Latest Health News

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Americans who lost their jobs this year due to the coronavirus pandemic have remained healthier and more secure thanks to expanded unemployment insurance, a new study reports.Struggling folks who received benefits reported that they were less likely to go hungry, miss a rent or mortgage payment, delay needed medical care, or suffer from anxiety or depression, according to the findings."These programs are doing what they're meant to do. They're helping to buffer the economic disruption that's coming from the pandemic," said lead researcher Dr. Seth Berkowitz, a professor with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators on Tuesday introduced a $908 billion stimulus proposal that would provide $300 a week...

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- Nobody needs a study to tell them being a single parent is tough."This is a group of people who are kind of carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, right?" said Dr. Natalie Stokes, a cardiology fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "You're taking care of kids. You're trying to provide for your family."Hoping to shed new light on the toll single parenthood takes on heart health, Stokes and her colleagues recently analyzed a federal health survey of 2,180 parents, which included 462 single parents, a quarter of whom were single men.Researchers looked at seven heart health indicators – such as blood pressure, obesity, diet and whether the person smoked – and rated the parents on a 14-point...

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Menopause symptoms can interfere with women's jobs, Japanese researchers report.For the study, the investigators looked at nearly 600 working women, aged 45 to 65, in Japan. Of those, 61% were postmenopausal.Women with a higher number of menopause symptoms had poorer work performance, according to the authors of the study published online recently in Menopause, journal of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS).But having a job with lower amounts of stress and maintaining a healthy lifestyle helped reduce women's menopause symptoms, the researchers found. And, women with numerous menopause symptoms were more likely to be inactive, and to have chronic health conditions and job-related stress, they noted.The findings provide insight into...

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults are less likely to take cholesterol-lowering statins to prevent heart disease than heterosexual adults, even though they have a higher heart disease risk, according to a new study.Researchers conducted an online survey of more than 1,500 Facebook users, aged 40 and older, and found that nearly one-third were taking statins.Of the 12% of respondents who identified as LGB, less than 21% were taking statins for primary prevention, compared with nearly 44% of non-LGB adults.Primary prevention is when a person takes statins to prevent heart disease.There were no significant differences between LGB and non-LGB adults in the use of statins for secondary prevention (the use of statins by someone with heart...