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THURSDAY, June 10, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- After years of improvement, Americans with diabetes may be losing some ground in controlling the condition, a new government-funded study shows.Researchers found that between 1999 and the early 2010s, U.S. adults with diabetes made substantial gains: A growing percentage had their blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol down to recommended levels.Since then, the picture has changed: Progress on cholesterol has stalled, and fewer patients have their blood sugar and blood pressure under control than a decade ago. The findings are concerning, the researchers said, since the trends could put more Americans at risk of heart disease, stroke and other diabetes complications."This is very sobering," said senior researcher Elizabeth Selvin, a...

THURSDAY, June 10, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- When antidepressants fail to rein in hard-to-treat depression, the common anesthetic most know as "laughing gas" might be a safe and effective alternative, new research suggests.The finding follows work with 28 patients struggling with "treatment-resistant major depression," a severe condition that investigators say affects about one-third of all patients — an estimated 17 million American adults — who develop major depressive disorder. For such patients, antidepressants often fail to provide relief. But following three one-hour laughing gas inhalation sessions spread across three months, 85% of patients had significant depression relief that endured weeks post-treatment."Laughing gas is nitrous oxide, one of the oldest and most commonly...

THURSDAY, June 10, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- The color of your skin may very well determine how your headache gets treated, a new study warns.The same percentage of white, Black and Hispanic Americans — about 15% — suffer from severe headaches and/or migraines, the investigators noted.But the current analysis, conducted by 16 headache disorder experts, found that Black men are far less likely to receive headache treatment; that white children are three times more likely to undergo hospital imaging for their condition than children of other races; and that Black and Hispanic patients are 25% and 50% less likely, respectively, to get a migraine diagnosis than their white peers."While migraine and severe headache disorders are almost equally common amongst white, African American and...

THURSDAY, June 10, 2021 (American Heart Association News) -- The coronavirus pandemic and the equity movement have shined a spotlight on longstanding systemic problems that contribute to health disparities linked with factors such as race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status and sexual identity.But health disparities don't only affect those facing them. In a time of deep division and uncertainty, experts see opportunities to remind people everyone is connected."Not addressing inequities and not assuring opportunities for the most vulnerable in our society actually harm us all," said Dr. Lisa Cooper, founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity in Baltimore. "We're all paying for the cost that this has had on our economy and health care system."That cost is...