Latest Health News

9Mar
2022

Pfizer Begins Trial of COVID Drug Paxlovid in Kids 6 to 17

Pfizer Begins Trial of COVID Drug Paxlovid in Kids 6 to 17WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Pfizer Inc. announced Tuesday that it has launched a Phase 2/3 clinical trial of its COVID antiviral pill known as Paxlovid in children ages 6-17.A news release from the company said the trial will assess the safety and efficacy of the drug in children with COVID symptoms and a confirmed infection who are not hospitalized and are at risk for severe disease."Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 11 million children under the age of 18 in the United States alone have tested positive for COVID-19, representing nearly 18% of reported cases and leading to more than 100,000 hospital admissions. There is a significant unmet need for outpatient treatments that can be taken by children and adolescents to help prevent progression to severe...

Man Who Received First Pig Heart Transplant Has Died

9 March 2022
Man Who Received First Pig Heart Transplant Has DiedWEDNESDAY, March 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The first person to receive a pig heart transplant in a groundbreaking procedure performed at the University of Maryland Medical Center in January has died, hospital officials said Wednesday.David Bennett, a 57-year-old Marylander, suffered from severe heart disease and had agreed to receive the experimental pig’s heart after he was rejected from several waiting lists to receive a human heart. He died Tuesday.Whether his body had rejected the foreign organ was unclear. "There was no obvious cause identified at the time of his death," a hospital spokeswoman told the New York Times, adding that Bennett's physicians had yet to conduct a thorough examination and plan to publish their findings in a peer-reviewed medical journal.Dr. Bartley...

Odds for Mental Illness Rise in Kids After Concussion

9 March 2022
Odds for Mental Illness Rise in Kids After ConcussionWEDNESDAY, March 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Kids who've suffered a concussion are at heightened risk of mental health issues in the aftermath, a large new study suggests.The researchers found that compared with their peers, children and teenagers with a past concussion were 39% more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health condition — including anxiety disorders, depression and behavioral disorders. They were also at greater risk of inflicting self-injuries.Experts stressed that most kids with concussions fully recover, and the findings are not cause for alarm.Instead, they said, the study underscores the importance of taking concussions seriously, and paying attention to kids' mental health afterward."The association between concussion and mental health outcomes is seen in some...

AHA News: Ready to 'Spring Forward'? Ease Into the Time...

9 March 2022
AHA News: Ready to `Spring Forward`? Ease Into the Time Change With These 9 Health TipsWEDNESDAY, March 9, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- If you struggle with the switch to daylight saving time, you might feel enlightened to learn it's not just in your head. It involves an interplay between the clock, sunshine and your body at a cellular level.Planning ahead to shift clocks forward one hour, which happens this year on March 13, could ease the transition, say sleep experts, who see the time change as a serious health threat."We all lose an hour of sleep from time to time," said Dr. Beth Malow, director of the sleep division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. But daylight saving time is more than that.For starters, "it's not just that one hour," Malow said. It can lead to more.High school students, for example, lost an average of 32...

Stressed Out by Ukraine News? Experts Offer Coping Tips

9 March 2022
Stressed Out by Ukraine News? Experts Offer Coping Tips WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The stories and images flowing out of Ukraine as it defends itself against a Russian invasion are gut-wrenching: Families lugging just a suitcase while crossing the border to safety in Poland in tears; bombed out apartments with people still hiding amid the wreckage; unlucky citizens losing their lives in the crossfire of war.This steady stream of tragedies from across the world is breaking the hearts of many Americans, so experts offer coping advice.Start by reducing your exposure to what's happening in Ukraine by limiting how much news you consume and turning off app notifications. "Veterans, especially those with diagnosed or undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], may especially be triggered by these scenes," said Dr....

Special Mouthguard May Be Alternative to CPAP for Sleep Apnea

9 March 2022
Special Mouthguard May Be Alternative to CPAP for Sleep ApneaWEDNESDAY, March 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Folks with sleep apnea are typically prescribed a CPAP machine to help them get a good night's sleep, but there's an alternative to the clunky, noisy devices that is growing in popularity.Oral appliances similar to mouthguards -- called mandibular advancement devices (MADs) -- have been shown to work as well as CPAP in treating sleep apnea for many patients, experts say.MADs have "become a growing part of our practice. We routinely recommend and offer the oral appliance as one of the options for treatment of sleep apnea," said Dr. Jing Wang, an assistant professor of sleep medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City."The oral appliances have been around for less time than CPAP, but they've grown a lot in...

Upcoming Surgery Worry You? Poll Says You're Not Alone

9 March 2022
Upcoming Surgery Worry You? Poll Says You`re Not AloneWEDNESDAY, March 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Many older Americans have concerns about elective surgery beforehand, but most who go through with it are satisfied with the outcome, a new survey finds.Elective surgery includes many operations for conditions that are not immediately life-threatening, such as knee replacement, hernia repair, cataract removal or taking out a gall bladder."If your physician is telling you to consider, or strongly consider, having an operation now for a health issue, and you have concerns, voice them," said poll associate director Dr. Jeffrey Kullgren. He is associate professor of internal medicine at Michigan Medicine-University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.In this online and phone survey of more than 2,100 Americans aged 50 to 80 years, 30% said they had...

Heaters, Pools, Bed Rails: Household Dangers Can Kill Seniors

9 March 2022
Heaters, Pools, Bed Rails: Household Dangers Can Kill Seniors WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A new report delivers a troubling statistic: Seven in 10 consumer product-related deaths occur among those over 65, even though these people only account for 16% of the U.S. population. Each year, consumer products are linked to roughly 3,800 deaths and nearly 3 million emergency department visits among older Americans, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) report found."It's a fact that older adults are far more likely to experience a significant injury, or fatality, from the hidden hazards associated with consumer products in their homes than other age groups," said CPSC chair Alex Hoehn-Saric."This new report is an important reminder that preventing consumer product-related injuries and deaths to older adults often begins by...

Some Americans Gained Better Habits During Pandemic,...

WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- About one-quarter of Americans say they made positive changes to their daily habits during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new poll shows.As U.S. states ended...

Heart Risks Double for People With Bipolar, Schizophrenia

WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- People with serious mental illness have up to double the risk of heart disease, and should have their heart health monitored from a young age, a new...
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