Latest Health News

27Oct
2020

1 in 3 High School Seniors Who Misuse Prescription Opioids Turn to Heroin

1 in 3 High School Seniors Who Misuse Prescription Opioids Turn to HeroinTUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Among high school seniors, nearly a third of those who misuse prescription opioids use heroin by age 35, a new study shows. "It is a very timely study given the number of adolescents and young adults who were overprescribed opioids and who are now aging into adulthood," said study author Sean Esteban McCabe, director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health at the University of Michigan's School of Nursing. "We need to follow these generations to assess their risk for developing later problems," he said in a university news release. The study focused on 25 groups of high school seniors between 1976 and 2000, and followed them from age 18 to 35. McCabe's team used data from more than 11,000 individuals to arrive at...

Losing a Sibling a Common Tragedy in Poorer Nations,...

27 October 2020
Losing a Sibling a Common Tragedy in Poorer Nations, Study FindsTUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The loss of a sibling is all too common among young women in low- and middle-income countries, according to a new study. The researchers found that roughly one-third of young women in those countries have experienced the death of a brother or sister by age 25. In several African nations, the rate is as high as 50%. "There's extensive social science research on family dynamics and childhood emphasizing siblings as key agents of young people's socialization, so it's concerning how frequently youth experience their traumatic loss," said study author Emily Smith-Greenaway. She's associate professor of sociology and spatial sciences at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "This study reveals a major inequality in the frequency...

Will Expelled Droplets Spread COVID? Ventilation May Be Key

27 October 2020
Will Expelled Droplets Spread COVID? Ventilation May Be KeyTUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The tiny droplets that linger in the air after people talk, cough or sneeze aren't very efficient at spreading the new coronavirus, new research suggests. Using laser technology, researchers measured the path of droplets released when people spoke or coughed. If someone enters a room a few minutes after a person with mild COVID-19 symptoms has coughed in that area, the odds of infection are "rather low," the Dutch researchers noted. It is even lower if that person was only talking. That doesn't mean these droplets are risk-free -- just that they contain less virus than the larger droplets produced when someone speaks, coughs or sneezes directly on us, according to researcher Daniel Bonn, a physicist at the University of Amsterdam's Van...

Colon Cancer Screening Should Start at Age 45: Task Force

27 October 2020
Colon Cancer Screening Should Start at Age 45: Task ForceTUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Average folks should start being screened at age 45 to prevent colon cancer, five years earlier than is now recommended, the nation's top preventive medicine panel says. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force currently recommends that people aged 50 to 75 be regularly screened for colon cancer, one of a handful of cancers that can be prevented outright. But new data suggests that screening earlier could save even more lives, said task force member Dr. Michael Barry, director of the Informed Medical Decisions Program in the Health Decision Sciences Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "We have epidemiologic data that the risks of colorectal cancer are increasing before age 50, particularly in that 45- to 49-year-old age...

AHA News: Heart Attacks Linked to Pregnancy on the Rise, Most Often in Women 30 and Older

27 October 2020
AHA News: Heart Attacks Linked to Pregnancy on the Rise, Most Often in Women 30 and OlderBy Maria Elena Fernandez American Heart Association News TUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- Pregnancy-related heart attacks — especially in the period after childbirth — are on the rise in women who are 30 or older, according to new research. Although still considered uncommon, a study of nearly 11.3 million records for pregnancy, labor and postpartum cases showed that nearly three-fourths of the 913 women who had heart attacks from 2003 to 2015 were 30 years or older. The increase in acute myocardial infarction, the medical name for a heart attack, "has occurred lockstep with increases in maternal age, as well as a rise in obesity," according to authors of the study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association. It also may be related to...

Got Election Anxiety? Experts Have Coping Tips

27 October 2020
Got Election Anxiety? Experts Have Coping TipsTUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- It may be no surprise that this year's presidential election is taking a toll on the mental health of Americans. In a new Harris Poll survey, conducted on behalf of the American Psychological Association, 68% of U.S. adults said the 2020 election is a significant source of stress in their lives. "The brain, body, the entire system -- all are trying to adjust to a lack of normalcy,"said Donya Wallace, a certified therapist and visiting professor at Palo Alto University in California. "Experiences of anxiety can be quite different from one person to the next.For some, it may bemore of a somatic experience, with physical discomfort like muscle tension or headaches. For others, it may manifest assleep disturbance, loss of appetite or...

Patients With Worst COVID-19 May Be Best Plasma Donors: Study

27 October 2020
Patients With Worst COVID-19 May Be Best Plasma Donors: StudyTUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Factors such as sex, age and severity of the disease may help identify COVID-19 survivors who have high levels of antibodies that can protect against the disease, a new study suggests. "These were significant patient characteristics that not only predicted the amount of antibody but the quality of that antibody," said lead author Sabra Klein, a professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. Specifically, older men who have recovered after a hospital stay for COVID-19 may be good candidates for donating plasma for treating other infected patients, the study suggests. Plasma trials are continuing, but doctors are unsure how to select COVID-19 survivors...

Spouses Share a Lot – Including Heart Health, Study Shows

27 October 2020
Spouses Share a Lot – Including Heart Health, Study ShowsTUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Many married couples or domestic partners share a lot: the same house, bills, pets and maybe children. A new study found they often also share the same behaviors and risk factors that can lead to heart disease. Researchers assessed heart disease risks and lifestyle behaviors of nearly 5,400 U.S. couples enrolled in an employee wellness program. They used the risk factors spelled out in the American Heart Association Life's Simple 7: smoking status, physical activity, healthy diet, total cholesterol, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar and body mass index (BMI, a measure of body fat based on height and weight). They categorized participants' results individually and as couples as poor, intermediate or ideal for each risk factor and...

People With Down Syndrome Face Higher Risk of Severe...

TUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- When adults with Down syndrome contract COVID-19, their risk of dying is much higher than the norm, a large, new study finds. The researchers found that...

Loss of Smell More Common in COVID-19 Than Thought

TUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Loss of smell is common in COVID-19, but fewer people say they have this symptom than objective tests reveal, a new study finds. In fact, about 77% of...
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