Getting too little or too much sleep may worsen asthma in adults, a new study finds. Researchers asked nearly 1,400 adults, 20 and older, with self-reported asthma about their sleep habits. About one-quarter said they slept five hours or less a night (short sleepers), 66% slept six to eight hours a night (normal sleepers), and 8% slept nine or more hours a night (long sleepers). Short sleepers were more likely to be younger and nonwhite, while long sleepers were more likely to be older, female and smokers, according to the study published recently in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. “Disturbed sleep in an asthma patient can be a red flag indicating their asthma isn’t well-controlled,” said Dr. Gailen Marshall, an allergist and journal editor-in-chief. The study warns that “consequences can be expected when sleep patterns are chronically inadequate,” Marshall said in a journal news release. Compared to normal sleepers, short sleepers had: a higher risk of an asthma attack, dry cough and an overnight hospitalization during the past year; significantly worse health-related quality of life, including poor physical and mental health and inactivity due to poor health; and more frequent general healthcare use during the past year. Compared to normal sleepers, long sleepers were more likely to have some activity limitation due to wheezing, but no other significant differences. “Previous research revealed that…  read on >

If anxiety and fear about COVID-19 are keeping you awake, rest assured: Adopting a few easy-to-follow habits will help you get a good night’s sleep. “Now more than ever, we need to get good sleep,” said Dr. Amy Guralnick, a pulmonologist at Loyola Medicine in Chicago. “Sleep can help our immune system function at its best. Getting a good night’s sleep also helps us to think clearly and to problem-solve better.” And, she added, too little sleep can lead to depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions. So what can you do to get more — and better — Zzzzzzz’s? Make a sleep schedule and follow a routine, Guralnick advised. “Having a daily, fixed wake up time is the most important part of the schedule,” she said. In the hours before bedtime, avoid viewing any technology with a backlight, she suggested. That includes a phone, tablet or a computer. Here’s why: “Your brain thinks that the light coming from those is daylight and it will suppress the release of a hormone called melatonin which helps put you to sleep,” Guralnick explained. If you suffer from stress or anxiety, consider writing down your worries in a journal. But set it aside before bedtime, she said. Your bed should be used only for sleep and intimacy. “The bed is not for eating or working or reading or…  read on >

(HealthDay News) — Safety concerns over a malaria drug that President Donald Trump has touted as a coronavirus treatment prompted the World Health Organization on Monday to remove the medication from a global trial of potential COVID-19 therapies. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the international health agency’s director-general, said the WHO decided to take a “pause” in testing hydroxychloroquine after a study published last week in The Lancet medical journal found people who took the drug were more likely to die, The New York Times reported. Several other studies have found the medication has no benefit and could possibly harm COVID-19 patients. Still, Trump said on Sunday he had just finished taking a two-week course of the malaria drug to guard against COVID-19 infection after two White House staffers tested positive for the coronavirus. On Tuesday, pharmaceutical giant Merck jumped into the fight against the coronavirus, announcing two separate efforts to develop a vaccine and a partnership to develop a promising antiviral drug that can be taken as a pill, the Times reported. Meanwhile, hopes for another drug being tested against coronavirus infection dimmed on Friday, after a major, new study found the drug on its own won’t be enough to significantly curb cases and deaths. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that, “given high mortality [of patients] despite the use…  read on >

(HealthDay News) — A jump in coronavirus cases is being seen in nearly a dozen U.S. states, at least half of which reopened early, as the country’s coronavirus case count neared 1.7 million on Wednesday. Though the overall national trend has been staying steady or dropping, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee are some of the states seeing upticks, The New York Times reported. All five states were among the first to loosen social distancing restrictions. To some degree, the increase in cases may be due to increased testing, but it also suggests that the virus’s spread in this country is nowhere near over, the Times reported. In a sign that the mental health toll of the coronavirus pandemic is also on the rise, new Census Bureau data shows that nearly a third of Americans are showing signs of clinical anxiety or depression, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. Meanwhile, safety concerns over a malaria drug that President Donald Trump has touted as a coronavirus treatment prompted the World Health Organization on Monday to remove the medication from a global trial of potential COVID-19 therapies. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the international health agency’s director-general, said the WHO decided to take a “pause” in testing hydroxychloroquine after a study published last week in The Lancet medical journal found people who took the drug were more likely…  read on >

Though the physical health risks posed by COVID-19 are at the top of everyone’s mind, experts warn the pandemic is also exacting a massive toll on mental health. So finds new research emerging on the mental health effects in China, where infection peaks and lockdowns have preceded the American experience by several months. For example, one recent study in the journal Psychiatry Research surveyed more than 7,200 Chinese men and women during the country’s February lockdown. More than a third were found to be suffering from COVID-related “generalized anxiety disorder,” while about a fifth struggled with signs of depression. Just over 18% reported sleeping difficulties. The good news? Experts say there are effective coping strategies for those who feel they’re sinking under the weight of the coronavirus crisis. “First I think it is important that we acknowledge for ourselves that feeling overwhelmed, fearful or stressed in the current circumstance is quite understandable,” said Danielle King, assistant professor of industrial and organizational psychology at Rice University in Houston. “Rather than avoiding having those feelings, I believe it is beneficial for us to acknowledge them, give ourselves grace, and find ways to also experience some positive emotions in the midst of these difficulties,” she said. Consciously doing that, said King, helps people accept that there are some things “that are not within our control.” And it also…  read on >

(HealthDay News) — All 50 states have started reopening their economies as of Wednesday, more than two months after the new coronavirus first forced America into lockdown. Connecticut will be among the last states to return to business, when its stay-at-home order lifts and stores, museums and offices are allowed to reopen, The New York Times reported. States in the Northeast and on the West Coast, as well as Democratic-led states in the Midwest, have moved more slowly toward reopening, the Times reported. But a number of states in the South opened earlier and more expansively, albeit with social distancing restrictions in place, the newspaper said. On Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a 60-page document that gave more detailed guidance for schools, businesses, transit systems and other industries hoping to reopen safely amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Times reported. New data shows the number of new coronavirus cases in the country has begun to drop in recent days. Still, the U.S. case count now exceeds 1.5 million. More than 1,000 Americans died from COVID-19 almost every day this past week, as the U.S. death toll neared 92,000 on Wednesday, the Times reported.. According to the Times, in New York state case counts have dropped over the last month, and they have also plunged in hard-hit Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Some…  read on >

(HealthDay News) Young to middle-aged asthmatics who are hospitalized for COVID-19 are likely to be on a ventilator longer than patients without asthma, new research reports. Patients with asthma who were between 20 and 59 years of age needed a ventilator to help with breathing five days longer than patients without asthma in that age group, researchers reported. “Among the patients who developed severe respiratory symptoms requiring intubation [the use of a ventilator], asthma was associated with a significantly longer intubation time in the younger group of patients who would seemingly have a better disease course than patients over the age of 65,” said lead author Dr. Mahboobeh Mahdavinia. She’s chief of allergy and immunology in the Department of Internal Medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “Our findings suggest that younger individuals with asthma may require extra attention, as they could develop a sustained pulmonary failure with COVID-19 infection, leading to prolonged mechanical ventilation,” Mahdavinia said in a hospital news release. For the study, the research team looked at 935 patients with COVID-19. Of those, 241 had asthma. The researchers found that asthma resulted in longer times on a ventilator for 18- to 64-year-old patients, but not for those 65 and older. Hospital stays were also longer. Asthma, however, wasn’t linked with a greater risk of premature death or with acute respiratory distress…  read on >

Obesity makes COVID-19 worse and may lead to deadly blood clots in the lungs, a new study finds. The researchers said that obese patients with COVID-19 may have nearly three times the risk of developing what is known as a pulmonary embolism. “Clinicians can utilize our findings to aid in determining which patients should have evaluation for pulmonary embolism with pulmonary CT angiography, as the symptoms for COVID-19 and pulmonary embolism overlap,” said lead researcher Dr. Neo Poyiadi, from the department of diagnostic radiology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. “Early detection of pulmonary embolism can allow prompt treatment with anticoagulation and minimize clinical problems,” he said. Hospitalized obese patients with COVID-19 should be evaluated for increases in clotting indicated by a rising D-dimer — a blood test for clotting. According to the study, 22% of 328 patients suffering from COVID-19 who had a CT scan angiography had a pulmonary embolism. Researchers also found that patients taking statins to lower cholesterol before coming down with COVID-19 were less likely to have a pulmonary embolism. “Further studies are needed to determine if statins have a protective effect against pulmonary embolism in COVID-19 patients,” Poyiadi said. Poyiadi added that a recent study suggests that COVID-19 patients should be placed on blood thinners to prevent clotting. Obesity may make COVID-19 worse because it’s associated with an increase in…  read on >