who was not involved with the study, but reviewed the findings. He's vice chairman of...

TUESDAY, Jan. 14, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- Researchers who went into one of the nation's poorest regions to educate people about their health ended up getting a few lessons themselves – and together, they made some striking improvements. The effort targeted Appalachian Kentucky, an area in the eastern part of the state that's near the bottom in economic measures but in the top 1% for cardiovascular disease. Social conditions that contribute to poor health – food deserts, limited educational opportunities, lack of space for exercise – abound. A team from the University of Kentucky enrolled 355 people, most of them women, who had at least two risk factors for heart disease. Participants chose the factor they wanted to focus on, then took part in a 12-week self-care...

TUESDAY, Jan. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder need not be a life sentence, a large Canadian study suggests. "It's so exciting," said lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson, director of the Institute for Life Course and Aging at the University of Toronto. People with generalized anxiety disorder worry excessively for long periods, and most days they struggle to control their discomfort, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Anxiety affects an estimated 31% of U.S. adults, is almost twice as common in women than men, and often goes hand-in-hand with major depression. Fuller-Thomson's team combed data from a 2012 Canadian mental health survey of just over 21,000 people in search of factors associated with "complete mental...