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WEDNESDAY, May 10, 2023 (American Heart Association News) -- Many Hispanic people in the United States face socioeconomic disadvantages and lower access to affordable health care. Despite these and other challenges to their health, they generally tend to live longer than other racial or ethnic communities – a health phenomenon that's been studied for decades.The "Hispanic paradox" has been widely recognized since 1986, when University of Texas researchers Kyriakos Markides and Jeannine Coreil published their analysis of two decades' worth of studies. Their review noted that Hispanic people in the Southwest fared better in key health indicators, including death due to cardiovascular diseases and some types of cancer."The idea was that despite the fact that Hispanics as a group have...

WEDNESDAY, May 10, 2023 (American Heart Association News) -- One hot day last June, Elmar Uy and his girlfriend, LJ Jennings, were gardening outside their home in Hudson, New Hampshire, when something strange happened. Everywhere Uy looked, he saw crescent-shaped spots.Jennings thought Uy might be dehydrated. She got him some water.Over the next few days, Uy's eyes became sensitive to light. He had headaches. He thought it might be an ocular migraine. He took to staying in dark rooms at home to avoid bright light.Uy saw a neurologist who specializes in headaches. The doctor ordered several tests. Uy was still waiting for some results when July Fourth weekend rolled around.He happily gathered with his sons, Junior and Brandon, and their kids at the family's holiday home in the...

WEDNESDAY, May 10, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- More patients are choosing radiation therapy over surgery to treat their early-stage lung cancer, but a new study argues they might be making a mistake.People who are good surgical candidates for lung cancer appear to have a five-year survival rate that’s 15 percentage points lower if they opt to have radiation treatment instead, according to findings presented Monday at a meeting of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, in Los Angeles.“It seems like surgical patients get a real benefit in long-term survival, and you see a real separation in the survival curve after two years,” said lead researcher Dr. Brooks Udelsman, a cardiothoracic surgeon with Yale School of Medicine. “If you have a patient who is expected to live more...

WEDNESDAY, May 10, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Finding out that you or a loved one has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can be alarming and may leave you with a lot of questions.Though COPD has no cure, it’s a condition that can be managed with the right treatments and medications, according to the American Lung Association (ALA).Here’s what you need to know about COPD, including what it is, its causes, symptoms, stages and risk factors, plus the many treatment options available to those living with the condition.What is COPD?COPD is a group of progressive, chronic diseases that constrict airflow in and out of the lungs so that less oxygen moves through the body.“It's three different illnesses, all of which create the same fundamental problem, which is you can't blow out...