Stroke survivors have an 80% increased risk of dementia compared to people who’ve never suffered a stroke, a new study finds. About 19% of people who’d had a stroke developed dementia during an average six-year follow-up, compared with just 13% of those with no stroke, researchers reported Dec. 4 in the journal Neurology. “Importantly, our…  read on >  read on >

Deaths from fentanyl-linked drug overdoses have begun to decline in the United States, but the crisis is far from over and those numbers could easily rise again, a new government report shows. About 70% of fatal drug overdoses recorded in 2023 involved fentanyl, the research showed. The number of these deaths dropped 7.8% nationwide in…  read on >  read on >

Hockey players’ chances of developing concussion-related brain injury increase with every year they spend on the ice, a new study finds. The odds of having chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) increase among hockey players 34% for each year played, researchers reported Dec. 4 in JAMA Network Open. Results show 18 out of 19 National Hockey League…  read on >  read on >

Health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo are racing to try to identify the cause of a mysterious, flu-like illness that has sickened 376 people and left 79 dead in that country. In a alert posted on the social media platform X on Tuesday, the Congo’s Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Security…  read on >  read on >

The choice may be bittersweet, but the evidence is clear: New research shows that dark chocolate can lower a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes. People who ate at least five servings of dark chocolate a week had a 21% lower risk of the blood sugar disease, researchers found. Further, the more dark chocolate a…  read on >  read on >