According to a new study, 40% of U.S. women are obese, Health Day reports. For the study, researchers gathered obesity rates from a national survey conducted from 2013-2014, and concluded obesity rates among women have been on the rise for the last seven years. "Given all the high-profile attention to the obesity epidemic in America, even by those in the White House, we might be surprised and appalled that, overall, obesity rates are rising, not falling, and that the best news in the mix is stabilization of alarmingly high rates in a few select groups,” Dr. David Katz director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center said. Obesity rates among U.S. men did not change significantly according to the ...
Raising Women’s Voices (RWV), a national initiative working to make sure women’s voices are heard and women’s concerns are addressed as policymakers put healthcare laws into action, has finished preparation of Mi Salud, Mi Voz: Una Guía Paso a Paso Para Mujeres Sobre Cómo Usar el Seguro Médico. This guide is a Spanish translation of many popular health literacy materials. RWV Regional Field Manager Cecilia Saenz Becerra worked with three translators—Tony Macias, Jen Hofer, and Lucy Acevedo to produce the Spanish-language guide. “Working with the team of translators, we used Spanish language that was precise and accurate, while also trying to make it accessible to diverse Spanish-language readers,” she explained. Mi Salud, Mi Voz: Una Guía Paso a Paso Para Mujeres ...
The week of May 8th-14th is National Women’s Health Week! The purpose of celebrating Women’s Health Week is to encourage all the women in our lives—abuelitas, tias, sisters y primas—to take steps to live healthier. How are you staying healthy? More information ...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 out of 3 antibiotics prescribed by doctors in the U.S. are unnecessary, The Washington Post reports. "Antibiotics are lifesaving drugs, and if we continue down the road of inappropriate use we'll lose the most powerful tool we have to fight life-threatening infections," said CDC Director Tom Frieden. "Losing these antibiotics would undermine our ability to treat patients with deadly infections, cancer, provide organ transplants, and save victims of burns and trauma." According to the CDC, antibiotics are most commonly prescribed for illnesses such as common colds, bronchitis, sinus and ear infections. The CDC’s national goal is to cut “unneeded prescriptions by at least half by ...
Heavy use of social media by young adults—especially women—may lead to depression according to a recent study, Forbes reports. For the study, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh surveyed more than 1,700 young adults between the ages of 19 and 32 and concluded that those that spend the most time on social media had the highest risk for depression. This was especially the case for women with less education. “Given the increasing prevalence of social media and the substantial morbidity and mortality associated with depression worldwide, the positive association we found between social media use and depression has important implications for future research and intervention,” the study's authors wrote. From the participants surveyed 26% had high indicators for ...
Latino and Black children have the highest prevalence of severe obesity according to a recent study, Univision Salud reports. Researchers analyzed data from 1999 through 2014 and concluded that one-third of U.S. children are overweight, 25% are obese and more than two percent are severely obese. "Despite other recent reports, all categories of obesity have increased from 1999 to 2014, and there is no evidence of a decline in the last few years." lead researcher Asheley Skinner said. According to Skinner, there are 4.5 million children who are severely obese in need of immediate treatment. "Unless we make big changes on a national level, we're not going to see huge changes in obesity," Skinner said. "We have created a culture where kids aren't very active and one where it's ...
New research suggests type 2 diabetes—a condition that severely affects Latinos in the U.S.—may cause hearing impairment, according to researchers at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center, HealthAim reports. According to the researchers, there’s “compelling evidence” that suggests diabetes damages the auditory system and clinicians should include a hearing test in managing type 2 diabetes. “An association between diabetes and hearing impairment in human subjects has been shown in many, but not all, studies,” said Dr. Elizabeth Helzner, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. According to the American Diabetes Association, 16.9% of Latinos have ...
Teens who have been exposed to electronic cigarette ads in the last 30 days are more likely to start vaping, according to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Engadget reports. "The unrestricted marketing of e-cigarettes and dramatic increases in their use by youth could reverse decades of progress in preventing tobacco use among youth," Brian King, deputy director at the CDC's smoking division, said in a statement. The data comes from the CDC's 2014 National Tobacco Survey that looked into the habits of more than 20,000 middle and high school students from across the country and found that the number of E-cigs users is increasing among teenagers. Along with their findings the CDC recommends “limiting e-cig sales to stores that only admit adults, ...
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that, while the rate of cigarette smoking among U.S. teens did not increase, the use of e-cigarettes and other tobacco vaping products has been on the rise over the last four years, according to Mashable. "E-cigarettes are now the most commonly used tobacco product among youth, and use continues to climb," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said in a release. "No form of youth tobacco use is safe. Nicotine is an addictive drug and use during adolescence may cause lasting harm to brain development." The CDC collected data from 20,000 middle and high school students between 2011-2015. The rate of high school students who reported using an e-cigarette at least once in the last month increased from 1.5% in 2011 to 16% in ...
