Findings seen among U.S. adults, with trend driven by adults younger than 44 years  read on >

A startling number of Americans have witnessed a mass shooting in their lifetime, a new study suggests. About 1 in 15 adults have been present at the scene of a mass shooting, and more than 2% have been injured in one, researchers say in JAMA Network Open. “This study confirms that mass shootings are not isolated tragedies, but rather a reality that reaches a substantial portion of the population, with profound physical and psychological consequences,” senior researcher David Pyrooz, a professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Institute for Behavioral Science, said in a news release. Younger generations are significantly more likely to have been in the middle of a mass shooting than their parents or grandparents, researchers found. Generation Z – adults born after 1996 – are at greatest risk. “Our findings lend credence to the idea of a ‘mass shooting generation,’ ” Pyrooz said. “People who grew up in the aftermath of Columbine have these unique experiences that are really distinguishable from the older population.”  He was referring to what remains as one of the most infamous school massacres in U.S. history. On April 20, 1999, two 12th-graders murdered 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado. For the study, researchers surveyed 10,000 U.S. adults in January 2024. Participants were asked a series of questions, including “Have…  read on >  read on >

Music therapy can help lift the spirits and ease depression in people with dementia, a new evidence review has found. Findings suggest that music-based therapy probably improves depressive symptoms and might even improve behavioral issues by the end of treatment, researchers reported. “This review increases our understanding of the effects of music therapy and strengthens the case for incorporating music in dementia care, particularly in care home settings,” said lead investigator Jenny van der Steen, an associate professor of epidemiology at Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands. “Music therapy offers benefits beyond those of other group activities, helping to support mood and behavior in a way that is engaging and accessible, even in later stages of dementia,” van der Steen continued in a news release.  “Care home managers should consider integrating structured musical sessions as part of a person-centered approach to dementia care,” she added. For their review, researchers pooled evidence from 30 studies involving more than 1,700 people. The studies looked at how music therapy might improve emotional well-being, quality of life, mood disturbances, behavioral problems, social behavior and thinking and memory skills (cognition).  Most participants were in care homes, with the therapy provided individually or in group settings. Researchers concluded that “when compared to usual care, providing people with dementia with at least five sessions of a music-based therapeutic intervention probably improves…  read on >  read on >

Chronic stress can increase young women’s risk of stroke, a new study says. Moderate stress increases risk of stroke by 78% in women but not in men, researchers reported in the journal Neurology. “More research is needed to understand why women who feel stressed, but not men, may have a higher risk of stroke,” said senior researcher Dr. Nicolas Martinez-Majander, a neurologist at Helsinki University Hospital in Finland. “In addition, we need to further explore why the risk of stroke in women was higher for moderate stress than high stress,” Martinez-Majander added in a news release. “Knowing more about how stress plays a role could help us to create better ways to prevent these strokes.” For the study, researchers examined health data for 426 Europeans between 18 to 49 who’d suffered a stroke with no known cause, and compared them to 426 healthy people who hadn’t suffered a stroke. All participants completed a 10-question survey about their stress levels, and stroke patients were asked to recall the stress they’d faced in the month prior to their stroke. The survey included questions like, “In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life?” Stroke patients were more likely to have at least moderate stress levels, researchers found. About 46% had moderate or high stress levels, compared…  read on >  read on >

Bad meetings don’t just waste time — they can leave workers with a “meeting hangover,” new research shows. More than 90% of employees surveyed by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte said they sometimes experience these “hangovers” — lingering frustration and distraction after unproductive meetings. More than half said these “hangovers” hurt their overall productivity. “A meeting hangover is the idea that when we have a bad meeting, we just don’t leave it at the door. It sticks with us and it negatively affects our productivity,” said Steven Rogelberg, a professor of management at UNC- Charlotte and author of “The Surprising Science of Meetings.“ The study found that these bad meetings don’t just affect you, they can also spread negativity across teams. Colleagues also tend to vent to coworkers, sharing their frustrations in a process called “co-rumination” — which can hurt the overall atmosphere and make productivity issues even worse. Factors that can lead to negative experiences include: Meetings that could have been handled by email Unclear or irrelevant agendas Poor facilitation or meetings that run over alloted time No clear decisions made Rogelberg offered CBS several strategies to improve meetings and reduce hangovers. “Keep the attendee list as small as possible,” he said. “Remember that the more the leader talks, the lower the rating of effectiveness. Thus, the meeting leader needs to talk…  read on >  read on >

Race plays a role in whether a child is quickly and accurately diagnosed with asthma, a new study suggests. Outdated and flawed studies previously led to the belief that white children had “naturally higher” lung function compared to other races, researchers said. Diagnostic procedures based on that assumption have caused asthma to be dramatically underdiagnosed among Black children, researchers reported Feb. 28 in JAMA Open Network. About 2.5 to 4 times more Black children with asthma symptoms are diagnosed with reduced lung function when doctors use updated formulas, or equations, that exclude race, researchers found. “These findings have significant clinical implications and further support the universal use of race-neutral equations to increase the likelihood of identifying reduced lung function and improving the detection of asthma, particularly in Black children, promoting health equity,” the research team led by Dr. Gurjit Khurana Hershey, director of asthma research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, concluded. Diagnosis of asthma requires lung function testing using a calculation built into U.S. spirometers, researchers said in background notes. This calculation follows a standard formula using age, sex, body size and race. Because of those earlier studies, the racial component of the formula adjusted lung function by 10% to 15% for Black people and 4% to 6% for Asian people, researchers said. In 2022, the Global Lung Initiative Network updated lung function reference equations to…  read on >  read on >