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FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women addicted to opioids have both a compelling reason to change and a harder time getting medications to battle their substance use disorder.Now, a new plan from the Biden administration would expand the use of medications to treat addiction in pregnant women through federal court and health programs. "This is a bold statement, a big moment, coming from the president and the vice president, to show that pregnancy is the golden opportunity to help women get into recovery," Dr. Anna Lembke, medical director of addiction medicine at Stanford University, told the New York Times.The White House was expected on Friday to release a report on the initiative, which would use the Justice Department, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the...

FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- New government data shows that the chickenpox vaccine has virtually eliminated deaths and severe cases of the virus in U.S. children and teens.In the analysis, released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 97% fewer chickenpox cases among people under 20, along with 94% fewer hospitalizations and 99% fewer deaths through 2019. An estimated 90% of American children are now vaccinated against chickenpox.“The high vaccination coverage the country has achieved has led to a huge decline in cases, from 4 million per year” to around 150,000, Dr. Mona Marin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, told NBC News.Marin said those statistics represent “a...

FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- The ways Donald M. Bell and his Chicago neighbors connect with one another are as simple as they are significant."We have certain rituals that pull certain clumps of people together," said Bell, 73. Sometimes, it's gathering to watch "Jeopardy!" in the community room of their senior apartment building. Other times, they make meals for each other, because cooking for one can be hard, but sharing is easy.They watch one another's pets and accompany each other on visits to the doctor and check in on their neighbors after medical procedures – such as the triple-bypass surgery Bell had about six years ago.Such acts are healthy for anyone at any age. But as residents of the city's first LGBTQ-friendly senior housing development,...

FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Victims of sexual assault are seeking treatment in U.S. emergency rooms in growing numbers, with University of Michigan (UM) researchers detecting a 15-fold increase between 2006 and 2019.Rapes and other forms of sexual assault occur every 68 seconds in the United States, and their number rose from 93,000 in 2006 to nearly 140,000 in 2019, according to data from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The increase in people seeking emergency medical care after sexual violence, however, is greater than the growth of those turning to the police for help, the study authors said.And while there are more sexual assaults occurring, greater awareness and hospital coding changes are also contributing to the spike, the researchers noted. "Overall...