After Black patients undergo a surgery, they are much more likely than their white peers to receive only an opioid for post-op pain relief, rather than a more nuanced combo of analgesics, a new study finds. So-called “multimodal analgesia” is the recommended way to go, experts say, but Black patients are 29% less likely to… read on > read on >
A handheld pinprick blood test could someday deliver results in as little as an hour, a new study shows. The portable device, which fits in the palm of a hand, uses sound waves to separate a tiny whole blood sample down into microscopic biomarkers, researchers reported Oct. 16 in the journal Science Advances. The entire… read on > read on >
Did you know that sodium is the bad guy in salt, raising your risks for high blood pressure and other heart ills? Luckily for Americans, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working to make it easier for you and your family to eat food with less sodium. Because more than 70% of the sodium you… read on > read on >
Pop tunes, smooth jams and banging beats can help people more easily recover from surgery with fewer painkillers, a new review finds. Listening to music reduces the anxiety, pain and heart rate of patients waking up from surgery, researchers found. As a result, surgical patients provided music tended to need less than half the amount… read on > read on >
Having close family and friends who care about their health makes women more likely to get regularly screened for cancer, a new study has found. Women are more likely to undergo regular cancer screening if they have a tighter web of social and emotional connections, researchers reported Oct. 17 in the journal Cancer Causes &… read on > read on >
Kids with good physical fitness are more likely to grow into teens with better mental health and brain function, a new study has found. Children who performed better at shuttle sprints scored better on cognitive tests as teenagers, researchers found. In addition, better cardio fitness in childhood added up to lower levels of stress and… read on > read on >
Depression can make it tougher for athletes to recover from a concussion, and vice versa, a new study finds. Student athletes who have both concussion and depression have significantly worse symptoms for both conditions, researchers reported recently in the journal Brain Research. What’s more, electrical signals in the brain are more disrupted among people with… read on > read on >
Is vaping finally losing its coolness for American teens? The latest tally of federal data finds that 550,000 school kids, mostly high schoolers, quit using e-cigarettes in 2024. Vaping rates fell from 10% of high school students in 2023 to 7.8% this year, “reaching the lowest level ever measured” by the National Youth Tobacco Survey,… read on > read on >
A new diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or other dementia often spurs a person to move from their home, new research shows. “One possible explanation is that individuals with dementia and their caregivers may choose to move closer to family or informal caregivers, either with independent housing arrangements or entering formal long-term care services,” wrote a team… read on > read on >
A new, reassuring study finds that men can take the diabetes drug metformin without worrying that their offspring will suffer from birth defects. Recent research raised concerns that metformin could promote birth defects in children by damaging the quality of a man’s sperm. But this study of more than 3 million pregnancies, published Oct. 16… read on > read on >
