Latest Health News

4May
2023

Radiologists' Group Pushes for Breast Cancer Risk 'Assessment' by Age 25

Radiologists` Group Pushes for Breast Cancer Risk `Assessment` by Age 25THURSDAY, May 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- While the typical recommendation is for women to start getting mammograms at age 40, the American College of Radiology has released new guidelines that call for all women to have a breast cancer risk assessment by age 25 to determine if they should start screening mammograms before they turn 40. This early step is particularly important for women who are Black or Ashkenazi Jewish, the guideline authors said. Woman who have higher risks because of their genes, such as those who carry the BRCA1 gene mutation, as well as women exposed to chest radiation at a young age and those with a calculated lifetime breast cancer risk of 20% or more should begin having MRI screening started at ages 25 to 30, the American College of Radiology (ACR) now...

U.S. Death Rate Declined in 2022, COVID Deaths Fell by...

4 May 2023
U.S. Death Rate Declined in 2022, COVID Deaths Fell by Almost HalfTHURSDAY, May 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Preliminary mortality data for 2022 finds America making its way back from the devastation of the pandemic, with a significant 5.3% decline in deaths compared to 2021.And although COVID-19 remained the fourth leading cause of death in the United States last year, the number of fatalities linked to the disease fell by almost half -- from 462,193 deaths in 2021 to 244,986 deaths in 2022. COVID was responsible for about 5.7% of American deaths in 2022, down from 12% a year earlier. Among COVID-19 fatalities, men continued to be at higher risk of dying than women. The new figures, compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are called “provisional” because the numbers aren’t yet final. They’re based on data from the...

Pills, Exercise, Dieting: What Works Best to Lose Weight?

4 May 2023
Pills, Exercise, Dieting: What Works Best to Lose Weight?THURSDAY, May 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Hundreds of thousands of people are jumping on the Ozempic bandwagon and taking prescription medications to slim down, while others swear by intermittent fasting and other diet fads, but new research shows that they're all likely barking up the wrong trees.There isn’t any shortcut or magic bullet to losing weight, keeping it off, and improving your health, a new study of more than 20,000 people affirms.“Most adults slowly gain weight over decades of their life but turn to drastic, often dangerous, means to decrease body weight,” said study author Colleen Spees, an associate professor of medical dietetics at Ohio State University in Columbus. “Indeed, non-evidence-based diet practices are on the rise in large part due to social media...

Do All Heart Attack Survivors Need Long-Term Beta...

4 May 2023
Do All Heart Attack Survivors Need Long-Term Beta Blocker Meds?THURSDAY, May 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- It's standard for heart attack survivors to take beta blocker medications for years afterward, but a new study suggests that may be unnecessary for people who've had a milder heart attack. Researchers found that among heart attack survivors whose hearts still had normal pumping ability, there was no added benefit from using beta blockers for more than one year. They were no less likely to die or suffer a repeat heart attack than patients who were not on beta blockers long term.Experts said the findings, published May 2 in the medical journal Heart, are not enough to change treatment guidelines.But it's also "reasonable" for patients on beta blockers to ask their doctor why they're using the medication, and whether continuing is necessary, said...

Kids With Nonverbal Autism May Still Understand Much Spoken Language

4 May 2023
Kids With Nonverbal Autism May Still Understand Much Spoken LanguageTHURSDAY, May 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- About a third of children with autism aren’t able to speak -- but that doesn’t mean they're unable to listen and comprehend, a new study reports.About 1 in 4 kids and teens who have autism and are minimally verbal understand significantly more language than they’re able to produce, said lead researcher Yanru Chen, a postdoctoral associate with the Center for Autism Research Excellence at Boston University.The study also revealed that children with better motor and social skills had a greater chance of understanding what people are saying, even if they can’t speak themselves.“Our findings highlight the importance of supporting language comprehension development in [these] individuals,” Chen said. “Clinicians and therapists should...

Medical Marijuana Can Safely Control Cancer Patients' Pain: Study

4 May 2023
Medical Marijuana Can Safely Control Cancer Patients` Pain: StudyWEDNESDAY, May 3, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Medical marijuana can safely reduce cancer pain, and is apparently so effective that patients wind up taking lower amounts of opioids and other pain meds, a new study reports.Weed produced clinically significant reductions in cancer patients’ worst pain, average pain and overall pain severity, said senior researcher Dr. Antonio Vigano, an associate professor of oncology and medicine at McGill University Health Center in Montreal.“Medical cannabis can be safely introduced in the care of cancer patients and can really lead to a decrease in different parameters by which we measure cancer-related pain,” Vigano said. “These reductions in those measures can be stable and can last up to one year of follow-up.”Adding cannabis to a...

In Poorer Households, Quitting Smoking May Help Boost Food Supply

4 May 2023
In Poorer Households, Quitting Smoking May Help Boost Food SupplyTHURSDAY, May 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Quitting smoking may leave you with more money for food.Having a tobacco smoker quit is not just a boon to lung health. In poorer families, it can also help prevent hunger, according to new research from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.“We aimed to explore if tobacco cessation could improve food security,” said lead author Kaitlyn Berry, a PhD candidate. “Tobacco is expensive and addictive; in the U.S., on average, a pack of cigarettes currently costs about $8 -- $240 per month for a pack-a-day smoker.“This means that when someone quits smoking, they can save a lot of money that could instead be used for other expenses,” Berry added in a school news release. Tobacco use and hunger are major threats to U.S. public...

Dangerous Infections in 'Preemie' Babies May Begin in the Gut

4 May 2023
Dangerous Infections in `Preemie` Babies May Begin in the GutTHURSDAY, May 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- About half of extremely preterm babies have at least one life-threatening bacterial infection in their bloodstream after 72 hours of life. Now, new research points to the babies’ own gut microbiomes as the source. Knowing that the most common bacteria in bloodstream infections are also commonly found to colonize the gut without causing disease at first, researchers set out to test whether the bloodstream infections came from the gut or from external transmission.“This is a vulnerable population,” said senior study author Gautam Dantas, a professor of pathology & immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “This is also a time when the composition of the gut microbiome is first developing. These early exposures...

Clocks Forward, Clocks Back: How Does Your Sleep Suffer?

THURSDAY, May 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Changing the clocks every spring and fall might seem challenging, but a new study reveals that only one of those changes had a tendency to increase sleep...

FDA Approves First RSV Vaccine

WEDNESDAY, May 3, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The first vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in seniors aged 60 and...
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