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WEDNESDAY, June 30, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. counties with state prisons had higher COVID-19 rates in the pandemic's first wave than those without prisons, a new study finds.Researchers analyzed data through July 1, 2020, adjusting for county-specific factors that might have affected the spread of COVID, such as the presence of nursing homes and population density.The upshot: Having a state prison was associated with 11% more COVID cases during the study period.County-level figures on the number of cases within prisons weren't available, making it difficult to track disease spread inside and outside prisons, the University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers noted.But based on national data, they estimated that about 70% of prison-associated cases were likely in the surrounding...

WEDNESDAY, June 30, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- A gene variant may be driving high rates of unnecessary bone marrow biopsies in Black Americans, researchers say.The variant is responsible for lower white blood cell levels in some healthy Black people, the investigators said."We've essentially created this racial health disparity by not fully considering how genetic variation affects white blood cell levels," said study co-author Dr. Jonathan Mosley, assistant professor of medicine and biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. "Our study supports genotyping African Americans before performing a bone marrow biopsy for the indication of isolated low white blood cell counts."The researchers analyzed data on 399 Black patients under age 90 who had bone...

WEDNESDAY, June 30, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Having a case of COVID-19 significantly increases hospitalized trauma patients' risk of complications and death, a new study finds."Our findings underscore how important it is for hospitals to consistently test admitted patients, so that providers can be aware of this additional risk and treat patients with extra care and vigilance," said lead author Dr. Elinore Kaufman. She's assistant professor in Penn Medicine's Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery.Kaufman's team at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine analyzed data from 15,550 patients admitted to Pennsylvania trauma centers from March 21, 2020, to July 31, 2020. The patients had injuries from car crashes, falls or other accidents, or...

WEDNESDAY, June 30, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Despite being particularly susceptible to severe COVID-19, many U.S. teen and young adult cancer survivors are wary of vaccination, a new study finds.Cancer survivors often have weakened immune systems and are more likely to develop severe respiratory infections. That puts them at greater risk from COVID, so it's strongly recommended that they get vaccinated.In the new study, researchers surveyed cancer survivors, 18 and older, who were diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 39. They were in a cancer care program run by Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah and Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City.Of 342 respondents, 63% said they intended to get a COVID-19 vaccine, but 37% were hesitant."As life returns to some resemblance...