Latest Health News

25Aug
2020

Blood Pressure Meds Don't Raise Risk of Depression

Blood Pressure Meds Don`t Raise Risk of DepressionTUESDAY, Aug. 25, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- If you have hypertension and you're depressed, don't blame your blood pressure drugs. Although previous research hinted there might be a connection between high blood pressure medications and depression, a new study of dozens of commonly used drugs found no such link. In fact, the Danish researchers found the opposite -- nine blood pressure drugs were associated with a lower risk of depression. How could blood pressure medication help depression? "It is possible that the mechanism involved in decreasing the risk of depression is the anti-inflammatory effect among these nine medications," study author Dr. Lars Vedel Kessing said in a statement from the journal Hypertension, where the findings were published Aug. 24. He's a professor of...

Not So Sudden: Many Seek Medical Help 2 Weeks Before...

25 August 2020
Not So Sudden: Many Seek Medical Help 2 Weeks Before Cardiac ArrestTUESDAY, Aug. 25, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly 6 in 10 people who suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest sought medical help in the previous two weeks, a new study finds. Cardiac arrest is fatal within minutes if untreated, and less than 10% of victims survive. "The high mortality from cardiac arrest in the community emphasizes the need to identify those at risk," said study author Dr. Nertila Zylyftari, of Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev and Gentofte in Hellerup, Denmark. "This is very challenging since these are considered sudden and unexpected events. But our study indicates that patients felt unwell in the days leading up to the cardiac arrest," Zylyftari said in a European Society of Cardiology news release. The researchers analyzed nearly 29,000 out-of-hospital...

What If Many Americans Say No to a Coronavirus Vaccine?

25 August 2020
What If Many Americans Say No to a Coronavirus Vaccine?TUESDAY, Aug. 25, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists worldwide are racing to test and manufacture one or more coronavirus vaccines. But once a vaccine is proven safe and effective, one big question remains: How do you persuade everyone to take it? Health experts have reason to worry. Less than half of all American adults say they plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, according to two recent polls from Yahoo News/YouGov and NBC News/Survey Monkey. But halting the pandemic requires herd immunity -- achieved when an estimated 60% to 70% of the population is immune to the virus. "This is going to be one of the most crucial parts of the vaccination campaign," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, in...

Just Like COVID, Severe Flu Can Trigger Heart Crises

25 August 2020
Just Like COVID, Severe Flu Can Trigger Heart CrisesTUESDAY, Aug. 25, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a new U.S. study serves as a reminder of how severe the seasonal flu can be. Researchers found that among 90,000 Americans hospitalized with the flu, 12% had a serious heart complication, including heart attack and sudden heart failure. Many ended up in the intensive care unit, and 7% died in the hospital. The study shows that COVID-19 isn't alone among viruses that can up the odds for heart events. The findings also underscore the importance of getting the flu shot -- especially this year, experts said. "The flu is not 'just a cold,'" said Dr. Kathryn Edwards, a professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville. "People often don't appreciate how serious it can be." A yearly flu shot is always...

Making a COVID-19 Vaccine Is Tough, Distributing It Might Be Tougher

25 August 2020
Making a COVID-19 Vaccine Is Tough, Distributing It Might Be TougherTUESDAY, Aug. 25, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- As the race to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine unfolds around the globe, experts say the sheer logistics of vaccinating the masses might be even more daunting. "The challenge we face now is really the largest and most complex mass vaccination program we've ever attempted," Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director for immunization education at the Immunization Action Coalition, said during a recent HD Live! interview. Supplies are already being marshaled to help quickly manufacture and store millions of doses of any successful vaccine, and distribution plans are being crafted to get the vaccine to the people who need it, Moore added. During the same interview, Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for...

Scientists Challenge Key Survival Stat Cited by U.S. Officials in Plasma Approval

25 August 2020
Scientists Challenge Key Survival Stat Cited by U.S. Officials in Plasma ApprovalTUESDAY, Aug. 25, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- As the World Health Organization cautioned on Monday that using plasma from COVID-19 survivors to treat other patients is still an experimental therapy, American scientists challenged a key statistic cited by U.S. officials as grounds for emergency approval of the treatment. In announcing the approval on Sunday, President Donald Trump and two of his top health officials spoke of the same stunning statistic -- that the treatment had reduced deaths by 35 percent, the New York Times reported. Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, went so far as to say that 35 out of 100 COVID-19 patients "would have been saved because of the administration of plasma." But many scientists, including a researcher on the Mayo...

There's No Safe Amount of Caffeine in Pregnancy: Report

24 August 2020
There`s No Safe Amount of Caffeine in Pregnancy: ReportMONDAY, Aug. 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant may need to forgo coffee, tea, sodas and other sources of caffeine. A new data analysis finds no safe level of the drug during this time. "The cumulative scientific evidence supports pregnant women and women contemplating pregnancy being advised to avoid caffeine," concluded study author Jack James, a professor at Reykjavik University in Iceland. The findings challenge current U.S. expert recommendations from organizations such as the March of Dimes and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Those guidelines say that consuming a small amount of caffeine each day -- 200 milligrams, equal to about a cup or two of coffee -- does not appear to harm the fetus. In the new...

Do Your Sleep Patterns Affect Your Risk of Alzheimer's Disease?

24 August 2020
Do Your Sleep Patterns Affect Your Risk of Alzheimer`s Disease?MONDAY, Aug. 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Disturbed sleep doesn't cause Alzheimer's disease, but some sleep patterns may be more common in people who have a high genetic risk for it, a new study reports. Those patterns include being a morning person, having shorter sleep duration and being less likely to have insomnia, according to findings published in the Aug. 19 online issue of the journal Neurology. "We know that people with Alzheimer's disease often report depression and various sleep problems, like insomnia," said study author Dr. Abbas Dehghan, of the faculty of medicine at Imperial College London in the U.K. "We wanted to find out if there are causal relationships between different sleep patterns and depression and Alzheimer's." His team analyzed a number of genetic...

Microbes in Lungs Could Affect COVID-19 Outcomes

MONDAY, Aug. 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have discovered that the types of fungi living in the lungs play a big part in severity of a life-threatening condition called acute...

Pandemic Drove Spike in Panic Attacks

MONDAY, Aug. 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The coronavirus pandemic has made many people more anxious. But for some, the threat of deadly infection and the drastic changes to everyday life may have...
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