THURSDAY, Jan. 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- In a finding that suggests the updated bivalent COVID booster shots are worth getting, new government data shows they cut the chances of infection with the new XBB variant by nearly half.While those ages 49 and under saw a 48% reduction in risk, the shots were slightly less effective in older individuals -- about 40% in adults ages 50 to 64 and 43% in those 65 and up. Effectiveness was seen for both the Pfizer and Moderna boosters, the study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.While the boosters were modified last summer to target the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, the latest research reveals they’re also working against XBB, which is now responsible for about half of new cases in the United States.This is...

THURSDAY, Jan. 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A good physical workout benefits an older brain. So does socializing. Put those two together and the payoff may be even bigger.Researchers in Japan found that link in a new study that looked at exercising solo and in a group."Exercise is manageable for many older people, and we saw cognitive benefits from it compared with those who don't exercise," said study senior author Tomohiro Okura, a professor at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. "But it's even more noteworthy that we found exercise's benefits rise — 14.1 percentage points in our study — when performed with others and at least twice a week," Okura added in a university news release.Starting in 2017, the study collected data on nearly 4,400 older adults for four years in a city 62...

THURSDAY, Jan. 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds troubling information about a link between the pregnancy complication preeclampsia and future heart attack, even in younger women.Danish researchers found a fourfold higher risk of heart attack and stroke within just seven years after delivery. Risks continued to be elevated more than 20 years later, according to findings published Jan. 26 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.Preeclampsia is a potentially dangerous condition when a pregnant woman has high blood pressure and high levels of protein in urine that indicate kidney damage (proteinuria), or other signs of organ damage.“The high risk of cardiovascular disease after preeclampsia manifests at young ages and early after delivery,” said study author Dr....

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- More than 3 million new people signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, this year, swelling enrollment numbers to a record 16.3 million Americans."On the 10th anniversary of the ACA Marketplaces, the numbers speak for themselves: More people signed up for plans this year than ever before, and the uninsured rate is at an all-time low," Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said in a statement announcing the enrollment numbers. Just 8% of Americans are now uninsured.The increases for this year included individuals from low-income, immigrant, Black and Latino communities, Brooks-LaSure noted. “We made unprecedented investments to expand our...