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Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. A more accurate estimate of the stroke risk in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 infection has come from a large American Heart Association registry study. Findings from the American Heart Association’s COVID-19 Cardiovascular Disease Registry, including more than 20,000 US adults hospitalized

After formal review, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) declared that the benefits of preventing hospitalization and death from COVID-19 outweigh the possible risks of thromboembolic events and thrombocytopenia, which are clearly rare, after receiving AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. The statements come after 13 European countries put vaccinations with the AstraZeneca

The accidental death of a child involving a Peloton treadmill is a grim reminder for parents to keep their children away from all exercise equipment. In a statement sent to customers and released on its website, Peloton CEO John Foley said he was aware of the accidental death involving the company’s Trend+ treadmill and that

Despite a reputation as potentially double trouble, the Ross procedure of aortic valve replacement provides excellent long-term survival with low rates of reoperation and valve-related complications, according to data from 1988-2018 in the Ross Registry, the world’s largest database of these surgeries. Among 2444 adult patients followed for a median of 9.2 years (range 0

For those women who have yet to experience the joys of menopause, a few remarks on what you might expect. Some women drench their sheets from sweat on a regular basis; others have difficulty controlling emotions; and then there are others who initiate divorce during the menopause years. Oh, what the loss of those hormones can do.  This hormonal

For patients with dementia, cannabinoids may be a promising intervention for treating neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and the refusing of food, new research suggests. Results of a systematic literature review showed that cannabinoids were associated with reduced agitation, longer sleep, and lower NPS. They were also linked to increased meal consumption and weight gain. Refusing food

During the second wave of COVID-19 infections in England last year, households with children had higher risk of infection and hospitalization, but not death, versus households without children, a large population-based study found. From September to December 2020, adults younger than 65 living with children ages 12-18 showed increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (adjusted HR

An important tidbit to know about researching rare diseases: Find that one gene that isn’t working as nature intended, and it can lead to the reasons why other, not-so-rare diseases develop. One prime example is the statin, that ubiquitous, everybody-knows-what-it’s-used-for drug. If arteries aren’t kept clean of plaque so blood can flow uninterrupted to the

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. The Texas Medical Board has dropped its investigation of Hasan Gokal, MD, after finding insufficient evidence that he violated the Medical Practice Act when he gave vaccine doses to people outside the vaccination event he was leading, as the doses were

Even as more people become vaccinated against the coronavirus, allowing hope to peek out on the horizon for all to feel, worry and stress have not gone away. Anyone might buckle under the added stress and anxiety, but for those with undiagnosed or untreated anxiety issues, the struggle is likely greater. But some hope is

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have established new criteria to classify variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.    The criteria are meant to clarify how much is known about recent

Older people appeared especially susceptible to COVID-19 reinfection, but neither sex nor time since previous infection made a difference in risk, a large population-based study in Denmark found. An analysis examining data by age, sex, and time since last infection found adults ages 65 and older had 47.1% observed protection against reinfection (95% CI 24.7-62.8),

Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact Now that the coronavirus has been in the United States for roughly a year, new numbers are revealing the scale of Covid-19’s impact on American health: Covid has become the country’s third-leading cause of death, and could be on its way to outpacing cancer. This story also ran on PolitiFact. It can

Syringes prefilled with aflibercept by the manufacturer may cause elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) after intravitreal injection, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is warning. The agency has received a “higher-than-expected proportion” of elevated IOP, its Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) noted in a March 12 meeting summary. “After reviewing the evidence, the PRAC concluded that this

The FDA has issued a new alert for patients who have received or are considering Scandinavian Total Ankle Replacement (STAR) ankle replacements. Plastic parts used in these devices may show signs of breakage three to four years after being implanted. The FDA is not saying to disregard this product entirely. It is saying that younger,

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Amid ongoing concern about reports of thromboembolic events occurring in European Union (EU) residents who have received AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, the executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that the “benefit to risk ratio remains positive” for the vaccine,

Benefits of hormone therapy (HT) to treat menopausal symptoms included fewer nighttime trips to the bathroom for some patients, a small trial showed. In 245 postmenopausal women treated with various types of HT and followed for 6 months, the percentage of those who woke two or more times to go to the bathroom at night

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. A study evaluating asymptomatic adults for COVID-19 would add another 16 million to the total number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the United States, at least up to September 2020. Investigators assessed 61,910 adults who reported feeling well when they applied for

An extract of an herb used in traditional Chinese medicine works as a reversible oral contraceptive in male mice and monkeys, researchers say. Triptonide, extracted from the herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, did not appear to cause any side effects in the animals, said Wei Yan, MD, PhD, an investigator at the Lundquist Institute for

WASHINGTON — Should doctors who treat Medicare patients get a pay raise for 2022? No, says the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). “Our indicators are positive” when it comes to physician payment rates in Medicare, said Jim Mathews, MedPAC’s executive director, in a briefing announcing the release of MedPAC’s annual March report to Congress. “We

Smruthi Karthikeyan, University of California San Diego and Rob Knight, University of California San Diego The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea By using a sewage-handling robot, our laboratory has been able to detect coronavirus in wastewater 30 times faster than nonautomated large-scale systems. This advance, published in

Vasodilators may have a protective effect against rosacea, results from a single-center retrospective cohort study showed. “Our initial hypothesis was that perhaps antihypertensive agents might be associated with worsening rosacea,” one of the study authors, Jennifer G. Powers, MD, associate professor of dermatology at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, said in an interview. “What we

For patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), the intentional laceration technique of diseased valve leaflets called BASILICA is effective and reasonably safe for preventing coronary artery obstruction, according to a late-breaking study presented at CRT 2021 sponsored by MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute. In a series of 214 patients entered into a registry over

“Gabapentin is sort of the poster child for limited evidence of benefit.” — Donovan Maust, MD, MS, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, on a study of polypharmacy in patients with dementia. “There’s no unseeing and unliving what they lived.” — Kate Judge, executive director of the American Nurses Foundation, on the impact

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. At-home testing for COVID-19 features great convenience, but pathology experts caution that false positives, false negatives, out-of-pocket costs, and the potential for inadequate sampling from people swabbing their own noses or mouths could compromise results. Experts agree that COVID-19 testing has

A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health, Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, and the American Heart Association has shown that eating five daily servings of two fruits and three vegetables can lead to a longer life.  The study analyzed data from two studies, Nurses’ Health and the Health Professionals Follow-Up. The researchers

Anthony Fauci, MD, says he’s concerned about how Americans will react once the coronavirus pandemic is brought under control, CBS News reports. Noting that an American Psychological Association survey showed people reporting high stress levels because of the pandemic, CBS’s Norah McDonald asked if Fauci was worried about a possible “mental health pandemic.” “Very much

The 24-hour news cycle is just as important to medicine as it is to politics, finance, or sports. At MedPage Today, new information is posted daily, but keeping up can be a challenge. As an aid for our readers and for a little amusement, here is a 10-question quiz based on the news of the