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Young athletes who’ve had moderate COVID-19 symptoms should be symptom-free for 14 days and get their doctor’s OK before returning to practices or games, according to a leading group of U.S. pediatricians. An electrocardiogram (EKG) is also recommended for those who’ve had moderate COVID-19 symptoms, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said in updated guidance. “Exercise and sports offer so many health benefits to youth, and we know that many are eager to return to play,” Dr. Susannah Briskin, an author of the guidance, said in an AAP news release. “We have many suggestions on how to reduce the risks, and they require being candid and forthcoming about anyone who is feeling unwell. Parents, children and coaches need to make safety protocols a priority,” Briskin said. According to the recommendations: Children and teens who’ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, regardless of whether they have symptoms, shouldn’t attend any practices or games for a minimum of 14 days. Parents and guardians must report if a young athlete or anyone in their household has any signs or symptoms of COVID-19 or tests positive for the virus, even if they have no symptoms. Children and teens who are diagnosed with COVID-19 or test positive for the virus shouldn’t participate in sports and should be asymptomatic for 14 days before beginning a gradual return to physical activity. If… read on >

Children who need to take oral steroids for chronic or life-threatening conditions can experience serious side effects, according to new research. Children with autoimmune disorders such as juvenile arthritis, psoriasis or inflammatory bowel disease are often prescribed a steroid to keep the illness under control. But the odds that a child might develop diabetes was nearly six times higher in children taking steroids than in those who don’t. The odds of high blood pressure was 19 times higher in those on steroids, and the likelihood of a blood clot was 16 times higher, the study found. The good news, however, is that these complications are all exceedingly rare. “These complications are serious but rare. They affect a very tiny proportion of children with steroids,” said study author Dr. Daniel Horton, an assistant professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science in New Brunswick, N.J. Horton pointed out that doctors are aware of the many side effects related to steroids, but they also know how much good the drugs can do in certain situations, such as asthma or autoimmune conditions. “When I prescribe this medication, the benefits must outweigh the risks or I wouldn’t prescribe it. This study shows the kinds of complications that doctors need to look out for, particularly if a child receives high doses of an oral… read on >

Dentists are drilling down on another worrying trend related to the coronavirus: more cracked teeth. Like sleepless nights and stomach jitters, teeth grinding is a telltale sign of stress. And the habit — which can damage and break your choppers — is sending people to dental offices in growing numbers amid the coronavirus pandemic. “I have been seeing a lot of broken teeth lately — way more than I normally see,” said Dr. Todd Bertman, a dentist in New York City. “There is definitely an uptick in cases,” agreed Avina Paranjpe, a professor of endodontics at the University of Washington School of Dentistry. How much of an uptick? “Considering the number of cases we have seen at the university and in practice, I would say about a 30% to 35% increase in cases,” Paranjpe said. Following health guidelines, Bertman and his colleagues closed their facility between March 16 and May 18. “But we did continue to provide tele-dentistry,” he said. “We would take emergencies through Zoom. Even at that point I was starting to see many cases of broken teeth. And then when we reopened, there were so many issues related to broken teeth that we really had to prioritize, focusing on handling these sorts of emergencies instead of cleanings.” Bertman and Paranjpe attributed the trend to rising stress levels during the pandemic. “Stress,” said… read on >

Drinking lots of sugary beverages can wreak havoc on your health, but new research finds more Americans are turning away from those high-calorie drinks. And that includes many people who used to drink large quantities of sweetened beverages — the equivalent of 3.5 cans of soda daily. “Our study found the percentage of children and adults who are heavy [sugar-sweetened beverage] drinkers has declined significantly over time,” said study author Kelsey Vercammen. She’s a doctoral degree candidate in the department of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston. For the study, the researchers reviewed data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2003 to 2016, studying responses from more than 21,000 children (aged 2 through 19 years) and 32,000 adults. The investigators found that the percentage of heavy consumers of sugar-sweetened beverages — 500 calories or more daily — among children declined from 11% to 3%. The percentage of heavy sugar-sweetened beverage consumers among adults dropped from 13% to 9%. “Our research team was particularly interested in looking at the heavy sugar-sweetened beverage consumers because these individuals are the ones who are obviously drinking the most sugar-sweetened beverages, so we think that they likely face the biggest health risks,” Vercammen said. Potential explanations for the recent steep decline in intake include the impact of beverage taxes imposed… read on >

Reacting to an upsurge in abuse of benzodiazepine sedatives such as Valium, Xanax and Ativan, U.S. officials on Wednesday added a “Boxed Warning” to the drugs’ labels, cautioning about the danger. Benzodiazepines are tranquilizers commonly prescribed to help ease issues such as anxiety, seizures, insomnia and panic disorders. But “while benzodiazepines are important therapies for many Americans, they are also commonly abused and misused, often together with opioid pain relievers and other medicines, alcohol and illicit drugs,” U.S. Food and Drug Agency Commissioner Dr Stephen Hahn said in an agency news release. So he said the FDA is now “taking measures and requiring new labeling information to help health care professionals and patients better understand that while benzodiazepines have many treatment benefits, they also carry with them an increased risk of abuse, misuse, addiction and dependence.” Illicit use of “benzos” has been on the rise, and the drugs are often taken along with opioid drugs — sometimes to deadly effect. In fact, in a report released last year by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, benzos were found to be involved in a full third of all fatal opioid overdoses. The drugs were also involved in nearly two-thirds of overdoses tied to the lethal synthetic opioid fentanyl. The report looked at 2017-2018 data from 25 states. According to the FDA, in 2019 alone,… read on >

THURSDAY, Sept. 24, 2020 (Healthday News) — The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a Senate committee on Wednesday that 90% of Americans are still at risk of contracting the virus. “The preliminary results in the first round [of a very large, ongoing CDC study] show that a majority of our nation, more than 90% of the population, remains susceptible,” Dr. Robert Redfield testified. “A majority of Americans are still susceptible to this virus.” Redfield added that some states are seeing infection rates of 15% to 20% while others are seeing a less than 1% infection rate, CBS News reported. At the same time, Redfield reiterated that the majority of Americans may not be able to get a coronavirus vaccine until next year this after President Donald Trump said last week that Redfield had “made a mistake” in stating that earlier this month, CBS News reported. “We will have the 700 million doses based on projection by late March, early April,” Redfield told the committee. At the same committee hearing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there would likely only be 50 million doses by December, so “it is not going to be a large proportion of the population” that receives the vaccine by the end of the year. Fauci said the… read on >

The loss of a pet may be a child’s first encounter with death, and new research suggests no one should underestimate the psychological trauma that the loss can bring. Previous studies have found that kids form deep emotional attachments to their pets and having a furry companion in your youth has been linked to greater empathy, self-esteem and social skills. “The effects of pet loss were unique,” said study co-author Erin Dunn, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. To learn more, she and her hospital colleagues looked at a sample of more than 6,000 British children. Almost 9 out of 10 had owned a pet during their youth, and more than half had lost one during their first seven years of life. Information was collected as a part a long-term study of parents and kids in Britain. When kids were 8 years old, their mothers filled out questionnaires about their youngsters’ mental health symptoms. “For example, how often does your child feel sad, depressed or anxious — these are the kind of emotional and behavioral indicators that are used to identify and characterize children who might be experiencing some mental health-related challenges,” said Dunn. The research team found that kids who lost a pet were more likely to have poor mental health. And the… read on >

Many heart attack survivors worry that resuming sex too soon afterwards might trigger another attack. But new research suggests the opposite may be true. Research out of Israel finds that resuming a normal sex life in the months after a heart attack may actually boost survival. Lead researcher Yariv Gerber believes part of the benefit could lie in a person’s mindset. “Sexuality and sexual activity are markers of well-being,” said Gerber, head of the School of Public Health at Tel Aviv University. “Resumption of sexual activity soon after a heart attack may be a part of one’s self-perception as a healthy, functioning, young and energetic person. This may lead to a healthier lifestyle generally.” In the study, Gerber’s team collected data on nearly 500 sexually active people aged 65 or under who were hospitalized for a heart attack in either 1992 or 1993. During a median follow-up of 22 years, 43% of the patients died. But the study found that those who’d maintained or increased the frequency of sex during the first six months after a heart attack had 35% lower risk of death, compared with those who had not. The survival benefit of having more sex appeared tied to reductions in non-cardiovascular deaths — for example, fewer deaths tied to cancer — the researchers noted. Of course the findings can’t prove that a return… read on >

Millions of Americans pop zinc supplements at the first sign of the common cold. Now, new research suggests the nutrient might play a role in COVID-19 outcomes, too. Researchers from Spain reporting at a European coronavirus conference found that hospitalized COVID-19 patients with low blood levels of zinc tended to fare worse than those with healthier levels. “Lower zinc levels at admission correlate with higher inflammation in the course of infection and poorer outcome,” said a team led by Dr. Roberto Guerri-Fernandez of the Hospital Del Mar in Barcelona. One expert in the United States said the finding makes intuitive sense. “It has long been thought that zinc bolsters the immune system,” said pulmonologist Dr. Len Horovitz, of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “A possible explanation in this study is that zinc may have an anti-inflammatory effect that is protective.” In the new study, Guerri-Fernandez’s team tracked medical outcomes against the results of lab tests for 249 patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 in March and April. Patients averaged 63 years of age and 21 (8%) died from their illness. All of the patients had their blood zinc levels tested upon arrival — the average level was 61 micrograms per deciliter of blood (mcg/dL). However, among those who died of COVID-19, blood levels of zinc were much lower, averaging just 43 mcg/dL,… read on >

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 23, 2020 (Healthday News) — The U.S. coronavirus death toll reached the tragic milestone of 200,000 on Tuesday, with at least 22 states now reporting a rise in new cases. Just last Monday, only nine states were reporting increases in new COVID-19 cases, CNN reported. For the most part, the case spikes are showing up in the country’s heartland and the Midwest. “We’re entering into the fall and into the winter, and that means there’s going to be more indoor things than outdoor things,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday, CNN reported. “Going into that situation, I would like to have seen the baseline of where we are — the daily number of infections — come way, way down, and not be stuck at around 30 to 40,000 per day.” In the next three months, another 150,000 people could lose their lives to COVID-19, according to the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), CNN reported. Alarm is growing in states like Kentucky and Wisconsin, which has one of the highest COVID-19 positivity rates in the nation, higher than 16%, CNN reported. Wisconsin’s governor declared a new public health emergency this week following a surge of cases among young people and issued a new order for face coverings. Kentucky also saw a spike in its positivity rate after several counties witnessed… read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

After COVID-19 Exposure, When Can Young Athletes Resume Play?

Kids Who Need Steroids Face Risk of Diabetes, Other Ills

COVID Bites: Cracked Teeth Another Coronavirus Scourge

Americans Are Cutting Back on Sugary Drinks

FDA Adds Abuse Warning to Labels for Xanax, Valium

9 in 10 Americans Not Yet Immune to COVID, CDC Director Says

Kids Often Hit Hard by Death of Beloved Pet, Study Finds

Had a Heart Attack? Resuming Sex Soon After Might Be Healthy

Could Zinc Help Fight COVID-19?

U.S. COVID Death Toll Hits 200,000 as Cases Climb in 22 States