Frailty exams are recommended for older adults who have blood cancer, and new research shows they can be done virtually, not just in person. While the screenings are typically conducted at a clinic or doctor’s office, that became a challenge during the pandemic because people with blood cancers are at high risk of infection. A… read on > read on >
All Lifestyle:
Dirty Air Can Worsen COVID Outcomes
How the COVID-19 virus affects someone may be exacerbated by the air they breathe. Researchers found a link between exposure to airborne particulate matter, including fine particles known as PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and heightened risk of serious coronavirus complications. “Our research demonstrated that one-year average exposure to PM2.5 translated to a 20-30% increase… read on > read on >
Cancer Patients Have Even Greater Need for COVID Boosters: Study
Cancer patients continue to face more risk from COVID-19, even if they’ve been vaccinated. Although vaccination is effective for most people who have cancer (even though they’re immunocompromised by the disease and their cancer treatments), its effectiveness wanes more rapidly in this group, by three to six months compared to the general population, new research… read on > read on >
Pandemic Has U.S. Hospitals Overwhelmed With Teens in Mental Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic and the isolation it imposed took a dramatic toll on kids’ mental health, increasing the demand for services in an already overburdened system. As a result, many kids found themselves being “boarded” in emergency departments as they awaited care, according to a new study conducted at Boston Children’s Hospital. The average wait… read on > read on >
A Child’s Pet Dog May Shield Them From Crohn’s Disease
Add a lower risk of Crohn’s disease to the many benefits of having a dog during childhood, a new study suggests. Sorry, cat lovers, researchers didn’t find a similar benefit for you. “We did not see the same results with cats, though we are still trying to determine why,” said senior author Williams Turpin, a… read on > read on >
Annual Health Care Costs Rise by $2,000 for Americans Who Vape
Think vaping is cheap? A study from the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing reports that annual health care costs for users of electronic cigarettes were $2,024 more per person than for those who use no tobacco products. That adds up to about $15 billion a year in the United States. “Health care… read on > read on >
Making U.S. Cities Greener Could Have Saved Thousands of Lives
Creating more parks and other green spaces could have prevented tens of thousands of deaths in dozens of large U.S. cities over the past two decades, a new study says. “We’ve known that living in greener areas can have a positive impact on our physical and mental health, but there is a lack of data… read on > read on >
Lower Incomes May Mean Lower Survival After Heart Attack
If you’re poor and have a severe type of heart attack, the chance you’ll live through it is significantly lower than that of someone with more money, new research shows. The finding underscores the need to close a divide in health care that hits low-income people hard, said lead researcher Dr. Abdul Mannan Khan Minhas,… read on > read on >
3-Dose Pfizer COVID Vaccine Spurs Strong Response in Youngest Kids
Pfizer/BioNTech says a three-dose regimen of its COVID-19 vaccine appears to provoke a strong immune response in the youngest age group of children — those aged 6 months to 5 years. This is the only age group not yet approved for COVID-19 vaccination by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to CNN, Pfizer said… read on > read on >
Repeat Infections With COVID-19 May Become the Norm
COVID-19 might be easing into a new status as a widely circulating and somewhat harsher version of the common cold, experts say — a virus that folks could contract repeatedly, even if they were recently infected. “[SARS-CoV-2] is destined to join four of its family members and become an endemic coronavirus that will repeatedly infect… read on > read on >