TUESDAY, May 23, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Social media presents a “profound risk” to young brains, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned on Tuesday.In a report, Murthy warned about the risks of social media use for young people and called on policymakers, tech companies, researchers and parents to “urgently take action."“There are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents,” Murthy said. The full effect of social media isn’t well understood, he noted. “Adolescents are not just smaller adults,” Murthy told The New York Times. “They’re in a different phase of development, and they’re in a critical phase of brain development.”Among the concerns are that if kids are...

TUESDAY, May 23, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- HIV infection numbers in the United States are down, public health officials announced Tuesday.Declines in young people are driving the overall decrease.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed an overall 12% decline between 2017 and 2021 largely due to a 34% drop in new infections among gay and bisexual males aged 13 to 24.“Our nation’s HIV prevention efforts continue to move in the right direction,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in an agency news release. “Longstanding factors, such as systemic inequities, social and economic marginalization and residential segregation, however, stand between highly effective HIV treatment and prevention and people who could benefit from them. Efforts must be...

TUESDAY, May 23, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to predicting heart trouble down the road, the arteries may say a lot more than the genes do, according to a new study.Researchers found that CT scans of the heart arteries were better than genetics at predicting middle-aged adults' risk of heart disease in coming years.In fact, people's genes gave little useful information over and above low-tech methods, such as measuring blood pressure.Experts said the findings -- published May 23 in the Journal of the American Medical Association -- do not write off a role for genetic tests in gauging heart disease risk, particularly in relatively younger people.But for now, they said, CT scans -- which detect calcium deposits in the heart arteries -- remain the better tool.Doctors have long...

TUESDAY, May 23, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- It was a no-brainer for New York City mom Jen L. when a pediatrician suggested that she vaccinate her two sons against human papillomavirus (HPV).“Before my kids were eligible for the vaccine, I had read up on it to learn about the vaccine and its positives in general, and also to learn if there were any significant side effects," she said. “I have a good friend who had issues from HPV in her 20s, and I was excited to read a vaccine could now help prevent all the drama she had gone through.”But not all parents feel this way about the cancer-preventing HPV shots, a new study suggests.Parents of nearly 120,000 unvaccinated teens aged 13 to 17 were asked why they didn’t plan to vaccinate their children against HPV, which is a sexually...