High blood pressure is often seen as a condition of old age, but a new study finds that it’s common among young Americans — especially young Black adults. The study, of 18- to 44-year-olds in the United States, found that high blood pressure was prevalent across all racial groups: Among both white and Mexican American participants, 22% had the condition. But young Black adults were hardest-hit, with nearly one-third showing elevated blood pressure. Compounding the problem, only a minority of young people were getting treatment. And few — no more than 15% — had the condition under “optimal control.” “People often associate high blood pressure with older people — with their grandparents,” said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a volunteer expert with the American Heart Association. “But younger people are not immune.” In fact, there are many reasons they can be vulnerable to high blood pressure, according to Goldberg. “These findings are not unexpected, given the rising rates of obesity in the U.S.,” she said. “Younger people also tend to eat a lot of fast food, which is high in sodium. And many aren’t getting enough exercise.” As for the racial disparities, they mirror what past studies have found among middle-aged and older Americans. “This shows us that racial differences are manifesting early in life,” said study leader Dr. Vibhu Parcha, a clinical research fellow at the…  read on >

Midwestern states are starting to see surges in coronavirus cases, just as Southern and Western states are scrambling to contain their own outbreaks of COVID-19. Missouri, Montana and Oklahoma are among those witnessing the largest percentage surge of infections over the past week, the Washington Post reported. At the same time, the number of new cases in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama still outpaced all other states. Experts also see worrying trends in major East Coast and Midwest cities, the Post reported, and they anticipate major outbreaks in college towns when classes resume in August. Still, President Trump continued his push to fully reopen schools on Monday. “Ideally, we want to open those schools. We want to open them,” Trump said during a White House coronavirus task force briefing. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, on Monday agreed with that sentiment, telling CNN that schools and college campuses across the country should be able to reopen, but officials need to make safety a priority. The default position with kindergartens, grade schools and high schools should be to reopen them, Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN. On college campuses, Fauci said plans should include testing people before they arrive on campus, when they arrive and quarantining them for 14 days. “If done properly, it would not be…  read on >

Older Americans are feeling stressed by COVID-19 and prolonged social isolation, but they’re also showing their resiliency, a new study finds. Most of these adults have turned to a range of tools to stay in touch, researchers report. “Many of the social venues that help older adults stay engaged are effectively cut off now with social distancing. While the internet can help with some connections, it is hard to replace human contact,” said researcher Kerstin Emerson, a clinical associate professor of gerontology at the University of Georgia’s Institute of Gerontology. “And for some, these remote connections aren’t possible due to no reliable internet.” For the study, Emerson surveyed more than 800 adults aged 60 and older between March 30 and April 12, when they had been in lockdown for 17 days. “Part of the reason I did that was because I wanted to see if there was a difference by age groups, among the ‘younger old’ and ‘older old,’ who may have different work responsibilities and living situations,” she said in a university news release. Emerson found that about 40% of 60- to 70-year-olds felt moderately or very stressed and out of control of their lives. Among this group, more drinking and eating was seen. Also, some exercised more and some less than usual. Those aged 71 and older seemed to cope with stress better…  read on >

As the daily U.S. coronavirus death toll averaged more than 1,000 for the ninth straight day on Tuesday, governors from seven states banded together to shorten turnaround time for COVID-19 test results. Three Republican governors and three Democratic governors signed an interstate testing agreement on Tuesday, The New York Times reported. Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia will work with the Rockefeller Foundation and two U.S. manufacturers of rapid tests to buy 3 million tests, the newspaper said. A seventh state, North Carolina, later joined the pact, CNN reported. The bipartisan plan illustrates just how bad testing delays are across the country. The United States is testing about 755,000 people a day, up from about 640,000 per day a month ago, the Times reported. But with testing chemicals and other equipment in short supply, and a surge in coronavirus cases nationwide, many Americans are still having to wait many days for results, the Post reported. Most people who are tested do not receive results within the 24 to 48 hours recommended by public health experts to slow the virus’s spread and quickly conduct contact tracing, according to a new survey by researchers from Harvard University, Northeastern University, Northwestern University and Rutgers University, the Times reported. People who had been tested for the virus in July reported an average wait time of about four days,…  read on >

If you’re younger than 65 years old and obese, COVID-19 poses a special danger to you. A new study reports that the more obese you are, the more likely you are to either die from infection with the new coronavirus or require lifesaving mechanical ventilation to survive. Morbidly obese COVID-19 patients are 60% more likely to die or require intubation, compared with people of normal weight, researchers found. Patients who were mildly obese were 10% more likely to die or need a breathing machine, while those who were moderately obese were 30% more likely, according to the study. “Increasing obesity was associated with an increased risk of lung failure or death in COVID-19,” said lead researcher Dr. Michaela Anderson, a pulmonologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. But obesity only posed a risk for people under 65, researchers added. Anderson said that’s probably because older folks are sicker, more frail, and more likely to develop respiratory failure with COVID-19 due to health problems unrelated to their weight. She and her colleagues reviewed medical records for nearly 2,500 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in March and April at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. They looked at body mass index (BMI), which is based on height and weight. Obesity begins at a BMI of 30; morbid obesity is 40 or over. “At the beginning…  read on >

People getting their COVID-19 information from social media are more likely to receive misinformation, Canadian researchers report. But those who trust traditional media are less likely to have misperceptions. And they’re more likely to stick to public health recommendations such as social distancing, the research team found. For the study, researchers looked at millions of tweets, thousands of news stories and a survey of Canadians. “Platforms like Twitter and Facebook are increasingly becoming the primary sources of news and misinformation for Canadians and people around the world,” said researcher Aengus Bridgman, from McGill University in Montreal. “In the context of a crisis like COVID-19, however, there is good reason to be concerned about the role that the consumption of social media is playing in boosting misperceptions,” Bridgman said in a university news release. False information about COVID-19 is more readily found on social media like Twitter than on traditional news outlets, Bridgman and colleagues found. And they spotted big differences in behaviors and attitudes among people who get their news from social media instead of traditional news. These differences remained even after accounting for factors like scientific literacy and socioeconomic differences. Those who use social media regularly are less likely to keep social distancing and to see COVID-19 as a threat, but for those who get their information from regular news media it’s the opposite,…  read on >

Coronavirus outbreaks throughout the Sun Belt started to show signs of leveling off on Tuesday, but the nation’s top infectious disease expert warned that COVID-19 cases are now on the rise in the Midwest. “We just can’t afford, yet again, another surge,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday, as the country reported more than 1,000 coronavirus fatalities for the second day in a row, the Washington Post reported. Florida, Arkansas, Oregon and Montana saw their highest single-day death tolls to date on Tuesday, the Post reported. However, the number of cases nationwide appears to have leveled off to a seven-day moving average of around 66,000 new cases daily, the Post reported. A slight decline in new cases registered Tuesday followed five weeks of steadily rising numbers. On the vaccine front, the final phase of testing for two potential COVID-19 vaccines was launched on Monday. In one trial, the first of 30,000 volunteers were either given a vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the U.S. National Institutes of Health or a placebo shot, the Post reported. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer also announced Monday that it was starting a 30,000-person final phase vaccine trial, to be conducted at 120 sites globally. Fauci predicted that researchers would probably be able to tell whether the Moderna vaccine was effective by November or December, although he added that it was a “distinct…  read on >

With everyday life turned upside down, efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are taking a toll on the well-being and health of American families, a new poll reveals. More than 1,000 parents nationwide were surveyed in early June. “Without question, COVID-19 had a sudden and profound effect on families nationwide,” said survey leader Dr. Stephen Patrick. He’s director of the Center for Child Health Policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville. Physical distance requirements, he noted, resulted in total upheaval, with “abrupt closures of schools, child care, community programs and workplaces. Parents lost jobs, child care, social networks. For kids, schools closed, they stopped going to pediatricians.” In many households, access to basic needs like food and supplies has been hard to come by, too. As a result, just over a quarter of parents said their mental health had deteriorated during the pandemic, and about 14% said their kids’ behavioral health suffered. Four percent said their kids’ physical health had suffered and nearly 1 in 5 said their own had also worsened. The online survey found women, unmarried parents and young children appeared to be most vulnerable. But the health impacts were similar for all races and ethnic groups, income levels, educational backgrounds and locations. The poll revealed that insurance coverage and medical routines have been compromised. About 3% of respondents said…  read on >