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FRIDAY, Dec. 17, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- This season's flu vaccine may do little to prevent infection with the main circulating virus strain because the strain has changed since the vaccine was developed, a new study suggests.However, the vaccine is still likely to protect against severe illness and death, according to the U.S. researchers. They assessed the vaccine's effectiveness against the H3N2 strain. The vaccine is also meant to protect against H1N1 and two strains of influenza B.Lab tests suggest a "major mismatch" between the vaccine and the new, mutated version of H3N2, study leader Scott Hensley, a professor of microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, told CNN.That finding may help explain a flu outbreak at the University of Michigan last month that...

FRIDAY, Dec. 17, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Recovery from heart surgery can bring some pain. But a new study suggests patients don't need potentially addictive prescription opioids to control that post-op discomfort."This study shows that discharge without opioid pain medicine after cardiac surgery is extremely well tolerated by some patients. In other words, we should not be reflexively prescribing pain medicine to people after surgery just in case they need it," said study author Dr. Catherine Wagner, of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor.The new study was published online Dec. 15 in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. In the research, Wagner's team analyzed data from more than 1,900 U.S. patients who underwent heart bypass surgery, heart valve surgery, or a combination of both...

FRIDAY, Dec. 17 2021 (HealthDay News) -- A new study confirms what many older women already know: Bladder problems in women worsen with age.The researchers found that postmenopausal women between 45 and 54 years of age are more likely to have overactive bladder syndrome, and that obesity and multiple births increase their risk for stress incontinence (urine leakage).Urinary incontinence is common among women, in general. Once they enter their 20s, an estimated 17% of American women are affected. That jumps to 38% of those aged 60 and older, research shows."Given the significant negative effect on quality of life and the presence of effective strategies for management of these burdensome symptoms, clinicians should routinely ask women about urinary incontinence," said Dr. Stephanie...

FRIDAY, Dec. 17, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Mask mandates work, according to a large international study that linked the laws with a reduction in COVID-19 deaths.The study included 44 countries with a combined population of nearly 1 billion. Over time, researchers found, the increase in COVID-related deaths was significantly slower in countries with mask laws than in countries without them."While several studies before this have looked at the impact of masks on COVID-19 cases, fewer studies were focused on whether mask wearing may reduce COVID-19 deaths, and no study had looked at the data across multiple countries," said lead investigator Dr. Sahar Motallebi of the Department of Social Medicine and Global Health at Lund University in Malmo, Sweden. "The large sample of culturally...