Latest Health News

FRIDAY, Sept. 23, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- After nearly three years of nearly nonstop talking about viruses and vaccinations, some people might be ready to tune out.That would be a mistake, health experts say.Amid warning signs of a potentially severe flu season ahead, those experts worry "vaccine fatigue" will keep people from getting their flu shot – and with it, a simple, safe way to protect themselves from life-threatening conditions, including heart attacks and strokes.Australia, where winter is wrapping up, often serves as a crystal ball for influenza in the United States, and the signs are not good, said Dr. Martha Gulati, director of cardiovascular disease prevention in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles."The Southern Hemisphere had a...

FRIDAY, Sept. 23, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- An increased risk of blood clots persists for close to a year after a COVID-19 infection, a large study shows. The health records of 48 million unvaccinated adults in the United Kingdom suggest that the pandemic's first wave in 2020 may have led to an additional 10,500 cases of heart attack, stroke and other blood clot complications such as deep vein thrombosis, in England and Wales alone. The risk of blood clots continues for at least 49 weeks after infection, the study found."We have shown that even people who were not hospitalized faced a higher risk of blood clots in the first wave," said study co-leader Angela Wood, associate director of the British Heart Foundation Data Science Centre."While the risk to individuals remains small, the...

FRIDAY, Sept. 23, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- People with a rare genetic form of ALS may benefit from extended use of an investigational drug, a new study shows.The medication, tofersen, benefited patients with mutations of the gene SOD1. These mutations create a misfolded version of a protein, which leads to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.In a phase 3 clinical trial, tofersen reduced molecular signs of the disease and curbed neurodegeneration, the decline and loss of nerve cell function. It did not improve movement and muscle strength at six months. But longer-term use may help stabilize muscle strength and control, the study showed.Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis called that result encouraging."This is an exciting...

FRIDAY, Sept. 23, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Nerve damage is a common side effect of type 2 diabetes and it might start in the eyes long before the condition is ever diagnosed, new research suggests. In this study, scientists used neuropathy, or nerve damage, in the eye’s cornea as a proxy for the damage to nerves throughout the body.The study included nearly 3,500 people — 21% with type 2 diabetes, 15% with prediabetes and 64% with neither condition — and the investigators looked at the corneal nerves in all three groups.The researchers found that the amount of damage to the corneal nerves rose in tandem with the amount of impairment to glucose metabolism.People with prediabetes had corneal nerve damage that was 8% higher than those with no diabetes. Meanwhile, those with diabetes...