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After a short-lived tax on sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages was repealed, consumption of sugary drinks in an Illinois County escalated again, according to a new study. The tax was pitched to reduce Cook County budget deficits. It lasted four months — from Aug. 2 to Dec. 1, 2017, the researchers said. “We know that the tax worked to bring down demand for sweetened beverages significantly while it was in place,” said lead author Lisa Powell, director of health policy and administration at the University of Illinois Chicago, School of Public Health. “The repeal of the Cook County Sweetened Beverage Tax was a missed public health opportunity,” Powell said. “If it had stayed in place, we could have seen a lasting reduction in consumption of sweetened beverages, which are linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which, in turn, have recently been found to be associated with increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19.” For the study, the researchers compared the price and volume of sweetened beverages sold in the county while the tax was in place, for the two years prior to the tax and for the eight months after the tax was repealed, with sales in St. Louis, Mo., which did not have a similar tax. The price of the beverages increased by 1.13 cents per fluid ounce in the county… read on > read on >

Research brings grim findings for these economically tough times: People who must move because they can’t make the rent often miss out on needed medical care. The study, of over 146,000 California residents, found a connection between unaffordable housing and health care use: Of people who’d moved in the past five years because they couldn’t afford the mortgage or rent, about 27% had skipped or delayed necessary medical care. That was higher than the rates among Californians who’d stayed put and those who’d moved for reasons other than housing costs. The findings do not necessarily mean that the moves, per se, led to difficulties in getting health care. But it makes sense that there’s a connection, the researchers said. “The findings are intuitive,” said Dr. Katherine Chen, a fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, who worked on the study. People who struggle to afford housing, she said, are likely to face other financial hardships. Housing is such an essential need that people will put rent or mortgage payments ahead of all else, said Corianne Scally. Scally, who was not involved in the new research, studies housing issues at the Urban Institute, in Washington, D.C. She said that resource-strapped families can be forced to choose which basics they can afford. Medical care may be far down on the list, behind housing, food and bills.… read on > read on >

One in four doctors has been personally attacked or sexually harassed on social media, a new study finds. Women are more likely to be sexually harassed, while both men and women are attacked based on religion, race or medical recommendations, researchers say. Doctors received negative reviews, coordinated harassment, threats at work, public exposure of their personal information and threats of rape and death. Distressingly, this was reported before the 2020 pandemic. The survey of 464 U.S. physicians was conducted before the COVID-19 outbreak and highlight the intensity of online harassment of doctors. The situation has only gotten worse since the spring, the authors noted. “If anything, our data is likely an underestimate of the true extent of attacks and harassment post-pandemic since so many doctors started to advocate for public health measures during the pandemic and have been met with an increasingly polarized populace emboldened by leadership that devalues science and fact,” said senior author Dr. Vineet Arora, assistant dean for scholarship and discovery at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. The study also reported that 1 in 6 women doctors said they had been sexually harassed on social media. Study co-author Tricia Pendergrast, a second-year medical student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, described the findings as worrisome. “We worry this emotionally distressing environment will drive women physicians off… read on > read on >

A culture of toughness and resilience is encouraged among elite college rowers, but it can keep them from reporting injuries, a new study finds. There’s an overall myth among athletes that admitting pain is a sign of weakness and failure, the researchers said. Irish and Australian rowers in this study felt compromised by lower back pain, which is common in the sport, the study authors said. But many felt that the sporting culture didn’t allow them to be open and honest about their pain for fear of exclusion. Also, many felt they had to keep competing and training even when in pain. This might have increased the risk of poor outcomes from their pain, and poor emotional and mental experiences they had, according to the report. Rowers who have lower back pain can feel isolated and it can affect their lives beyond sport, the researchers noted. “This study presents a powerful message that athletes fear being judged as weak when they have pain and injury. They feel isolated and excluded when injured. They feel that there is a culture within sport that values them only when they are physically healthy. This leads athletes to hide their pain and injury, which is likely to lead to poorer outcomes,” said researcher Dr. Fiona Wilson. She’s an associate professor of physiotherapy at the School of Medicine at Trinity… read on >

Kids growing up in poverty show the effects of being poor as early as age 5 — especially those who are Black, a new study suggests. The research adds to mounting evidence that children of Black parents who are also poor face greater health inequities than whites. “Our findings underscore the pronounced racialized disparities for young children,” said lead author Dr. Neal Halfon, director of the Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities at the University of California, Los Angeles. For the study, teachers administered a standardized test to measure physical, social, emotional and language development of kindergarteners in 98 school districts across the United States. More than 185,000 kids took the test from 2010 to 2017. Analyzing the data, the researchers found that 30% of the poorest children were vulnerable in one or more areas of health development, compared with 17% of children from wealthier areas. These differences in vulnerability varied among from different ethnic and racial groups. Black children were at the highest risk, followed by Hispanic children. Asian children were at the lowest risk. The difference between Black children and white children was most striking at the higher socioeconomic levels and tended to narrow for kids from lower-income areas. The disparities can have a profound effect on kids’ long-term development and lead to higher rates diabetes, heart disease, drug use, mental health… read on >

The United States on Thursday recorded its second highest daily total of new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, with 75,000 new infections, while eight states broke single-day records of new cases. Also on Thursday, the antiviral medicine remdesivir became the first drug to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to fight COVID-19. Such drugs are urgently needed: Adding to bleak national numbers, 13 additional states have added more cases in the past week than in any other seven-day stretch, The New York Times reported. The Midwest and Rocky Mountains are struggling to contain major outbreaks, while new hot spots are emerging in other parts of the country. Kentucky announced more than 1,470 cases on Thursday, the biggest one-day jump ever in that state. And Colorado reported more than 1,300 cases, setting another single-day record, the Times reported. In Chicago, a nightly curfew will start on Friday, after officials reported an average of 645 new cases a day this past week, the newspaper said. The current record for new daily cases was recorded in mid-July, when over 77,000 infections were recorded in one day. Coronavirus cases have also been climbing on college campuses, where more than 214,000 infections have been diagnosed this year, a Times survey showed. More than 35,000 of those cases have been reported since early October. While some colleges moved all… read on >

As most of America prepares for the Nov. 1 return of standard time, 63% want one fixed, year-round time, a new survey finds. “Evidence of the negative impacts of seasonal time changes continue to accumulate, and there is real momentum behind the push to end seasonal time changes,” said Dr. Kannan Ramar, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), which favors a fixed, nationwide time. A recent position statement from AASM said public health and safety would benefit if seasonal time changes were eliminated. It called for permanent use of standard time, which it said more closely aligns with the daily rhythms of the body’s internal clock. More than 20 organizations have endorsed the statement. They include the National Safety Council, the National Parent Teacher Association and the World Sleep Society. AASM noted that time changes increase the risk of stroke, hospital admissions and sleep loss, and also add to inflammation, one of the body’s responses to stress. Researchers recently reported an 18% increase in adverse medical events due to human error in the week after switching to daylight saving time in the spring. “Permanent, year-round standard time is the best choice to most closely match our circadian sleep-wake cycle,” said Dr. M. Adeel Rishi, a specialist in sleep medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire, Wisc. “Daylight saving time results in… read on >

If you’re a senior who can’t smell onions, smoke, chocolate or natural gas, it’s time to see your doctor. Seniors who lose their sense of smell — which doctors call olfactory dysfunction — have higher odds of dying from all causes within five years, new research shows. Scientists had previously found a link between olfactory dysfunction and impaired thinking and memory. “We suspected there would be an association with olfactory dysfunction and mortality as well, considering that this is an early marker for a lot of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s and dementia,” said study author Dr. Janet Choi, a resident in otolaryngology at the University of Southern California. Her team reviewed nationwide survey and death data from about 3,500 people age 40 and over. The surveys included self-reported loss of smell as well an objective smell test. Over the five-year study, researchers found no increased risk of death based on self-reported loss of smell. But the risk of death rose 18% for every 1-point decrease in scores on a “pocket smell test.” On the test, participants were asked to identify eight scents: onion, soap, leather, smoke, grape, strawberry, chocolate and natural gas. They needed to identify at least six to be considered having a normal sense of smell. The mortality link was significant for adults 65 and older, but not among those between 40 and… read on >