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MONDAY, July 31, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Whether knocking back a little alcohol or a lot, daily drinking is tied to higher blood pressure, a new research review warns.Compared with not drinking, just one alcoholic drink a drink a day is associated with higher blood pressure over time, even in people who previously had normal blood pressure levels, according to researchers who analyzed the results of seven prior studies. The upshot: Drinking and blood pressure control don’t mix, said study lead author Dr. Marco Vinceti. As blood pressure, or hypertension, rises, so do the odds for heart disease and stroke.How much is too much? “Clearly, the lower the better, and no consumption even better," said Vinceti, a professor of epidemiology and public health in the Medical School of the...

MONDAY, July 31, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Women are catching up to men when it comes to dying from alcohol abuse, a new study finds.Although men are nearly three times more likely to die from alcohol abuse than women, such deaths among women are rising at a faster rate. Between 2018 and 2020, alcohol-related deaths rose 12.5% among men, but jumped nearly 15% among women. "It's really concerning," said lead researcher Dr. Ibraheem Karaye, an assistant professor of population health at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.For the study, he and his colleagues examined data on nearly 606,000 alcohol-related deaths between 1999 and 2020. Karaye said he can't say with certainty why this trend is happening. However, he thinks that the obesity epidemic among women may be tied to...

MONDAY, July 31, 2023 (American Heart Association News) -- Hal Harbuck was walking from the dock to his family's lake cabin when he felt a severe pain in his chest. Having recently been water skiing, he wondered if he'd pulled a muscle. Then again, it also felt like the worst heartburn he'd ever felt.He eventually realized he might be having a heart attack.He sat on the sofa and chewed on an aspirin while his adult son, Josh, called the nearest hospital, which was more than a half-hour drive away. An ambulance was sent; to save time, they met it midway there.Doctors asked Harbuck about his lifestyle. He told them that he'd recently stopped smoking. How recently?"About 30 minutes ago," he said.The line drew laughter, as Harbuck expected. After all, under the name Hal Jay, his quick wit...

MONDAY, July 31, 2023 (HealthDay News) – For the fourth summer in a row, Americans are experiencing a COVID-19 surge, this one marked by a rise in hospital admissions, emergency room visits, test positivity rates and wastewater data.The good news: It’s unlikely that most cases will be severe or that the surge will be long-lasting, experts say. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting a rise in testing, though lab testing is not at the levels it was before the public health emergency ended in May. “I do see some early signs that we are heading into another wave. Of course, we don’t know what lies ahead. So, it may yet peter out,” Caitlin Rivers, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the John Hopkins...