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WEDNESDAY, Aug. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- New hospitalizations for Americans with severe COVID are climbing once again.The number of patients being admitted to hospitals has grown for each of the past four weeks, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows. Southeastern states have been hit the hardest.In the week ending Aug. 5, the United States had 10,320 newly hospitalized patients. That’s a 14.3% increase, but it's still much lower than last summer’s peak of more than 42,800 in a week.The Southeastern region that includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee had nearly 4.6 new patients hospitalized with COVID-19 per 100,000 residents. Overall, the country saw just over 3 new patients per 100,000...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Having good fitness while young can really pay off when it comes to cancer risk later in life. New research found that cardiorespiratory fitness -- the ability to do aerobic exercise -- was associated with up to 42% lower risk of nine cancers, including head and neck, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, colon, kidney and lung.Researchers used Swedish registry data up to the end of 2019, covering background information, medical diagnoses and deaths for male conscripts who started their military service between 1968 and 2005.The conscripts were age 16 to 25 when they started their service and had a battery of assessments at that time, including height, weight (body mass index), blood pressure, muscular strength and cardiorespiratory...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Whether a patient experiences pain a year after a heart attack -- and not necessarily heart pain -- may predict a person’s long-term survival. New research suggests it is linked with higher likelihood of death within the next eight years. “Pain causes significant loss of function and may lead to disability, all of which contribute to major, global public health issues. Research indicates that pain is linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease and overall death; however, the impact of pain on death after a heart attack has not yet been examined in large studies,” said study author Linda Vixner, an associate professor of medical science at the School of Health and Welfare at Dalarna University in Falun, Sweden.In the study,...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Some patients with acute brain injuries can’t respond to verbal commands, making them appear to be unconscious though they still have some level of awareness.Researchers recently studied this hidden consciousness to better understand this puzzling phenomenon.“Our study suggests that patients with hidden consciousness can hear and comprehend verbal commands, but they cannot carry out those commands because of injuries in brain circuits that relay instructions from the brain to the muscles,” said study leader Dr. Jan Claassen. He's associate professor of neurology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.Findings from this study could help doctors more quickly identify the brain-injured patients...