6 May 2020
WEDNESDAY, May 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Adults who had rough childhoods have higher odds for heart disease.
That's the conclusion from a look at more than 3,600 people who were followed from the mid-1980s through 2018. Researchers found that those who experienced the most trauma, abuse, neglect and family dysfunction in childhood were 50% more likely to have had a heart attack, stroke or other heart problem in their 50s and 60s.
The Northwestern University study, published recently in the Journal of the American Heart Association, is the first to examine how childhood family environment affects heart disease risk in older middle age.
Children with troubled home lives are at increased risk of stress, smoking, anxiety, depression and physical inactivity that continues into...
4 May 2020
MONDAY, May 4, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Monday it will crack down on the fraudulent COVID-19 antibody tests that have flooded the market.
Companies selling coronavirus antibody tests will be required to submit data proving accuracy within the next 10 days, or their products could be yanked from public circulation, FDA officials said.
Since mid-March, dozens of manufacturers have been allowed to sell antibody tests without providing any evidence they are accurate, under the initial policy announced by the FDA.
The intent of the initial policy was to support "the availability of antibody tests, which are an important tool in our fight against the coronavirus," FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn explained during a media...
30 April 2020
THURSDAY, April 30, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Poor and minority Americans are most likely to lose access to clean tap water as droughts become more common and severe, a new paper says.
Water service in the United States is delivered by tens of thousands of community systems, most of which are small and funded locally, according to the study.
More than 80% of the 50,000-plus U.S. community water systems delivering water year-round serve fewer than 3,300 people, according to author Megan Mullin, associate professor of environmental politics at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment in Durham, N.C.
"Systems this small face tremendous challenges in delivering safe drinking water even under normal conditions, and as droughts become more frequent and intense, the challenges...
28 April 2020
TUESDAY, April 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- With job losses skyrocketing because of the coronavirus pandemic, hunger is a growing issue for millions of Americans, according to a new report.
Surveying more than 10,000 people across the United States late last month, researchers found that nearly 4 in 10 had too little to eat or difficulty obtaining healthy foods.
Southern states have been especially hard hit, with nearly half in some states having "food insecurity," the survey shows.
"Food insecurity was high in America before the pandemic, and it has gotten even worse," said lead researcher Kevin Fitzpatrick, a sociology professor at the University of Arkansas. "The U.S. food system is in the middle of a crisis."
Food insecurity is both uncertainty about being able to buy food...