Health Advice
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American Health -- The Short of It
New findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine report that Americans live shorter lives than Europeans, regardless of their wealth.
To be sure, people with more wealth tend to live longer than those with less wealth, especially in the U.S., but when comparing all demographics, the wealthiest Americans have shorter lifespans on ...Read more
This Is Your Brain in High School
Numerous studies have shown that education offers protective effects against late-life cognitive impairment. College-educated people are at lower risk.
But the quality of one's high school experience seems to play a role too.
"When we talk about education, the quality of your high school experience, not just whether you received a diploma or...Read more
The Air Up There
Airplane air quality is generally regarded as good, comparable to or better than other indoor environments thanks to high air exchange rates and the use of high-efficiency particulate air filters. But any air traveler will tell you that flying seems to provoke a particular kind of air turbulence. Namely, increased flatulence.
It's a matter of...Read more
Cut Friday as an Option
People who get a common surgery on a Friday have a significantly higher risk of complications, readmission to the hospital and death as compared to people who got the same types of operation on a Monday, say researchers in a new study.
It's colloquially known as the "weekend effect," alluding to everybody's -- even surgeons' -- distraction ...Read more
Baby Fat
By the year 2050, it's projected one in six young people will be obese. That works out to 360 million children and adolescents with a body mass index of 30 or higher.
The added girth and weight won't be spread evenly. Half of the world's young people with obesity will live in two regions: North Africa and the Middle East, and Latin America ...Read more
Let's Hear It for Gene Therapy
Ten out of 11 kids who received gene therapy for a rare variant of congenital deafness enjoyed significant improvements when tested one year after the surgery, according to doctors involved in the study.
The therapy addresses mutations in the OTOF gene that cause hearing loss by delivering a new working copy of the gene. The hope is that by ...Read more
Global Suicide
According to the Global Burden of Disease, approximately 746,000 people died by suicide worldwide in 2021. That's a grim number but also encouraging, as it reflects an ongoing downward trend, from almost 15 deaths per 100,000 in 1990 to nine per 100,000 in 2021.
While the overall suicide mortality rate has decreased over the last three ...Read more
Give Your Doc a Hug
If case you were sick and missed it, March 30 was National Doctors' Day.
WalletHub, a personal finance company, took note by reporting on the best and worst states for practicing medicine, based on metrics such as average annual wage, number of hospitals per capita and quality of the public health system.
The top 10 in descending order were ...Read more
An Afternoon Cup of No
A new study suggests that coffee drinkers who limit their consumption to the morning have a lower risk of dying of heart disease and a lower overall mortality risk than those who drink coffee throughout the day.
"Research so far suggests that drinking coffee doesn't raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, and it seems to lower the risk of ...Read more
Heir Pollution
Researchers report that both maternal and paternal exposures to outdoor air pollution can negatively affect human embryo development in in vitro fertilization cycles. In other words, air pollution may make it harder to get pregnant.
The study in Environment International presented a new approach to understanding the associations between air ...Read more
Alcohol Causes Cancer
In one of his final acts, Vivek Murthy, former U.S. surgeon general, said alcoholic beverages should carry an updated warning label that says consumption increases the risk of cancer. Murthy said most Americans have no idea.
Recent research underscores the point, finding that quitting or reducing alcohol consumption reduced the risk of a ...Read more
Late-Night Plaque
Let's all agree that indulging in late-night snacks isn't good for your teeth unless you immediately follow up with a thorough brushing. But is midnight munching bad for your overall health?
Apart from the fact that these are calories added to the day's menu but with less opportunity to burn them off, late-night snacking can pose two ...Read more
Wildfire Smoke Increases Dementia Risk
Significant increases in the amount of fine particulate matter in wildfire smoke (often referred to as PM2.5) strongly correlates to an increased risk of developing dementia. The longer and more frequent the exposure, the greater the risk.
Researchers analyzed the health records of 1.2 million members aged 60 and older of Kaiser Permanente ...Read more