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TUESDAY, Aug. 17, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Five years after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention retooled a guideline for prescribing opioid painkillers, research suggests the change is paying off. With the United States in the grip of an opioid overdose epidemic, the CDC released an evidence-based guideline in 2016 to help doctors treat patients' pain while balancing the risks and benefits of prescription opioids."These findings, based on trends before and after the CDC guideline was released, show it may have catalyzed other changes, because it came from a trusted entity," said study lead author Jason Goldstick. He is a research associate professor at the University of Michigan Medical School, in Ann Arbor."It's impossible to isolate the effect of the guideline itself,...

TUESDAY, Aug. 17, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Long stints on the night shift could set you up for the dangerous heart rhythm disorder known as atrial fibrillation (a-fib), new research suggests. For the study, the researchers analyzed data on more than 283,000 people in the UK Biobank database, and found that those who worked night shifts on a usual or permanent basis had a 12% higher risk of a-fib than those who only worked during the day. The risk was 18% higher among people who'd been on night shifts for their entire working career, and 22% higher among those who worked an average of three to eight night shifts a month for 10 years or more."Although a study like this cannot show a causal link between night shifts and atrial fibrillation and heart disease, our results suggest that...

TUESDAY, Aug. 17, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Anesthesia is a vital part of almost every surgery, but unexpected bills for the service can cause a lot of pain. Now, a new study finds that these costs fell in several states that introduced legislation targeting "surprise" billing."These price declines show that state surprise billing laws both directly lower out-of-network prices and indirectly lower in-network prices, providing evidence that surprise billing legislation may have changed provider-payer negotiating dynamics," said study first author Ambar La Forgia. She is assistant professor of health policy and management at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, in New York City.The legislation focused on prices paid to in- and out-of-network anesthesiologists in hospital outpatient...

MONDAY, Aug. 16, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Take a work break: A small, new study suggests that getting out of your chair every half hour may help improve your blood sugar levels and your overall health.Every hour spent sitting or lying down increases the risk for metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, the study authors said. But moving around during those sedentary hours is an easy way to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce the odds of developing metabolic syndrome, which is a group of conditions that can lead to heart disease, diabetes, stroke and other health problems."Breaking a sedentary lifestyle has positive metabolic benefits in free-living humans, thus it is beneficial to not sit the whole day — get up and move," said senior study author Dr. Erik Naslund. He is a professor...