Latest Senior Health News

27Dec
2022

Could Soaking in a Hot Spring (or Tub) Ease High Blood Pressure?

Could Soaking in a Hot Spring (or Tub) Ease High Blood Pressure?TUESDAY, Dec. 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Could taking hot baths at night help seniors keep high blood pressure at bay? A new Japanese study suggests it just might work. The finding follows a fresh analysis of a decade-old survey that looked at high blood pressure risk among older residents of Beppu.Beppu is a city widely known for having the most natural hot springs in all of Japan. And the new analysis revealed that those seniors who routinely opted for a hot spring dip after 7 p.m. appeared to have a 15% lower risk for high blood pressure.“I was surprised at our results,” study author Dr. Satoshi Yamasaki said as he discussed his team’s research into the hot spring bathing habits and medical histories of roughly 11,000 locals aged 65 and up.The number of seniors surveyed back...

Smokers More Prone to Memory Loss by Middle Age

27 December 2022
Smokers More Prone to Memory Loss by Middle AgeTUESDAY, Dec. 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- If you need another reason to quit smoking, researchers have one: your mid-life brain health. Not only does smoking harm lung and heart health, but it increases the chances of middle-aged memory loss and confusion, a new study shows.The likelihood of mental ("cognitive") decline is lower for those who quit — even if they did so only recently, according to researchers at Ohio State University, in Columbus.Past research has established a connection between smoking and Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia. This new study used a one-question self-assessment to ask participants if they were experiencing worsening or more frequent memory loss or confusion (also known as "subjective cognitive decline").Using the 2019 Behavioral Risk...

Higher Price Tag Doesn't Guarantee Better Quality Joint...

26 December 2022
Higher Price Tag Doesn`t Guarantee Better Quality Joint Replacement: StudyMONDAY, Dec. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) – The prices that health insurers agree to pay for joint replacement surgery vary widely and are unrelated to conventional measures of the quality of care.That's the conclusion of a new study that found who is footing the bill is the biggest influence on the price tag.Total joint replacements (TJR) — especially of knees and hips — are the most common in-hospital surgeries for U.S. patients over 65.With numbers forecast to increase, these surgeries are a big driver of rising health care costs, according to a team led by Dr. Robin Kamal, of the VOICES Health Policy Research Center at Stanford University.For the study, he and his team analyzed publicly available data from 18 hospitals in one California health system, classifying negotiated...

Hints That Deep Brain Stimulation Might Ease Alzheimer's...

22 December 2022
Hints That Deep Brain Stimulation Might Ease Alzheimer`s SymptomsTHURSDAY, Dec. 22, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers are studying whether deep brain stimulation could help people with Alzheimer's hold on to their memory longer, and now a new finding may help refine the approach.Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established treatment for several medical conditions, including epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and obsessive-compulsive disorder. It involves implanting electrodes in certain areas of the brain to deliver electrical pulses that disrupt abnormal brain activity.Researchers have also begun to study DBS as a possible way to help people with Alzheimer's disease.The hope is that, when given during the early stages of Alzheimer's, DBS may slow the progression of memory loss.So far, studies have been testing the effects of stimulating a brain...

Another Big Drop in U.S. Life Expectancy in 2021

22 December 2022
Another Big Drop in U.S. Life Expectancy in 2021THURSDAY, Dec. 22, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The average American's expected life span at birth took another big hit in 2021, according to final data on death rates for that pandemic year. Whereas in 2019 the average American could have expected to live an average of 78.8 years, life expectancy declined to 77 years in 2020, and then to 76.4 years in 2021, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.That's the shortest estimated U.S. life expectancy since 1996, the agency noted. Of course, the toll taken by COVID-19 -- which has so far killed over 1.1 million Americans -- is largely to blame for the decline. But the CDC reports that fatal overdoses from illicit drugs such as fentanyl also rose sharply in 2021. Seen another way, "the death...
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