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A seven-second head start for pedestrians can save lives and prevent injuries at busy intersections, a new study says. Pedestrian-related injuries dropped by 33% at crosswalks where New York City rejiggered traffic lights to give walkers those extra seven seconds, researchers report in the journal Nature Cities. The most dramatic impact came during the day, with fatal pedestrian crashes reduced by 65%, results show. The strategy, called Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPI), involves offering pedestrians a chance to start crossing the street before vehicles get the green light to turn, researchers said. “The idea is to give pedestrians time to reach the center of the intersection where they’re more visible,” senior researcher Christopher Morrison said in a news release. He’s an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. “Most pedestrian-vehicle crashes happen near the curb, where drivers are less likely to see people crossing,” he noted. New York City started implementing LPI at intersections in 2013 as part of the U.S. Vision Zero program, a large-scale effort to reduce traffic injuries and deaths, researchers said in background notes. Other low-cost measures promoted by U.S. Vision Zero include speed humps and rubber speed bumps, researchers said. For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 6,000 New York City intersections between 2013 and 2018, of which nearly 2,900 featured the pedestrian… read on > read on >

About 1 in 6 older adults takes daily aspirin to prevent heart disease, even though stricter guidelines say it’s not for everyone, a new study says. Worse, nearly a quarter of those folks started taking aspirin without a doctor’s recommendation, and about 1 in 10 haven’t discussed their use with any health care provider, researchers found. “For some patients without a history of cardiovascular disease, the benefits of taking aspirin for primary prevention may be offset by an increased risk of bleeding, especially as patients get older,” said senior researcher Dr. Jordan Schaefer, a clinical associate professor of internal medicine-hematology at the University of Michigan Medical School. “It is even more concerning when patients are taking aspirin without consulting their physician,” Schaefer added in a news release. “A provider can’t help a patient understand the risks and benefits of aspirin if they are left in the dark.” During the past decade, newer research highlighted a significant bleeding risk associated with aspirin’s use in people who have no history of heart attack or heart disease, researchers said in background notes. As a result, guidelines have tightened around aspirin’s use as primary prevention — warding off heart problems before they develop, researchers said. A significant number of people remain unaware of this bleeding risk, the new study found. Only 68% of people agree that daily aspirin increases… read on > read on >

Tryptyr works by stimulating corneal sensory nerves to increase natural tear production read on >

The mentally scarred, deeply depressed combat veteran is an indelible stereotype promoted by movies and TV. The post-traumatic stress and despair that some suffer following military deployment have prompted concerns that service members are highly vulnerable to depression. However, the opposite might be true, a new study says. General service in the military actually appears to lower a person’s risk for depression rather than increase it, according to findings published May 29 in the journal BMJ Military Health. Military service is associated with a 23% lower risk for depression, after accounting for other potentially influential factors, researchers report. “These findings suggest that military service may have protective effects against depression, contrary to some previous assumptions,” concluded a research team led by X.L. Shi of the Hospital of Shandong Provincial Corps in China. It’s not unreasonable to think military service could foster depression, given the soldiers’ separation from their loved ones and the toll of combat, researchers said. But the service also can shape personal growth and enhance coping skills, which might protect against depression, researchers noted. For this study, researchers drew on data from five cycles of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted between 2011 and 2023. Conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, the survey includes health exams and lab tests to check the health of participants. The team evaluated… read on > read on >

Motorcycle helmet laws save lives and prevent many severe injuries, according to a new head-to-head study comparing two states. North Carolina mandates helmets for all motorcyclists, while South Carolina only requires riders younger than 21 to wear them, researchers said. As a result, North Carolina riders had fewer severe injuries and were less likely to require treatment in an intensive care unit after an accident, researchers reported recently in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. “The two states’ differing laws created a natural experiment,” senior researcher Dr. Britton Christmas, medical director of trauma at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., said in a news release. “The results are clear: helmets save lives, and universal laws ensure they’re used,” Christmas said. Only 19 states now have universal helmet laws, a sharp decline from 47 states 50 years ago, researchers said in background notes. Efforts from motorcycle groups have driven these repeals, despite trauma surgeons noting the importance of helmets, researchers said. “I’ve testified against repeals in North Carolina because the data doesn’t lie,” Christmas said. “When helmets aren’t required, fewer people wear them, and more die or face life-altering injuries.” For the study, researchers tracked all motorcycle crash patients treated at the Carolinas Medical Center between July 2012 and 2022. Charlotte is near the state line between the Carolinas, and the hospital’s trauma center… read on > read on >

Men are much more likely than women to die early from the world’s 20 leading health problems, a new global study shows. Sickness and death was higher in men than women in 2021 for 13 of the top 20 causes of injury and illness, including COVID-19, traffic injuries, heart problems, lung ailments and liver diseases, researchers reported May 1 in The Lancet Public Health. “Our findings shine a light on the significant and unique health challenges faced by males,” co-lead investigator Vedavati Patwardhan, a research scientist with the University of California-San Diego, said in a news release. “Among these challenges are conditions that lead to premature deaths, notably in the form of road injuries, cancers, and heart disease,” Patwardhan continued. “We need national health plans and strategies to address the health needs of men throughout their lives, including interventions targeting behavioral risks such as alcohol use and smoking that typically begin at a young age.” Women tend to live longer, but they endure higher levels of illness during their lifespan, researchers added. Muscle and bone conditions, mental health problems and headaches are among the non-fatal diseases that plague women, results show. For the study, researchers analyzed data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, the largest and most comprehensive effort to track illness and death from disease around the world. The effort focused on… read on > read on >