Who Fares Worse After Multiple Sclerosis Strikes?

THURSDAY, Aug. 11, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- For people with multiple sclerosis, certain factors early in their disease may determine their quality of life in the years to come, a new study suggests.

In medicine, there are ways to objectively measure a disease's course, such as whether a medication is keeping it under con...

Vegetarian Women at Higher Odds for Hip Fracture

THURSDAY, Aug. 11, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Record numbers of people are turning to plant-based diets to take advantage of the many health benefits they offer, but this may come at the expense of their bones, a new study suggests.

Exactly what did researchers find? Middle-aged women who never eat meat may be more likely ...

When Removing a Big Kidney Stone, Get the Little Ones, Too

THURSDAY, Aug. 11, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Anyone who has suffered through a large, painful kidney stone wants to avoid a repeat episode. Now a new trial confirms one preventive strategy: removing small "silent" stones before they cause trouble.

When people develop a kidney stone that is painful enough to require remova...

Another Study Shows COVID's Danger to Pregnant Women

Pregnancy significantly increases the odds of devastating outcomes from COVID-19, a new study confirms.

Complications from the virus to pregnant women can include heart attack, arrhythmias, heart failure and long-haul symptoms, which may be hard to tell from other heart complications during pregnancy. Heart attacks are estimated to occur i...

Kids Getting Spinal Surgeries May Cut Back on Opioids

THURSDAY, Aug. 11, 2022 (HealthDay News) – Spinal surgery is painful, but fewer addictive opioid painkillers are needed now to help kids and teens manage it, a new study finds.

A research team from Michigan Medicine found that scoliosis patients undergoing spinal fusion can be prescribed fewer opioids and still get adequate pain control ...

Men More Prone to Cancer Than Women, But Why?

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Men are known to be more likely to develop cancer than women, and a new study suggests that this is largely due to biologic differences between the sexes.

“After controlling for factors like smoking, alcohol use, diet, physical activity and common medical conditions [that in...

Biden to Sign Bill That Helps Veterans Exposed to Toxic Burn Pits

President Biden was poised on Wednesday to sign a bill that expands health care benefits for U.S. veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.

Known as the PACT Act, the legislation is the biggest expansion of veterans' health care and benefits in more than 30 years, the White House said in a statement on the signing.

"Sometimes military ser...

Most Older, Vaccinated Americans Say They'll Get Updated Booster in Fall: Poll

Most older U.S. adults are prepared to roll up their sleeves to get an updated COVID-19 booster shot once one becomes available, a new poll shows.

About 3 in 5 (61%) people over 50 who have gotten at least one dose of COVID vaccine say they would get an updated booster that offers protection against the new variants that have emerged, the ...

TPOXX Is the Only Monkeypox Treatment -- If You Can Get It

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- What if a rare viral illness with the potential to cause excruciating pain was in fact treatable, but the only drug for that use was nearly impossible to get, despite being in plentiful supply?

That is precisely the dilemma now confronting thousands of monkeypox patients acros...

AHA News: When Her Smartwatch Indicated She Might Be in AFib, She Thought It Was a Mistake

Megan Buchholz groggily read the notification from her smartwatch. Its vibration had roused her out of a deep sleep.

At 3 a.m. on a Monday this past March, she read an alert that said the device identified an irregular rhythm suggestive of atrial fibrillation, or AFib, an irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart fail...

FDA Stretches Monkeypox Vaccine Supply by Authorizing Smaller Doses

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 10, 2022 (HealthDay) -- As at-risk Americans stand in long lines across the country, trying to get the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine, U.S. officials on Tuesday announced they will modify dosing instructions for the shot to help stretch the supply.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that instead of sticking with a standa...

Most COVID Patients Who Lose Sense of Smell Regain It Within 2 Years

One of the most disturbing symptoms of COVID-19 has been the sudden loss of taste and smell.

Worryingly, some people don't regain these senses after recovering from their infection, raising the question of whether they'd ever again be able to taste and smell.

Now there's good news on that front -- about 9 out of 10 patients will rega...

A Switch to Salt Substitute Could Slash Your Heart Risks

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Swapping salt out for the salt substitute potassium chloride lowers blood pressure, and thereby the risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular disease, a new analysis finds.

"It's in processed and prepared foods where most people in developed countries get their salt," ex...

Smoking Still Ends 123,000 American Lives Each Year

Cigarettes are still responsible for far too many cancer deaths every year in the United States, a new study finds.

In 2019, nearly 123,000 U.S. cancer deaths were from cigarette smoking (30% of all U.S. cancer deaths), leading to nearly $21 billion in annual lost earnings. These losses were much higher in states with weaker tobacco contr...

PFAS 'Forever Chemicals' Are Linked With Liver Cancer

A chemical called perfluooctane sulfate (PFOS) has been linked to the most common type of liver cancer, a new study indicates.

PFOS are used in a wide range of consumer and industrial products, and are referred to as “forever chemicals” because they break down very slowly and accumulate both in the environment and in human tissue.

B 8/11 -- Pandemic Showed Teachers' Key Role in Spotting Child Abuse

Teachers play a critical role in the early detection and reporting of child abuse, according to a new study that found school closures during the height of the pandemic may have meant that up to 8,000 reports of endangered children were missed.

"Child maltreatment is a vexing problem in the U.S.," said study author Maria Fitzpatrick, a pro...

For Back Pain, Earlier Is Better for Physical Therapy

TUESDAY, Aug. 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- When people have backaches bad enough to send them to the doctor, prompt physical therapy may be a wise choice, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that when those patients had "early" PT -- within a couple weeks of seeing a doctor -- they were less likely to need other, ofte...

Climate Change Making 218 Infectious Diseases Even Worse

Flooding, heat waves and drought have made 58% of infectious diseases worse, a new analysis claims.

For the review of previous studies, published Aug. 8 in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers found that 218 of the known 375 infectious diseases have been made worse by climate change, including malaria, hantavirus, cholera and ant...

AHA News: What's New This Year For School Lunches?

In the past, school cafeterias might have served as a source for more punchlines than nutrition. But lunch is a more dynamic and, these days, healthy part of students' lives than many people realize.

Some of its importance is obvious. "You really don't need to do a study showing that if kids are hungry, they're going to have a harder time ...

B 8/10 -- FDA Warns Amazon, Other Vendors About Sale of Skin Tag Removal Products

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued warning letters to three companies, including Amazon, for selling unapproved products for removing moles and skin tags.

No over-the-counter medications have FDA approval for that purpose, and the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits inte...