Health

In 2014, then-57-year-old bioethicist Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel wrote an infamous essay titled, “Why I Hope to Die at 75” for The Atlantic. His argument boiled down to this: it’s not worth living as long as humanly possible if those efforts yield extra decades defined by disease and poor health, which data suggest is the fate awaiting many people in the U.S.Nearly a decade later, neither Emanuel’s mind nor the statistics have changed much. Emanuel still says he plans to stop most life-extending medical care once he reaches age 75, though he’s healthy enough that he expects to live longer naturally. And there is still a yawning gap between the average number of years someone born in the U.S. can expect to live—77.5, according to a new federal estimate for 2022—and the number of years they can exp...

Most U.S. cities would have to replace lead water pipes within 10 years under strict new rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency as the Biden administration moves to reduce lead in drinking water and prevent public health crises like the ones in Flint, Michigan and Washington, D.C.Millions of people consume drinking water from lead pipes and the agency said tighter standards would improve IQ scores in children and reduce high blood pressure and heart disease in adults. It is the strongest overhaul of lead rules in more than three decades, and will cost billions of dollars. Pulling it off will require overcoming enormous practical and financial obstacles.“These improvements ensure that in a not too distant future, there will never be another city and another child poisoned by ...

An endless supply of trendy takes in recent years claim that among young adults, smoking is cool again. But though they may be hanging from the lips of major influencers and starlets, cigarettes have far more fans in an older demographic, according to new data on adult smoking behaviors in the United States. From 2011 to 2022, the prevalence of smoking habits decreased in every age bracket except one: the 65-and-up crowd. Public health campaigns and programs outlining the dangers of smoking aren’t really aimed at older adults, says Rafael Meza, an integrative oncologist at the BC Cancer Research Institute in Vancouver and the lead author of a new study on adult smoking. “In the U.S., smoking really has a generational pattern,” he says. Meza’s new analysis, published Dec. 1 in JAMA Health F...

November 20, 2023 10:20 AM ESTWASHINGTON — Americans can order more free COVID-19 tests online for home delivery.The U.S. government is offering to send another round of four at-home virus tests ahead of the typical surge in cases during the winter holiday season.Anyone who did not order a batch of four COVID-19 tests in September can secure up to eight of them this time around starting Monday at COVIDtests.gov. The U.S. Postal Service will deliver them for free.The government is mailing out the coronavirus tests as the the flu season kicks off and a spike in RSV cases has been reported in some spots around the country. Hospitalizations for COVID-19, which has killed more than 1 million people in the United States, were on the rise this fall but have stayed steady in recent weeks. Immunity...

With social media fueling the huge demand for drugs like Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, which are helping people to lose more weight than any previous weight loss medications, it’s no surprise that manufacturers have had trouble keeping up. And the recent approval of Eli Lilly's Zepbound, which is the same drug, Mounjaro, approved already for diabetes, but renamed specifically for weight management, will only add to that demand. Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus, for example, has intentionally held back the release of new starter doses of Wegovy to ensure that those who have already started on the weight loss drug can continue getting their injections despite the current limited availability and manufacturing schedules.But as with many situations in which su...

On Sept. 25, 2023, the Biden-Harris administration announced that it will be investing some $200 million in the youth mental health crisis. Since youth mental health was declared a national emergency in 2021, multiple experts, including the U.S. Surgeon General, have cited social media and the COVID-19 pandemic, among other things, as major contributing factors. But what has not been talked about to the same extent, is how anti-Black racism is fueling the youth mental health crisis. Racism has a crucial impact on the mental health of Black youth, and the current mental health system is not equipped to address it. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I’ve witnessed the depressive, even suicidal effects of racism on Black youth. The kindergartener who was sad and withdrawn for weeks after...

The financial burden of high insulin costs that patients and insurers face is often blamed on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulatory framework, but a new study suggests pharmaceutical companies have also been using patenting processes to unfairly maintain high costs. In the FDA’s master list of approved medications, devices, and other therapeutics, a document known as the Orange Book, patent ownership of each item governs which companies are allowed to manufacture and sell which therapies. The FDA deals with drug approval, but patents are granted by another agency entirely, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Though there are rules governing which developments by pharmaceutical companies merit inclusion in the FDA’s Orange Book, experts have long said that the book r...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating cinnamon apple puree and applesauce products amid reports of elevated blood lead levels in at least 34 individuals. Residents in more than 20 states have reported illness after exposure to cinnamon apple products offered by three brands: WanaBana, Weis, and Schnucks. The goods are manufactured in Ecuador and have since been recalled. Recent screens by the FDA and other state partners found lead levels in at least one product nearly 200 times greater than those in FDA guidelines. “FDA’s leading hypothesis is that cinnamon used in these recalled pouches is the likely source of contamination for these products; however, the FDA has not yet been able to collect and test samples of the cinnamon used in the recalled products,” an FDA pres...

There’s a common malfunction that occurs when well-intentioned people open their mouths to say no: The word “yes” tumbles out instead.We’ve all been there, says Vanessa Bohns, department chair and professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University. No is a deceptively short, simple word that can trigger several layers of anxiety for the person trying to say it. For starters: What does it reveal about our character? “We worry that we’re essentially communicating that we’re not a helpful person; we’re not a nice, kind person; we’re not a team player,” Bohns says. “We’re too lazy to take something on, or we don’t want to work hard.”At the same time, she adds, we’re likely stressing over how that “no” might offend the other person, and what it conveys about our relationship with them. ...