health.harvard.edu
Decoding the price of heart tests and procedures
A Harvard study found “stunning” price variations for common tests across top-ranked hospitals. Before you shell out money for a service — a home repair or a plane ticket, for example — chances are you shop around first to find the best price. You can’t do that for medical services, however, because of the way …
Palliative care frightens some people: Here’s how it helps
During many stages of illness, palliative care can ease strains and provide additional support. Many people and their families associate the term palliative care with the end of life. Some may think that palliative care and hospice care are one and the same. So it’s worth explaining that palliative care is a medical specialty able …
Younger adults with kidney disease struggle with health disparities
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects an estimated 37 million people in the United States. Often, it begins and progresses silently, causing no obvious symptoms until kidney function is severely impaired. During early stages, up to nine in 10 people aren’t aware that they have it. If kidney disease is caught early and treated properly, serious …
Warning: Older age makes you vulnerable to the summer heat
Age-related changes increase your risk for two serious conditions. Long, hot summers are getting longer and hotter, and could continue on this path as a result of global warming, according to research published March 28, 2021, in Geophysical Research Letters. Scientists found that autumns, winters, and springs have gotten shorter over the last 60 years, …
Long-term acetaminophen use may boost blood pressure
Research we’re watching Acetaminophen, the popular pain reliever known by the brand name Tylenol, can raise blood pressure when taken regularly, according to a study in the Feb. 7, 2022, issue of Circulation. Earlier research had hinted at this problem, so investigators designed a clinical trial to clarify the risk. They recruited 110 people with …
Breaking up with your favorite foods
Heartburn and indigestion are not the hallmarks of a good relationship. Published: February, 2020 They say that breaking up is hard to do, and that takes on new meaning when you’ve had a love affair with certain foods. But sometimes our bodies can no longer tolerate our favorites, forcing us to say goodbye to everything …
Don’t be afraid of statins
Statins can help men lower their risk of heart attack and stroke, yet many resist them. Statins have been doing what they do — lowering cholesterol to help prevent cardiovascular disease — for more than three decades. Still, many people who could benefit from the drug don’t take it. “Statins have a role in men’s …
Food ingredients under the microscope
At least one additive — a preservative called propionate — could be linked to diabetes and obesity. Published: September, 2019 Scientists are giving food additives and other ingredients more scrutiny these days, thanks to new technology that allows them to get an up-close view of how individual molecules affect the body. And they are already …
Urinary tract infections: A possible trigger for stroke
Research we’re watching Published: September, 2019 Infections — especially those in the urinary tract, known as UTIs — may raise the risk of a stroke, a new study finds. Researchers examined the electronic medical records of more than 191,000 stroke patients to see if they’d been hospitalized or gone to an emergency room for an …
When very high cholesterol runs in the family
Ongoing efforts seek to better identify and treat familial hypercholesterolemia, a leading cause of early heart attacks. Published: September, 2019 Some 35 million Americans have cholesterol values that put them at high risk for heart disease. The vast majority likely have dozens of different genetic mutations, each of which raises cholesterol by a little bit. …