Latest Health News

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 1, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Feelings of despair and hopelessness can raise the odds of death in people battling heart disease, and new research suggests that where you live, as well as your marital status, can also play a role.The study found that heart disease patients who lived in rural areas and were unmarried were more likely to feel hopeless."Because we know hopelessness is predictive of death in people with heart disease, health care professionals need to recognize the subgroups who are most at risk and provide guidance and treatment," said study senior author Susan Dunn. She's department head of Biobehavioral Nursing Science at the University of Illinois in Chicago.According to the American Heart Association, it's long been understood that American adults...

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 1, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- COVID-19 vaccines trigger antibody production in most people who have weakened immune systems, but a new study reveals that their responses are weaker than in healthy people."Some of our patients have been hesitant about getting vaccinated, which is unfortunate because they are at increased risk of having more severe cases of COVID-19 if they happen to get infected, compared to those not taking immune-suppressing drugs," said study co-author Dr. Alfred Kim, an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.His team studied 133 patients who were taking at least one immune-suppressing drug for illnesses such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis. They were...

WEDNESDAY, Sept.1, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Sugar is killing Americans in droves, according to researchers who found that reducing the sweetener in packaged foods and beverages could prevent more than 2 million strokes, heart attacks and cardiac arrests.Less sugary packaged foods and drinks would also curb nearly a half-million heart-related deaths and an even greater number of diabetes cases in the United States, according to their new study."Reducing the sugar content of commercially prepared foods and beverages will have a larger impact on the health of Americans than other initiatives to cut sugar, such as imposing a sugar tax, labeling added sugar content, or banning sugary drinks in schools," said study lead author Dr. Siyi Shangguan, an attending physician at Massachusetts...

TUESDAY, Aug. 31, 2021 (American Heart Association News) -- Lisa Wiles was in the kitchen prepping dinner in April 2020 when she heard her husband, Dan, shout an expletive from the other room.She figured it was a reaction to the news. Still, she went to check on him."His eyes weren't focused on anything, and he was making these horrible breathing sounds," Lisa said. "I thought at first he was choking."She shouted at him to see if he would respond, then ran for the phone to call 911. Dan had problems regulating his heart rhythm at various times in recent years, so she feared the worst."The 911 operator could hear the sounds he was making and said, 'You have to start CPR,'" Lisa recalled.Dan, then 57, was in cardiac arrest. Lisa, then 51, had CPR training nearly two decades earlier. With...