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THURSDAY, Sept. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Adult obesity in the United States continues to rise, and being obese increases the risk of severe illness in people with COVID-19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns. Agency data also show that racial and ethnic disparities in obesity rates persist. New CDC maps for 2019 put adult obesity rates in 12 states at or above 35%: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. That's up from six states in 2017 and nine states in 2018. Combined data from 2017-2019 show significant racial and ethnic differences in adult obesity rates. Obesity rates were 35% or higher among Black people in 34 states and the District of Columbia; among...

THURSDAY, Sept. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A few minutes of moderate- to high-intensity aerobic activity -- like running or biking -- can boost young adults' memory and concentration for up to two hours, a new research review shows. That's the takeaway from 13 studies published between 2009 and 2019. All looked at the short-term impact of bicycling, walking and/or running on the mental health of 18- to 35-year-olds. "We found that two minutes to one hour of aerobic exercise at moderate to high intensity improves the learning ability and storage in memory for up to two hours in young adults," said Dr. Peter Blomstrand, who led the research review. He works with the department of clinical physiology at County Hospital Ryhov in Jönköping, Sweden. The workouts and five-minute recovery...

THURSDAY, Sept. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The final statistics are in for America's last flu season, and the news is good: Record low rates of influenza were reported as cases plummeted during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. Why? Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe the social distancing measures put into place across the country last spring kept more than the new coronavirus at bay. The 2019-2020 flu season ended weeks earlier than usual this year, with flu infections declining sharply within two weeks of the COVID-19 emergency declaration on March 1, the new study found. Influenza activity in the United States plunged, from about 30% of samples testing positive for flu in early February down to only 2% the week of March 22,...

THURSDAY, Sept. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)may significantly increase the risk of dementia later in life, according to a new study. The researchers found that people with a history of PTSD were up to two times more likely to develop dementia than those who never had PTSD. "Our study provides important new evidence of how traumatic experiences can impact brain health, and how the long-term effects of trauma may impact the brain in many ways increasing vulnerability to cognitive decline and dementia," said senior study author Dr. Vasiliki Orgeta. She's an associate professor of psychiatry at University College London, in the United Kingdom. "PTSD, which appears to be common among people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19, remains an...