Latest Health News

SATURDAY, Sept. 30, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The risk of falls increases in older age, and along with it, the risk for serious physical or psychological damage, but there are steps people can take to help prevent these accidents.Each year, about 27% of adults 65 and older fall and about 10% of those are injured.“If you've experienced a fall or have a fear of falling, you are at a higher risk of falling. Once an older adult falls, they can develop post-fall anxiety syndrome,” said Dr. Angela Catic, associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine's Center on Aging, in Houston.“It’s important for older populations to remain as independent as possible in their own homes. You can help support this by making sure common falling hazards are not in their homes,” Catic added in a...

FRIDAY, Sept. 29, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Faced with growing reports of inaccurate clinical lab tests, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced that it will for the first time regulate these vital diagnostic tools.Many Americans might have assumed that the FDA already had oversight of all medical tests; it does not. However, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said the time is now to monitor the quality of high-tech tests for cancer, heart disease and a myriad other illnesses. "A growing number of clinical diagnostic tests are being offered as laboratory developed tests without assurance that they work. The stakes are getting higher as these tests are increasingly being used to drive treatment decisions," Califf explained in an FDA news release. "According to the...

FRIDAY, Sept. 29, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Planning for your long-term financial future doesn’t just make good economic sense — it could also save your life.People in both the United States and the United Kingdom have a higher risk of dying prematurely if they aren’t engaged in long-term financial planning, according to a report published online Sept. 27 in PLOS One.In fact, the researchers found that the shorter a person’s financial planning horizon, the greater their risk of dying.“The people who live the longest are the ones who are looking years into the future,” lead researcher Joe Gladstone, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Colorado Boulder, said in a university Q&A.“It’s very scary how many people are living week to week, month to month,...

FRIDAY, Sept. 29, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The life-threatening infection sepsis was more common than once thought among COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic.Massachusetts researchers linked SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, to about 1 in 6 sepsis cases at five Boston hospitals during the pandemic's first 2-1/2 years.Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital said their findings suggest health care workers should rethink how they treat sepsis. The use of electronic health data also provides a framework for future sepsis surveillance, they said.“Most people, including medical professionals, equate sepsis with bacterial infections,” said lead author Dr. Claire Shappell, a specialist in pulmonology and critical care medicine. “This is reflected in treatment guidelines...