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THURSDAY, April 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- CBD is all the rage, and millions of people are turning to it for a host of reasons, including pain relief.But despite CBD's popularity and widespread use, new research finds it's actual benefits are less clear.The bottom line? CBD -- and your expectations about whether it will help (the "placebo effect") -- can make pain feel less bothersome, but it doesn't appear to reduce pain intensity."CBD-induced pain relief is not just driven by psychological placebo effects, but also pharmacological action," explained study author Martin De Vita, a researcher in the psychology department at Syracuse University, in New York. "It's a little bit of both."CBD, or cannabidiol, is usually derived from hemp, a cousin of the marijuana plant, but unlike THC...

THURSDAY, April 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- COVID-19 is never a good diagnosis, but health risks are especially high in people with poorly controlled, advanced diabetes, a new study confirms.The new report looked at pooled data from 22 studies that included a total of nearly 18,000 people. Simply having diabetes didn't raise a COVID-19 patient's risk for death: The study found that COVID-19 death rates among people with diabetes were similar to those among people without diabetes.It was the severity of diabetes -- along with other factors -- that seemed to up the odds for a poor outcome in patients who battled both diabetes and COVID-19, according to German researchers led by Sabrina Schlesinger of the Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research at Heinrich Heine University in...

THURSDAY, April 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- If making healthy lifestyle changes doesn't lower a patient's slightly high blood pressure within six months, doctors should then consider prescribing medication, a new American Heart Association scientific statement advises.The recommendation is for people with untreated stage 1 high blood pressure (130-139/80-89 mm Hg) who have a low risk of a heart attack or stroke within 10 years. Low risk means less than 10%.The statement updates the 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Blood Pressure Management Guidelines, which suggested first having these people make healthy lifestyle changes and then checking their blood pressure again in six months.The new guidance applies to nearly 10% of American adults with high blood...

THURSDAY, April 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Stroke recovery tends to be worse among Americans in poorer neighborhoods than those in wealthier neighborhoods, a new study finds."People in less advantaged neighborhoods were more likely to have more disability, lower quality of life and more symptoms of depression than people in more advantaged neighborhoods," said study author Lynda Lisabeth, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.The study included 776 stroke survivors in Nueces County, Texas, who were assessed three months after their stroke. The study participants were asked about their ability to perform daily living activities, such as bathing, dressing and cooking, and given scores ranging from 0 to 4, with lower scores indicating better functioning. Those in the wealthiest...