The coronavirus pandemic could cause short-term decreases in life expectancy in many parts of the world, according to a new study. Using a computer model, the researchers concluded that infection rates of only 2% could cause a drop in life expectancy in countries where average life expectancy is high (about 80 years). At higher infection rates, the decline would be greater, especially in Europe and North America, according to the study published online Sept. 17 in the journal PLOS One. “At 10% prevalence, the loss in life expectancy is likely to be above one year in high life-expectancy countries such as those in Europe and North America. At 50%, it would translate into three to nine years of life lost in high life-expectancy regions. In less developed regions, the impact is smaller given that there is already lower survival at older ages,” said study leader Guillaume Marois, a researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria. “However, even in the most affected regions, the life expectancy will likely recover once the pandemic is over,” Marois added in an institute news release. Study co-author Sergei Scherbov noted that it took Europe decades for average life expectancy at birth to increase by six years — from 72.8 years in 1990 to 78.6 years in 2019. “COVID-19 could thus set back this indicator in…  read on >

TUESDAY, Sept. 22, 2020 (Healthday News) — While health officials worry about a potential “twindemic” of COVID-19 and the flu this winter, a new study finds that hospital patients who were infected with both viruses were more than twice as likely to die as those infected only with the new coronavirus. British government scientists conducted the research during the early months of the pandemic, and the results were troubling: 43% of patients who were hospitalized with both infections died, compared with 26.9% of people who were hospitalized for coronavirus infection alone, the Washington Post reported. While the study only followed 58 people between the months of January and April, the findings line up with similar research that is underway, the Post reported. “If you get both, you are in some serious trouble, and the people who are most likely to get both of these infections may be the very people who can least afford to in terms of their own immune system, or their risk for serious outcomes,” Yvonne Doyle, Public Health England’s medical director, said in an agency news release. She urged people considered high-risk to go for a flu shot if they were eligible. “The flu vaccine is more important than ever, to help reduce transmission of flu and protect the nation from the double threat of flu and COVID-19,” Doyle said. As…  read on >

Women diagnosed with an early, highly treatable form of breast cancer still face a higher-than-normal risk of eventually dying from the disease, a large new study finds. The study looked at women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), where cancer cells form in the lining of the milk ducts but have not yet invaded the breast tissue. Sometimes it’s called a “pre-cancer,” other times a “noninvasive breast cancer” — terms that can be confusing, and partly reflect the fact that DCIS is not fully understood. The researchers found that among more than 144,000 U.S. women treated for DCIS, the risk of dying from breast cancer over the next 20 years was about three times higher than that of cancer-free women. The vast majority of women with DCIS did not die of breast cancer during the study period. There were 1,540 deaths from the disease. But given that all underwent surgery — often followed by radiation — the findings show that DCIS treatment does not eliminate the risk of dying from breast cancer, said senior researcher Dr. Steven Narod. “Despite the best treatment available, the risk is still there,” said Narod, of the Women’s College Research Institute in Toronto, Canada. Overall, he said, women faced a 3% chance of dying from breast cancer. And for Black women, the odds were significantly greater — close to 10%.…  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 >

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 >

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 >

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 >

FRIDAY, Sept. 25, 2020 (Healthday News) — The U.S. coronavirus death toll passed 7 million on Friday, with California the hardest hit state so far in a pandemic that has crippled the country for more than six months. The United States has been averaging about 41,500 cases daily, down from the pandemic’s midsummer peak, but states in the Midwest and West are seeing case numbers climb, The New York Times reported. In California, the case count has now passed 800,000, the Times reported, but the figure does not capture the state’s current situation. Recently, California has been reporting a relatively low number of new cases daily, the newspaper said. It was less than a month ago that the United States reached 6 million cases, the Times reported. It took over three months for the country to record its first million cases. Despite those startling case counts, herd immunity is far from sight: 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.” At…  read on >

HVAC repairman Brad Sissell shrugged off the acid-yellow air surrounding him and kept working, preparing a gas pipe for a new range going into a Salem, Ore., home. Less than a half-hour’s drive away, nearly 200,000 acres were burning in one of the major Oregon wildfires that has sent a full tenth of the state’s population fleeing for shelter. But it was a workday and so Sissell kept at his job, masked in the driveway with smoke wreathing his efforts. “We haven’t stopped,” Sissell, 35, said. “We’ve been working the whole time. I know they say the air’s not good for you. I think it’s going to suck for everybody.” The air quality index in Salem has been at the hazardous level since late last week, with people urged to stay indoors lest they risk their health. In fact, the West Coast cities of Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Vancouver, B.C., have had the worst air quality of all major metropolitan areas in the world as wildfires burn unchecked, the Washington Post reported. Public health experts have warned people up and down the coast to remain indoors with the windows shut and their air conditioners running on recirculated air. The smoke from these wildfires contains fine particles and a toxic mix of chemicals that can irritate the lungs and inflame the airways, said Dr. Clayton…  read on >