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THURSDAY, June 3, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Parkinson's disease patients can get symptom relief with deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy that lasts over the long term, a new study shows.Over 15 years, patients who received DBS, which requires surgical implantation, had significant improvement in motor symptoms and less need for medication, researchers found."Our study, for the first time, supports the efficacy of deep brain stimulation in the very long term -- 15 years after surgery and 25 years since Parkinson's diagnosis," said senior researcher Dr. Elena Moro, director of the Movement Disorders Unit at Grenoble Alpes University in France."Indeed, after an average of 15 years after surgery, patients could experience improvement, compared to before surgery," she said. "Moreover, we...

THURSDAY, June 3, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- The cost of COVID-19 hospitalizations averaged nearly $22,000 for older Americans in 2020 — and much more for those who became critically ill, a new government study finds.Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at the cost of COVID-19 care to the Medicare program, which covers Americans aged 65 and up.On average, the investigators found, the program spent almost $22,000 for each patient hospitalized between April and December 2020.But those figures were much higher for some patients, including those severely ill enough to need a ventilator. Their costs approached $50,000, on average.And in line with what's been seen throughout the pandemic, the toll was greater among Black people, Hispanic patients and...

THURSDAY, June 3, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- COVID-19 patients are at increased risk for severe strokes, according to a new study that also found that the overall risk of stroke is higher in younger patients.Researchers analyzed data from 432 COVID-19 patients in 17 countries who suffered strokes and found they were more likely to have large vessel occlusion (LVO) than stroke patients in the general population.LVO strokes are caused by a blockage in one of the brain's major arteries and typically cause more severe symptoms. Nearly 45% of strokes in the COVID-19 patients were LVOs, compared with 24% to 38% of ischemic strokes in the general population being LVOs. More than a third of the COVID-19 patients with stroke were younger than 55, and nearly half were younger than 65. In the...

THURSDAY, June 3, 2021 (American Heart Association News) -- As the days get longer and the temperature rises, summer is an ideal time to enjoy outdoor activities. Following some simple advice can increase the odds you'll surf through the season without so much as a sunburn.Mind the latest pandemic rulesThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its mask guidance, permitting fully vaccinated people to go maskless in most settings and to stop physical distancing unless required by other laws, rules and regulations, or workplace guidance."The risk for vaccinated people gathering with other vaccinated people is extremely low," said Dr. Michael R. Sayre, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle."If you're going to a gigantic outdoor...