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That makes up about 338,000 people across the country, with 40% beginning their isolation in adolescence, according to the ministry. Various factors are thought to be at play, including financial hardship, mental illness, family problems or health challenges. The report also detailed future plans for further action, such as distributing guidelines to local governments, boosting youth social safety nets and early detection systems, and working more closely with youth welfare facilities like shelters or rehabilitation centers. Japan has a similar problem, with nearly 1.5 million reclusive lonely young people, who are known as hikikomori, according to a recent government survey. Of those surveyed, more than a fifth cited the pandemic as a significant factor in their reclusive lifestyle.

☆ Britain's NICE to speed up reviews of COVID-19 treatments
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Britain's agency that determines if medicines should be used in the National Health Service (NHS) said on Thursday it is speeding up how it decides if COVID-19 therapies are still effective against circulating variants. The new review process will enable the agency to update its recommendations on the cost-effectiveness of COVID treatments so they can be made available more swiftly to patients, it said. "The rapidly evolving nature of COVID-19 means we need to have a way of establishing the cost effectiveness of existing medicines against current variants in an agile way," the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said. It said there is no evidence of Evusheld's clinicial effectiveness against current variants and those likely to be circulating in the next 6 months. The announcement comes as demand for COVID treatments appears set to drop this year, due to population immunity from high rates of vaccination and previous infections.

Long a source of pride, Canada's publicly funded healthcare system has been strained to the breaking point due to factors including the pandemic and staffing shortages. Here are some of the issues facing Canada's health system:WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHALLENGES? A shortage of healthcare workers fueled in part by burnout and attrition has plagued Canada's hospitals, clinics and primary care resources. Total health spending in Canada was expected to reach C$331 billion in 2022, or C$8,563 per Canadian, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. This could include improvements in data collection and the provision of mental health care, among other things.

About 1 in 8 adults over 50 showed signs of food addiction, according to the survey. “We think this is also true in younger populations.”Gearhardt and her team used questions from the Yale Food Addiction Scale to measure whether older adults were experiencing core indicators of addiction. If I had emotional problems because I hadn’t eaten certain foods, I would eat them (17%, once a week). Gearhardt was a member of the group that devised the Yale Food Addiction Scale. The difference is you can’t stop eating food.”Gearhardt said that the survey results should encourage health providers to ask patients about dietary habits.

☆ Patients got used to emailing their doctors with health questions during the pandemic. Now hospitals are charging them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Hospitals are charging patients for their emails and other correspondence with doctors. Some hospital officials say the strategy increases healthcare access, but advocates worry charges could deter patients who need care. Hospitals nationwide have begun to charge for emails and other correspondence with their doctors, the Associated Press reported. After Covid led patients to avoid crowded hospitals and waiting rooms, and condense what used to be in-person visits to emails and video calls, hospitals say doctors spent more time responding to health question emails and messages, the Associated Press reported. But advocates worry the strategy will lead patients to avoid seeking care when they need it, for fear of being charged.

"Everybody has a different amount of fibroglandular tissue and a different pattern," Freer said, referring to dense breast tissue. In individual interviews as part of Gunn's survey, six out of 61 women said dense breasts contributed to breast cancer risk. There are two reasons dense breasts are linked to a higher risk of breast cancer. To lower one's risk of breast cancer overall, doctors recommend limiting alcohol intake, exercising regularly and maintaining a healthy diet. The Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium offers an online tool to help people gauge their breast cancer risk based on multiple factors, including breast density.

☆ Fact Check-No evidence COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are significant contributing factor to UK’s 30,000 excess cardiovascular deaths
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Millions of people have viewed a BBC News interview with a British cardiologist who used the broadcast to spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. Malhotra cites the British Heart Foundation (BHF) for reporting 30,000 excess cardiovascular deaths “during the pandemic or since the pandemic”. A BHF spokesperson told Reuters that there were indeed 30,000 excess deaths involving ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in England between March 2020 and August 2022. Reuters has addressed similar claims linking COVID-19 vaccines with excess mortality (here, here and here), cardiac arrests (here, here and here), and other heart issues. Experts say the 30,000 excess cardiovascular deaths reported since the beginning of the pandemic are due to COVID-19 infection and issues with healthcare services.

☆ A booming market for gear to help seniors grow older at home is creating an opportunity for investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

Alphabet, Amazon and Best Buy are among the fund's plays on the aging in place theme. Best Buy breaks into the space It's Best Buy that has really been doubling down on its efforts to break into the space. Best Buy sees the role of technology within health care becoming much more important. Medicare Advantage's health care at home coverage includes primary care, transitional care when someone is released from a hospital and often hospice care, she said. That should lead to higher earnings power, said Baker, who has a buy rating and $237 price target on Lowe's stock.

☆ Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. hospitalized patients experience a harmful event, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Kaitlin Sullivan | Kaitlin Sullivan Is A Contributor For Nbcnews.Com Who Has Worked With Nbc News Investigations. She Reports On Health | Science | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

The stark findings underscore that, despite decades of effort, hospitals in the United States still have a long way to go to improve patient safety, experts say. A total of 222 adverse events were considered preventable, meaning an error resulted in patient harm. Twenty-nine people, or 1% of the total of those admitted, experienced serious preventable adverse events that resulted in serious harm. The most common adverse events overall (nearly 40%) were related to medications given in the hospital. It used data from patients hospitalized in New York state in 1984, and found that only about 4% of hospitalized patients experienced harm.

☆ New guidelines for treating childhood obesity include medications and surgery for first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Kaitlin Sullivan | Kaitlin Sullivan Is A Contributor For Nbcnews.Com Who Has Worked With Nbc News Investigations. She Reports On Health | Science | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Intensive behavioral and lifestyle changes should be the first-line approach, but the AAP also includes recommendations for anti-obesity medications and surgery for the first time. The guidelines say that pediatricians should offer weight-loss drugs for children age 12 and up with obesity. She also acknowledged that these lifestyle changes can be really hard to adopt, especially for overworked and low-income parents. The more adverse the environment around you, the harder it is to live a healthy lifestyle,” Hassink said. Medications and surgery are expensive, and asking overstretched parents to implement lifestyle changes is not always realistic.

☆ Risk of a dangerous new Covid variant in China is ‘quite low,’ U.S. health expert says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | Evelyn Cheng Is A Senior Correspondent With Cnbc. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, pointed out there were likely billions of omicron infections worldwide this year, but no new Covid variant has emerged, only subvariants of omicron. “That’s why I would put the risk as quite low that there is a dangerous new variant in China,” he said. The U.S., Japan and a few other countries this week subsequently announced new Covid testing requirements for travelers from China. China’s National Health Commission said Sunday it would stop releasing daily information on Covid infections and deaths. Covid testing is no longer mandatory in China.

☆ Risk of a dangerous new Covid variant in China is 'quite low,' U.S. health expert says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING — It's unlikely that a dangerous new Covid-19 variant is spreading in China, said Dr. Chris Murray, Seattle-based director of a health research center at the University of Washington. His comments Friday on CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" come as U.S. health officials warned this week about the chance of a new Covid variant emerging in China's nationwide outbreak — and how Beijing's lack of transparency could delay detection of public health risks. Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, pointed out there were likely billions of omicron infections worldwide this year, but no new Covid variant has emerged, only subvariants of omicron. "That's why I would put the risk as quite low that there is a dangerous new variant in China," he said. Omicron is far more transmissible, but causes less severe disease, than when Covid first emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019.

☆ China reopening: 'Small risk' of a new variant replacing omicron, research institute says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailChina reopening: 'Small risk' of a new variant replacing omicron, research institute saysChristopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation says "for a new variant to emerge and replace omicron, it has to have some very special characteristics."

☆ Home delivery of medications can help improve access, especially when time is tight
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

As the supply of Paxlovid has grown, efforts have been made to improve timely, equitable access to the treatment. Transportation is one significant barrier to health care access for many people, experts say, but creating equitable outcomes will involve a much more comprehensive approach. The initiative is meant to increase access to Covid-19 treatment, particularly for those in socially vulnerable or medically underserved communities. “It’s a combination of things that prevent access to care,” said Werner, whose research has focused on health equity. And those may be the ones that I think would be ripe for this kind of home-based delivery system,” Werner said.

☆ Hearing aids may lower your risk for cognitive decline and dementia, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Hearing aids might be an important tool in the effort to prevent cognitive decline and dementia, according to a new study. The new study published Monday in JAMA Neurology offers evidence that managing hearing loss may potentially help reduce or delay cognitive decline, Loh said. The use of hearing aids was associated with a 19% reduction in long-term cognitive decline, the study found. “Get screened for hearing loss, and if you do have hearing loss, speak with your audiologist or physician ENT to ensure appropriate and optimal correction to help stave off the potential dementia risk and cognitive decline,” Holland said. But in the meantime, people with hearing loss should talk with their doctor about whether it is appropriate to use hearing aids, Tan said.

☆ Depression as a marketing tool? When influencers get the mental health conversation wrong
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Sophie Kiderlin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Influencers and celebrities talking about mental health online is important, but can turn problematic when used as a marketing tool. Georgijevic | E+ | Getty ImagesOpen conversations about mental health are as important as ever — and social media influencers can play a key role in starting them. "I suffered from anxiety," "I suffered from alcohol addiction," "I suffered from mental health," were some examples. German mental health charity Deutsche Depressionsliga, which is run by and for those who have depression, released a statement titled "depression is not a marketing tool" in response. 'A duty of care'Simon Gunning, CEO at the British mental health charity Campaign Against Living Miserably, said that acting responsibly is most important when it comes to online conversations about mental health.

☆ Fact Check-No evidence 40% of COVID-19 deaths in Finland were fabricated
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Data on COVID-19 deaths in Finland is being misinterpreted by users online who claim that 40% of reported pandemic deaths have been fraudulent or fabricated. As Finland reports deaths within 30 days of a positive COVID-19 test result, 40% of cases are deaths with COVID-19 but not directly due to COVID-19. Deaths within these 30 days include up to 40% of cases with COVID-19, though not primarily due to COVID-19. There is no evidence that Finland fabricated or exaggerated 40% of COVID-19 deaths. To avoid underreporting of COVID-related deaths, the national health institute reports deaths due directly to COVID-19 and deaths that occurred with COVID-19 to which the disease might have contributed.

☆ Britain's NICE recommends against NHS use of 5 COVID treatments as not cost-effective
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The review, conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and published on Wednesday, is its first involving COVID-19 treatments as the pandemic enters a new phase. The recommendations are a draft, NICE said, and until final guidance is published, access to COVID-19 medicines will continue as is. NICE acknowledged that there is evidence that Merck's molnupiravir and Gilead Sciences Inc's (GILD.O) hospital-administered antiviral remdesivir are effective at treating COVID-19. It also recommended against three other COVID treatments, including GSK (GSK.L) and partner Vir Biotechnology's (VIR.O) sotrovimab, an antibody therapy that the World Health Organization recommended against in September. One expert said that some of the COVID treatments NICE recommended against are an important part of the British government's current strategy.

In fact, Covid-related deaths and hospitalizations have fallen in recent months, despite the emergence of new omicron subvariants that evade immunity from previous infections and vaccination. Full coverage of the Covid-19 pandemicAccording to NBC News data, Covid deaths have fallen consistently since Aug. 31, when the seven-day average of daily Covid deaths was at 571. The average number of Covid hospitalizations per day has decreased by 27.9% since Aug. 28, according to NBC News data. While Covid-related hospitalizations are not currently increasing, Gupta warns that they could during the winter as immunity, especially from previous infection, diminishes. Now, he said, "Covid deaths don't all look the same."

☆ World population growth will reduce due to climate change by 2060, top health expert says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWorld population growth will reduce due to climate change by 2060, top health expert saysChris Murray, director at Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, says the world's population growth will reduce due to climate change by 2060.

☆ Fact Check-No evidence COVID-19 Omicron XBB variant has higher mortality rate, or is five times more ‘toxic,’ than Delta
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Social media users in Singapore are copy-pasting a text post which warns that the COVID-19 Omicron XBB variant, first discovered in August, is five times more “toxic” and has a higher mortality rate than the Delta variant. However, there is no evidence to support this, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Health. Likewise, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says current data does not suggest XBB is more deadly than Omicron, which itself is less lethal than Delta. There is, however, early evidence pointing at a higher reinfection risk, as compared to other circulating Omicron sublineages.”VERDICTFalse. There is no evidence the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XBB variant is more deadly or causes more severe COVID-19 than the Delta variant.

The public health emergency was initially declared in January 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic began, and has been renewed each quarter since. "That is not the moment you want to pull down the public health emergency." The officials said a lot of work remained to be done for the transition out of the public health emergency. The government has been paying for COVID vaccines, some tests, and certain treatments, as well as other care under the public health emergency declaration. When the emergency expires, the government will begin to transfer COVID healthcare to private insurance and government health plans.

☆ Opinion | Science Has a Nasty Photoshopping Problem
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Elisabeth Bik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +14 min

One evening in January 2014, I sat at my computer at home, sifting through scientific papers. Manipulated imagery in scientific papers can look ordinary at first glance. However, this ability, combined with my — what some might call obsessive — personality, helped me when hunting duplications in scientific images by eye. So when a scientist’s research shows a negative result, cheating can be tempting. Legitimate criticism of scientific research should receive legal protection.

In Arkansas, Covid patients are now almost half of the state’s adult intensive care unit beds, the highest rate in the nation. In Mississippi, 42 percent of adult ICU beds are filled with Covid patients, up from 20 percent four weeks ago. These are just two states where the share of Covid patients in ICUs are growing. The scale is based on the share of ICU hospital beds used by Covid patients. These maps show hospital ICU stress levels among adults and track how they have changed over time.

☆ Global COVID cases will increase in coming months, but at a slower pace, analysis says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 25 (Reuters) - Daily global COVID-19 infections are projected to rise slowly to about 18.7 million by February from the current 16.7 million aveage daily cases, driven by the northern hemisphere's winter months, the University of Washington said in an analysis. The increase in cases is not expected to cause a surge in deaths, the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) said. It forecast that global daily deaths would average 2,748 people on Feb. 1, compared with around 1,660 currently. IHME estimates that daily infections in the United States will increase by a third to more than a million, driven by students back in schools and cold weather-related indoor gatherings. A rapid increase in hospital admissions in Germany – the highest since the COVID outbreak in 2020 - remains an area of concern, it said.

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