Does where you live affect your risk for lung cancer? Just possibly, experts warn. Although cigarette smoking is the principal cause of most lung cancers, new research has found evidence that Americans who live in areas where air quality is poor may be at greater risk for the most common cancer killer in the United States. The finding is based on mapping that zeroed in on Detroit and surrounding Wayne County, Michigan, to see how lung cancer incidence over nearly 40 years stacked up against air quality in different areas. “The main takeaway is that there is a relationship between incidence of lung cancer and specific environmental pollutants,” said lead author Dr. Hollis Hutchings, a thoracic surgery research resident at Detroit’s Henry Ford Health. Hutchings and her team reviewed data gathered between 1985 and 2018 by the Michigan Cancer Registry. Over that period, nearly 59,000 new cases of lung cancer were diagnosed in Wayne County. Thirty-seven percent of patients identified as members of a racial minority (average age, 67.8 years). The air pollution status of different areas of the county was then gleaned from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data collected between 1980 and 2018. On the positive side, most markers of air pollution (though not all) across Wayne County did improve over that time. But the three areas with the highest rates of lung…  read on >  read on >

Pollutants produced by the U.S. oil and gas industry cause thousands of deaths and cost the country tens of billions in health care expenses, a new study reports. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine particulate matter and ozone all contribute to air pollution, and all are emitted as part of oil and gas production, the researchers said. The new study estimates that the oil and gas industry contributed to 7,500 excess deaths, 410,000 asthma attacks and 2,200 new cases of childhood asthma across the United States in 2016. All told, oil and gas production cost the United States $77 billion annually in health care damages, when factoring in related heart and lung hospitalizations, adverse pregnancy outcomes and other illnesses. That total cost is three times the estimated climate impact costs of methane emissions from oil and gas operations. “These substantial impacts from oil and gas production show that there are serious consequences across the full life cycle of oil and gas, from ‘well to wheels,’ ‘well to power plant’ and ‘well to furnace,’” said co-researcher Jonathan Buonocore, an assistant professor of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health. “The health impacts are not just from the combustion of oil and gas,” Buonocore added in a university news release. “In order for energy, air quality and decarbonization policies to successfully protect health, they need to…  read on >  read on >

The key to a happier and longer marriage may be pooling your money. Researchers found that couples with joint bank accounts had better relationships, fought less about money and felt better about how their household finances were handled. “When we surveyed people of varying relationship lengths, those who had merged accounts reported higher levels of communality within their marriage compared to people with separate accounts, or even those who partially merged their finances,” said Jenny Olson, an assistant professor of marketing at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. “They frequently told us they felt more like they were ‘in this together.’” The authors recruited 230 newlyweds or engaged couples, following them for two years in their early married life. Each of them began the study with separate bank accounts but consented to potentially changing their financial arrangements. Study participants had a mean age of 28. None had been previously married. About 75% were white and 12% were Black. One-third of participants had a bachelor’s degree and a median household income of $50,000. The couples had known each other an average of five years and had been romantically involved for an average of three years. About 10% had children. While some couples were randomly assigned to keep their separate bank accounts, others were told to open a joint bank account instead. A third group was allowed…  read on >  read on >

While a lot of research has focused on autism in children, much less effort goes toward studying adults with autism. Now, two new reports find this group is at substantial risk for age-related physical conditions and injuries, as well as being particularly susceptible to certain mental health issues including loneliness, social isolation and lower quality of life. “There is accumulating evidence suggesting that when autistic individuals get older, they face considerable challenges from co-existing physical conditions,” said researcher Shengxin Liu, a PhD student at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. “For instance, there was evidence on obesity and epilepsy, but the research among older autistic adults remains scarce, accounting for less than 1% of published studies in autism research.” In the study on physical health, Liu and other researchers from two Swedish universities reviewed data on people born between 1932 and 1967 in Sweden, excluding those who died or emigrated before age 45. The team followed them from age 45 through the end of 2013, looking at 39 physical conditions associated with age. The investigators found that older adults with autism had higher risks of a range of conditions, including heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), osteoarthritis, anemia, glucose dysregulation (a blood sugar level that fluctuates abnormally) and self-harm. Other conditions commonly seen were type 2 diabetes, falls, spinal issues and problems in the…  read on >  read on >