Sickle cell disease is one of many chronic health conditions that dramatically increases the risk of hospitalization and death in people infected by COVID-19. Unfortunately, folks with sickle cell disease are much less likely to have received the best protection available to them — a COVID vaccine. Completion of the initial two-dose COVID vaccination series… read on > read on >
U.S. doctors are prescribing antifungal creams to patients with skin complaints at rates so high they could be contributing to the rise of drug-resistant infections, new research shows. These are “severe antimicrobial-resistant superficial fungal infections, which have recently been detected in the United States,” noted a team led by Jeremy Gold, a researcher at the… read on > read on >
A record-breaking 20 million Americans have already signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. “Today, we hit a major milestone in lowering costs and ensuring all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care: a record-breaking 20 million Americans have enrolled in health care coverage through the… read on > read on >
Amid an ongoing shortage of the first-line treatment for syphilis in the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will allow the importation of a different syphilis drug from a French drugmaker. In a letter from Laboratoires Delbert, the Paris-based company said it’s working with the FDA to temporarily import 3.5 million units of Extencilline,… read on > read on >
A spike in the use of ADHD medications during the pandemic likely prompted drug shortages that continue to frustrate patients and doctors today, a new study shows. New prescriptions for stimulants that treat the condition jumped for young adults and women in particular after the pandemic first struck in March 2020, according to a study published Jan.… read on > read on >
Black Americans have strokes nearly a decade younger on average than white people, a new study has found. The study also revealed that Black people consistently had a higher rate of stroke than white folks over a 22-year period, according to findings published in the journal Neurology. Overall, strokes have declined, regardless of race. “We… read on > read on >
Medical marijuana might help ease chronic pain, but it also slightly increases a patient’s risk of a dangerous abnormal heart rhythm, a new study says. Patients treated with medical cannabis had a nearly 1% increased risk of being diagnosed with a heart rhythm problem that required monitoring and possible treatment, results show. The risk was… read on > read on >
Pain can present itself in many forms for people battling multiple sclerosis, and one type can interfere with exercising, new research shows. One class of pain experienced by MS patients is what the authors of the new study call nociceptive, caused by specific damage to tissues. Another form is neuropathic pain, caused by the loss… read on > read on >
Women are far more likely to suffer an early death if they develop depression during or after pregnancy, a new Swedish study has found. Women who developed what’s known as “perinatal” depression were generally twice as likely to die as women who didn’t experience the mood disorder, researchers reported Jan. 10 in the BMJ. They… read on > read on >
Tending a garden can help young kids develop healthy attitudes about food that will influence their health years later, a new study says. Kids who participated in a gardening and food education program during elementary school were more likely to eat healthier as they grew up, researchers found. “Kids who grow vegetables in a school… read on > read on >
