Medicare Advantage plans are touted as a great alternative to traditional Medicare, offering seniors easier access to doctors, hospitals and prescription drugs. But access to a good Medicare Advantage plan relies heavily on where a person lives, a new study finds. People are less likely to find a five-star Medicare Advantage plan if they live… read on > read on >
Hospitals and clinical laboratories across the United States are facing a critical shortage of bottles used to culture blood samples, federal health officials report. Without the ability to culture blood, patients might receive the wrong antibiotics to treat conditions like endocarditis, sepsis and catheter-related blood infections, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned… read on > read on >
Misuse of illicit prescription drugs is falling dramatically among U.S. high school students, a new study says. The percentage of seniors who say they’ve misused prescription drugs in the past year has dropped to 2% in 2022, down from 11% back in 2009, researchers reported July 24 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.… read on > read on >
COVID-19 doesn’t raise a person’s risk of developing chronic fatigue syndrome more than any other infectious disease, a new study finds. The rate of chronic fatigue syndrome following a brief illness was roughly the same between people who caught COVID and those who came down with some other malady, researchers reported July 24 in the… read on > read on >
Just two shots a year of an HIV treatment provided complete protection against infections in highly at-risk women, researchers reported Wednesday. In the study of about 5,000 women in South Africa and Uganda, those given injections of lenacapavir were 100% protected, while roughly 2% of those given daily prevention pills were infected by their sex partners. “These… read on > read on >
As marijuana loses much of its stigma and laws around its use relax, Americans are increasingly consuming it medically and recreationally. Americans with diabetes are no exception, a new study finds. The number of adults with diabetes who said that they’d used cannabis at least once over the past month jumped by a third between… read on > read on >
.jpeg)
Black Americans are almost a third more likely to die from colon cancer than their white peers, and one key to closing that divide could be better cancer screening, a new report finds. That means getting Black Americans quality colonoscopies and other forms of screening, but also making sure they’re followed up after their test… read on > read on >
The knee develops differently in men and women, with sex-specific distinctions in the joint appearing as early as childhood, a new study finds. Taking these differences into account among girls could help prevent knee arthritis for women later in life, researchers say. Gender-based differences in knee cartilage and ligaments develop prior to puberty and can’t… read on > read on >
Youngsters so sick they’ve needed treatment in an ICU appear to bear the scars of that experience years later, a new study finds. Children and teenagers treated in an intensive care unit have a significantly higher risk of developing a mental illness as they grow up, researchers reported July 20 in the Journal of Affective… read on > read on >
Online retail giants like Amazon have made it easier for people to buy what they want when they want it, but that convenience comes at a cost to people’s health, a new study says. Huge warehouses that support online shopping increase air pollution in the neighborhoods where they’re located, increasing residents’ risk of asthma attacks… read on > read on >
