Latest Health News

MONDAY, Dec. 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Flu, RSV and COVID-19 are creating a perfect storm of respiratory disease that is overwhelming the nation's health care systems.Vaccination will be key to getting through the winter holidays with your health intact, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a media briefing Monday."For two of the three viruses discussed today, there are vaccines," Walensky said. "Both the updated COVID-19 vaccines and this year's flu vaccines were formulated to protect against the viruses that are currently circulating right now."This year's flu vaccine appears to be well-targeted to prevent illness, said Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, board chair of the American Medical Association. This is National Influenza Vaccination...

MONDAY, Dec. 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- American kids are drinking to excess less and abusing marijuana more, a new study finds.Marijuana abuse among 6- to 18-year-olds has increased 245% since 2000, while child alcohol abuse has steadily declined over those years, say researchers who analyzed poisonings over two decades. "This dramatic increase does coincide with this huge wave of decriminalization in the U.S.," said lead researcher Dr. Adrienne Hughes, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health & Science University.And use of cannabis has evolved over the years, too."We're seeing that adolescents are moving away from smoking weed, and they're moving on to alternative modes of consumption," like edibles, Hughes said. "A lot of times they're marketed in ways that...

MONDAY, Dec. 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Money may not buy happiness, but it might give low-income obese people an extra incentive to lose weight, a new study suggests.The study, of people from urban neighborhoods, found that cash rewards encouraged participants to shed some extra pounds, versus a weight-loss program with no financial bonuses.And the effects were similar whether people were rewarded for reaching their weight-loss goals, or simply for making healthy lifestyle changes.Over six months, 39% to 49% of people given cash incentives lost at least 5% of their starting weight. That compared with 22% of study participants given no monetary motivation.The caveat, experts said, is that no one knows how financial rewards pan out in the long run. In this study, the weight-loss...

MONDAY, Dec. 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Growing numbers of Americans are suffering prolonged, life-threatening seizures known as status epilepticus, and Black people are nearly twice as likely to experience these seizures as white people.These are the main findings from new research looking at hospitalizations for status epilepticus from 2010 to 2019 across the United States. Status epilepticus refers to a seizure that lasts for more than 5 minutes. Some people may experience convulsions during this state, while others may appear confused or seem like they're daydreaming. Status epilepticus is an emergency and requires treatment in the hospital.The study wasn’t designed to say why these severe seizures are on the rise, but researchers have their theories. “It may be related to...