Certain cholesterol-lowering drugs might speed dementia in some older adults whose memories are starting to fail, a small, preliminary study suggests. The researchers found that of 300 older adults with mildly impaired thinking and memory, those using “lipophilic” statins were more likely to develop dementia over the next eight years. Lipophilic statins include such widely…  read on >  read on >

Researchers say an extra dose of two-dose COVID-19 vaccines may improve immune system protection for organ transplant patients, a group that’s so far responded poorly to two-dose vaccines. “Our findings suggest clinical trials are warranted to determine if transplant recipients should receive COVID-19 vaccine booster doses as standard clinical practice, similar to what is currently…  read on >  read on >

More teens in the United States are reporting their sexual identity as gay, lesbian or bisexual, nationwide surveys show. Between 2015 and 2019, the percentage of 15- to 17-year-olds who said they identified as “non-heterosexual” rose from 8.3% to 11.7%, according to nationwide surveys by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Although our…  read on >  read on >

Suffering through a case of COVID-19 unleashed a host of other health problems in hundreds of thousands of Americans participating in the largest study yet of the long-term effects of coronavirus infection. Tracking the health insurance records of nearly 2 million people who caught the coronavirus last year, researchers found that one month or more…  read on >  read on >

Just a fraction of older Americans with arthritic knees try physical therapy, pain-relieving injections or other more conservative measures before undergoing knee replacement surgery, new research shows. And this may be driven by what type of doctor they see to treat their achy knees, as well as where they live, the study findings suggest. Knee…  read on >  read on >

While COVID-19 vaccination rates may lag among some groups, that’s not the case for practicing physicians in the United States. More than 96% are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with no significant difference in vaccination rates across regions, according to a new survey from the American Medical Association (AMA). Even among the 4% not yet vaccinated,…  read on >  read on >

An experimental Alzheimer’s vaccine appears to safely clear abnormal tau protein from the brain, but it’s not yet clear whether the shot will be able to save brain function. In a Phase 2 clinical trial, the vaccine produced high levels of antibodies to target and attack free-floating tau proteins before they can form “tau tangles”…  read on >  read on >