School mask mandates helped protect students and staff last fall as the Delta variant spread, a new government report shows. Ironically, the finding arrived just as many U.S. school districts have dropped masking rules. In the study released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers examined public school districts in Arkansas… read on > read on >
Many older Americans have concerns about elective surgery beforehand, but most who go through with it are satisfied with the outcome, a new survey finds. Elective surgery includes many operations for conditions that are not immediately life-threatening, such as knee replacement, hernia repair, cataract removal or taking out a gall bladder. “If your physician is… read on > read on >
A new report delivers a troubling statistic: Seven in 10 consumer product-related deaths occur among those over 65, even though these people only account for 16% of the U.S. population. Each year, consumer products are linked to roughly 3,800 deaths and nearly 3 million emergency department visits among older Americans, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety… read on > read on >
About one-quarter of Americans say they made positive changes to their daily habits during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new poll shows. As U.S. states ended masking mandates and infection numbers dropped this year, most (64%) respondents said their mood had been stable since January and that the pandemic either hadn’t affected their daily habits (49%)… read on > read on >
People with serious mental illness have up to double the risk of heart disease, and should have their heart health monitored from a young age, a new study finds. Specifically, those mental health issues are bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. “Previous research has indicated that people diagnosed with a serious mental illness die 10-20… read on > read on >
Booster doses of COVID vaccines are needed as the highly contagious Omicron variant continues to spread worldwide, a World Health Organization expert group said Tuesday. The group’s statement that it “strongly supports urgent and broad access” to booster doses contradicts the WHO’s previous stance that boosters aren’t necessary and contribute to vaccine inequality. In January,… read on > read on >
Not everyone who becomes forgetful as they age develops dementia, and a new study suggests that those with college degrees and advanced language skills are likely to get better. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an early stage of memory loss marked by lapses in memory and thinking problems that don’t interfere with everyday life. While… read on > read on >
Palliative care can be a godsend in the final days of one’s life, but new research shows that Black and Hispanic nursing home residents are far less likely to receive it than their white peers are. Overall, nursing homes in the Northeast provided the most palliative care, while those in the South provided the least… read on > read on >
From drowning to being struck by flying debris, the immediate dangers of hurricanes are well known, but these events also boost your risk of dying from a host of hidden diseases and conditions that occur in the storm’s aftermath. The new research is concerning given the increase in the number and strength of hurricanes due… read on > read on >
If you were born before 1996, there’s a good chance you were exposed to high levels of lead as a kid, and new research suggests this may have harmed your IQ and boosted your chances of lead-related health concerns down the road. “A significant proportion of Americans alive today had very high lead exposure as… read on > read on >
