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WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Pfizer's modified COVID-19 vaccine for use in children under 5 was 73% effective in shielding them from infection during the Omicron surge this spring, company data released Tuesday shows.The specially formulated doses for America's youngest children were approved for distribution in June, although the American Academy of Pediatrics says uptake has been low. Just 6% of children under 5 had gotten immunized by mid-August, the group said.At the time of approval, the only studies supporting their use in small children were based on levels of antibodies triggered by the shots. The new data shows that the Pfizer vaccine does appear to protect young kids well against symptomatic COVID-19.In the new study -- conducted between March and June of this...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- People with type 2 diabetes might face a substantially increased risk of heart failure if they take ibuprofen or some other type of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), a new Danish study indicates.Short-term NSAID use increased risk of hospitalization for heart failure by 43% among over 331,000 people in Denmark who had type 2 diabetes but no previous heart problems, according to research presented Tuesday at the European Society of Cardiology's annual meeting, in Barcelona. Such research is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.NSAIDs increased the risk of heart failure even more in type 2 diabetics who were 80 or older (78%) or who had high blood sugar levels (68%), the results showed. Those who'd never...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The health risks of losing sleep are well known, ranging from heart disease to depression, but who knew that too little sleep can also make you selfish?That's the takeaway of new research from the University of California, Berkeley."This new work demonstrates that a lack of sleep not only damages the health of an individual, but degrades social interactions between individuals and, furthermore, degrades the very fabric of human society itself," said Matthew Walker, director of the university's Center for Human Sleep Science. "How we operate as a social species — and we are a social species — seems profoundly dependent on how much sleep we are getting.”Walker and co-author Eti Ben Simon, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology, noted that a...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Even after dropping 25 pounds, Megan Gilbert still had some insecurities when she looked in the mirror."After breastfeeding two kids and losing weight, my breasts no longer looked how I wanted them to," she said. "And I thought, 'Why be unhappy with this one part of my body after working so hard to make all these other improvements in my life?'"So Gilbert, 35, did something about it, joining a fast-growing group of American women under 45 who are getting cosmetic surgery. Nearly 30% of practices that specialize in cosmetic plastic surgery have seen demand for their services double since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).“With COVID, we prepared for the worst. But...