Controlling Infections Might Lower Dementia Risk

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 23, 2025
• Full Page

Preventing or treating infections could be a key means of warding off dementia, a new evidence review says.

Vaccines, antibiotics, antiviral medications and anti-inflammatory drugs are all associated with a reduced risk of dementia, researchers reported in a study publis...

Nutrition Labels Only Slightly Effective in Cutting Calories

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 23, 2025
• Full Page

It's easy these days to see how many calories a cheeseburger will set you back, or how many added sugars are in a jar of pasta sauce.

But nutrition labels haven't been as helpful at helping people cut calories as might have been hoped, according to a new evidence review ...

Federal Judge Revives Legal Effort To Limit Access to Abortion Pill

• Carole Tanzer Miller HealthDay Reporter
• January 22, 2025
• Full Page

Efforts to limit access to the abortion drug mifepristone have gotten boost from a federal judge who took the bench during President Donald Trump's first term.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that Missouri, Kansas and Idaho can move ahead with a lawsuit seeki...

High-Fiber Diets Linked to Gut Health & Fewer Harmful Bacteria

• India Edwards HealthDay Reporter
• January 22, 2025
• Full Page

Could eating more fiber be the key to a healthier gut? Research suggests the answer is yes.

The findings, published recently in the journal Nature Microbiology, analyzed gut microbiomes from more than 12,000 people in 45 countries. It found that individuals with...

Trump-Era HHS Website Makes Term ‘Abortion’ Harder To Find

• India Edwards HealthDay Reporter
• January 22, 2025
• Full Page

Abortion information is disappearing from federal government websites, signaling potential changes in abortion under the second Trump administration. 

ReproductiveRights.gov, a site launched under the Biden administration to provide resources on abortion and contrac...

Trump Ends Push To Slash Prescription Drug Costs

• Carole Tanzer Miller HealthDay Reporter
• January 22, 2025
• Full Page

With a sweep of the pen, President Donald Trump has ended a Biden administration effort to lower the cost of prescription drugs for people on Medicare and Medicaid.

Trump's order, signed shortly after his inauguration on Monday, targets policies his administrations calls...

Medicare to Negotiate Prices for 15 More Drugs, Including Ozempic

• India Edwards HealthDay Reporter
• January 22, 2025
• Full Page

Medicare will soon negotiate prices for 15 more drugs as part of an effort to reduce costs for seniors and people with disabilities, federal health officials announced in a news release.

The negotiations, made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, will cover widely us...

“Chameleon” Immune Cells Linked To Severe Asthma

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 22, 2025
• Full Page

A set of chameleon-like immune cells could be contributing to severe asthma in some patients.

Intermediate group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) appear to be able to get around cutting-edge asthma treatments by transforming into another type of immune ce...

Overactive Bladder Diagnoses Tripled, but Treatment Is Still Rare

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 22, 2025
• Full Page

A sudden need to urinate is more common than previously known, but treatment is less common.

Diagnoses for overactive bladder more than tripled between 2013 and 2017, after the American Urological Association (AUA) released guidelines for the condition in 2012, researche...

Sports Boost Academic Performance in Teens

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 22, 2025
• Full Page

Want your kid to do well in school?

Get them involved in an organized sport, a new study urges.

Boys and girls are both more likely to earn a high school diploma if they take part in team sports like soccer or artistic sports like dance or gymnastics, researchers r...

Rural America Faces Growing Shortage of Eye Surgeons

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 22, 2025
• Full Page

Rural areas are facing an increasing shortage of eye surgeons who can treat conditions like cataracts, glaucoma and detached retinas, a new study says.

More than 17% of patients who need an ophthalmic surgeon live in rural America, but fewer than 6% of eye surgeons now w...

Most Families Exclude Foods Linked to Allergies

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 21, 2025
• Full Page

Most parents of a child with a food allergy opt to cut the offending food completely out of their homes.

However, that strategy is tied to an emotional toll, researchers said.

Parents who exclude food from their home because of their child’s allergy have a wo...

Job Protections Improve Mental Health Among LGBTQ+ Workers

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 21, 2025
• Full Page

TUESDAY, Jan. 21, 2025 (HealthDay New) -- A landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision barring job discrimination significantly eased the minds of LGBTQ+ workers, a new study says.

The court extended employment protections to nearly 3.6 million LGBTQ+ people in 12 states with ...

COVID-19 Doesn't Worsen Multiple Sclerosis, Study Says

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 21, 2025
• Full Page

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) have been concerned that a COVID-19 infection could cause the symptoms of their nerve disease to become even worse.

But a new study should offer some solace -- COVID doesn’t appear to worsen MS, researchers reported Dec. 23, 2024...

Moderna Receives $590M From HHS To Develop Bird Flu Vaccine

• India Edwards HealthDay Reporter
• January 21, 2025
• Full Page

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is awarding the pharmaceutical company Moderna $590 million to continue developing a vaccine to protect against bird flu.

This funding, announced Friday by Moderna, builds on the $176 million it received from HHS las...

Seniors Miss Out on Services With Medicare Advantage

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 21, 2025
• Full Page

Medicare Advantage isn’t that great an advantage for seniors compared with traditional Medicare, researchers say.

The privatized form of Medicare offers more supplemental benefits than traditional Medicare, including dental, vision and hearing benefits.

But m...

Bird Flu Found in Georgia Commercial Poultry for First Time

• India Edwards HealthDay Reporter
• January 21, 2025
• Full Page

For the first time, bird flu has been detected in a commercial poultry flock in Georgia.

The case — confirmed in Elbert County by the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service &...

Popular GLP-1 Drugs Are Shaping Health Beyond Weight Loss & Diabetes

• India Edwards HealthDay Reporter
• January 21, 2025
• Full Page

Popular GLP-1 medications for weight loss and diabetes may have unexpected benefits for reducing risks for conditions such as substance abuse, psychosis, infections and even dementia. 

But these drugs also come with risks that shouldn't be overlooked, researchers wa...

Stressed-Out Surgeon? That's Good News for Patients!

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 21, 2025
• Full Page

Check out your surgeon as you’re wheeled into the operating room. Do they seem tense, on edge, or stressed out?

If so, that could be good news for you, a new study says.

The patients of stressed surgeons tend to suffer fewer major complications from surgery, ...

ADHD Diagnoses On The Rise Among Adults

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 21, 2025
• Full Page

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses have increased among adults in recent years, while remaining stable among teenagers.

ADHD diagnoses among adults increased by 15% between 2020 and 2023, after declining by nearly 11% from 2016 to 2020, researchers...