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Washington Post
19-05-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Families of disabled children frequently struggle to pay medical bills
Families of children with disabilities were nearly twice as likely to report financial hardships as families of those without disabilities, according to a recent study published in JAMA Network Open. Analyzing data for 22,670 children ages 5 to 17 from the 2019-2022 National Health Interview Survey, researchers recently found that some 22.3 percent of families with children who have disabilities experienced financial hardship. In comparison, about 12.6 percent of families with children who don't have disabilities faced such difficulties.
Business Mayor
17-05-2025
- Health
- Business Mayor
Who needs more exercise: Women or men?
Exercising regularly is known to lower the risk of death, especially from heart problems. But scientists have discovered that that reduction in risk may differ between the sexes, with some people reaping greater benefits in less workout time. So, who has to exercise more to reduce their risk of death: Women or men? It turns out that women may reap these survival benefits more easily than men do. That's according to a large study published in 2024 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology , which included data from more than 412,000 American adults ages 27 to 61, 55% of whom were female. You may like 'The beauty of this study is learning that women can get more out of each minute of moderate to vigorous activity than men do,' study co-lead author Dr. Martha Gulati , director of preventive cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, said in a statement . 'It's an incentivizing notion that we hope women will take to heart.' The researchers collected participants' physical activity data via the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), the largest and longest-running health survey in the U.S. The study looked at data collected between 1997 and 2017. Related: 11 minutes of moderate exercise a day cuts early death risk by 20%, huge analysis suggests The survey itself included questions about the types of exercises people performed and at what frequencies, durations and intensities. It also included participants' socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and medical conditions. The study excluded people who had certain health conditions at the start of the study time frame, such as coronary heart disease or cancer. Read More Most melatonin gummies have higher doses than what's on the label Get the world's most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. The researchers also looked through the National Death Index — a national database of death records — for deaths from any cause, as well as cardiovascular-related deaths. The data from survey participants is linked to this death-record data , so the researchers could then connect the data from their NHIS participants to the mortality data through the end of 2019. Overall, 39,935 participants died in the study timeframe, including 11,670 cardiovascular-related deaths, such as those from heart disease, heart attacks and strokes. About 32% of the women and 43% of the men surveyed said they engaged in regular aerobic exercise , exercising for at least 150 minutes per week. Compared to inactive individuals of the same sex, women who exercised regularly had up to a 24% lower risk of death from any cause. For men who exercised regularly, however, the reduction in mortality risk reached only 15%. Women also gained these survival benefits much more quickly than men did, the study found. In men, the highest reduction in death risk was seen at about 300 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per week. That came with an 18% reduction in all-cause mortality. Women saw an equal benefit in less than half that time, at about 140 minutes of MVPA a week. Women who trained more than that each week saw a greater benefit until they also peaked at around 300 minutes of weekly MVPA. That trend held true across all durations of exercise, the researchers found, with women consistently seeing 'proportionately greater benefits' for any amount of exercise than men did. About 20% of women and 28% of men said they engaged in two or more sessions of strength training, such as lifting weights, each week. Overall, though, women reported an average of about 0.85 sessions per week, while men averaged 1.25 sessions per week. On average, the women who strength-trained at least twice a week had a 19% lower mortality risk than women who trained less often or not at all. Men, on average, saw a 11% lower risk compared with inactive men. These benefits were even greater when it came to cardiovascular health specifically. Related: Why is it harder for some people to build muscle than others? Compared with inactive individuals, women who performed aerobic physical activity had a 36% lower cardiovascular mortality risk, while for active men, this risk reduction was about 14%. Muscle strengthening produced similar outcomes, with a cardiovascular risk reduction of 30% for women and 11% for men, compared to baseline. 'What surprised us the most was the fact that women who do muscle strengthening had a reduction in their cardiovascular mortality by 30%,' Gulati told NPR . 'We don't have many things that reduce mortality in that way,' she added. The study did have some limitations, including that people's exercise data was self-reported, so it relied on the participants accurately reporting their activity study also tracked only leisure-time exercise, meaning it didn't count exercise completed during household tasks or as part of a job, which may have also contributed to the results. In addition, the study didn't account for potentially unassessed health issues in some participants, or changes in people's exercise trends over time. That said, the results echo similar findings from a 2011 meta-analysis published in the journal Circulation . This review of 33 studies concluded that there was a stronger link between exercise and lower death risk in women than men. The researchers behind the 2024 study hope their findings could help motivate more women to exercise, whether through traditional ' cardio ' or muscle strengthening regimes including bodyweight exercises or lifting weights. 'I am hopeful that this pioneering research will motivate women who are not currently engaged in regular physical activity to understand that they are in a position to gain tremendous benefit for each increment of regular exercise they are able to invest in their longer-term health,' Dr. Christine Albert , chair of the Department of Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute who was not involved in the study, said in the statement.
India Today
13-05-2025
- Health
- India Today
Smoke or not, women are still at higher risk of serious lung disease than men
Women are about 50% more likely than men to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a serious lung condition, even if they have never smoked or smoked less than men, according to new research published in BMJ Open Respiratory is a group of chronic lung diseases, including emphysema and bronchitis, often caused by long-term smoking, air pollution and lung irritants. The condition makes a person hard to the large US-based study challenges the long-held belief that smoking alone explains why more women now suffer from COPD. Researchers analysed data from the 2020 National Health Interview Survey, which included over 23,000 adults aged 40 and above. The survey looked at smoking habits, use of tobacco products, and whether participants had been diagnosed with women reported smoking less than men. They smoked fewer cigarettes per day (18 vs. 22), were less likely to have started smoking before age 15 (19% vs. 28%), and were also less likely to have used other tobacco products like cigars or smokeless tobacco. Yet, COPD was more common among women (nearly 8%) than men (6.5%).Even among those who had never smoked, women were still twice as likely to have COPD compared to men - 3% vs. 1.5%. Among people who had ever smoked, 16% of women had COPD, compared to 11.5% of adjusting for other factors such as age and smoking exposure, researchers found that women had a 47% higher risk of developing COPD. Among non-smokers, women were 62% more likely to be diagnosed with COPD than male study relied on self-reported information and didn't include possible influences like hormonal changes, environmental pollution, or workplace exposure, which may affect COPD risk. However, the authors argue that the findings suggest smoking alone doesn't fully explain the higher rates of COPD in women.'If women were simply more sensitive to tobacco smoke, we wouldn't see such high COPD rates among those who never smoked,' the researchers conclude that the burden of COPD in women has been underestimated and call for better efforts to prevent, diagnose, and treat the disease in women, regardless of smoking history.
Miami Herald
13-05-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
Smoking doesn't explain greater COPD risk for women
May 9 (UPI) -- Smoking can't explain why women are more at risk for COPD, a new study says. Women are about 50% more likely than men to develop COPD even though they are less likely to smoke, researchers reported Thursday in the journal BMJ Open Respiratory Research. Smoking tobacco is the main cause of COPD, the umbrella term for chronic breathing problems like emphysema and bronchitis, researchers say. But the COPD rate is higher among women than men, even though women don't smoke as much as men, results show. The results refute the notion that women are more vulnerable to tobacco smoke than men, which had previously been floated to explain why more women suffer COPD, researchers said. "The higher risk of COPD in women was not explained by higher susceptibility to cigarette smoke as measured by either smoking status or pack-year exposure," wrote a team led by Dr. Alexander Steinberg, an assistant professor of clinical practice at the University of Washington in Seattle. "In fact, women had a nearly identical increase in risk of COPD for every 10 pack-years of cigarette use when compared with men," researchers wrote. Pack-years measure how much a person has smoked by multiplying the packs smoked per day by the number of years a person has smoked. "This then begs the important question of what is driving high rates of COPD among women," researchers added. For the study, they analyzed responses from more than 12,600 women and nearly 10,400 men 40 and older who participated in the National Health Interview Survey, an annual poll conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track American health. Women were less likely to be current or former smokers than men, and those who did smoke tended to burn through fewer cigarettes per day than men, researchers found. Women also were more likely to have smoked for fewer years, and less likely to have started smoking younger than 15. Nevertheless, just under 8% of women suffered from COPD compared to about 6.5% for men, results showed. Women with COPD were more likely to have never smoked cigarettes than men with the condition, nearly 27% compared with just over 14%, researchers found. They also were less likely to use other tobacco products except for e-cigarettes, nearly 27% compared with 20%, the study says. Overall, women had a 47% higher risk of being diagnosed with COPD than men, after accounting for other risk factors, researchers concluded. This gender difference persisted regardless of smoking history. Women who never smoked were 62% more likely to be diagnosed with COPD than men, and those who had ever smoked were 43% more likely, results show. Several theories might explain why women are more at risk for COPD even though they don't smoke as much as men, researchers said. "Studies have suggested that increased inhalation exposure from traditionally female-predominated occupations, home heating and cooking, aerosolized hair and beauty products and household cleaning products may contribute to higher rates of COPD in women," researchers wrote. Women also tend to have smaller airways than men, which might make them more susceptible to breathing problems, researchers noted. "Our research raises uncertainty about the common assumption that increased vulnerability to cigarette smoke is driving the gender divide in COPD," researchers concluded. More information Cleveland Clinic has more about COPD. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Senators send letter to RFK Jr. warning that HHS cuts could hurt Indian Health Service
A bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warning him that cuts to the agency could severely impact the Indian Health Service (IHS). The letter -- delivered on Tuesday from Sens. Jeff Merkley (D- Ore.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) -- expressed concern over the IHS' ability to take care for more than 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. In April, HHS began laying off about 10,000 workers and consolidating 28 institutes and centers into 15 new divisions. Including the roughly 10,000 people who have left over the last few months through early retirement or deferred resignation programs, the overall staff at HHS is expected to fall from 82,000 to around 62,000 -- or about a quarter of its workforce. MORE: HHS firings, questioning safety of vaccines: How the Trump administration may be 'attacking' science IHS has been exempted from probationary employee staffing reductions, but the senators noted that cuts to other agencies within HHS that serve Native communities are impacting IHS. They added that the hiring freeze is exacerbating existing critical staffing issues, including a need for laboratory technicians and administrative personnel. PHOTO: A small child walks toward the front door of the Public Health Service Indian Hospital on the Standing Rock Reservation in Fort Yates, N.D., Oct. 14, 2008. (Will Kincaid/AP) "We urge you to take immediate action to ensure that the IHS programs serving Native communities have the resources and staffing necessary to fulfill their missions and halt any further actions affecting Tribal health care delivery without first engaging in meaningful Tribal consultation," the letter read. Merkley, Schatz and Murkowski also described in the letter how American Indians and Alaska Natives are an incredibly vulnerable population "falling behind in nearly every health metric." In the 2023 National Health Interview Survey -- run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) -- 21.8% of those who identify as only American Indian or Alaska Native reported being in fair or poor health, which was the highest rate seen among any racial or ethnic group. NCHS data show American Indians and Alaska Natives are disproportionately affected by diabetes, angina -- which is chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart -- and disability. MORE: Why Native American children have higher rates of disability Additionally, American Indians and Alaska Natives have the lowest life expectancy of any racial or ethnic group in the U.S. with an average expectancy of 67.9 years as of 2022, according to the CDC. "Native communities deserve reliable access to quality health care, and we urge you to reevaluate all actions that jeopardize delivery of any health care services for American Indians and Alaska Natives," the senators wrote. HHS did not immediately reply to ABC News' request for comment ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett and Will McDuffie contributed to this report. Senators send letter to RFK Jr. warning that HHS cuts could hurt Indian Health Service originally appeared on
