Health Spending Rose 4.1% in 2022, Government Report Says
Health spending in the U.S. rose by 4.1% — to $4.5 trillion — in 2022, up from a 3.2% increase in 2021 but not as much as the 10.6% growth seen in 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Wednesday. The lower growth in 2021 and 2022 compared with 2020 was largely […]
Heavy metals in our food are most dangerous for kids
The problem of foodborne metal contamination has taken on new urgency, thanks in part to a 2021 US Congressional Report detailing high levels of metals found in infant food pulled off grocery shelves.?(More recently, high levels of lead were discovered in children’s fruit puree pouches.) Now, two new studies provide information on the correlation between […]
CDC Details Multidrug-Resistant TB Outbreak in an Unlikely Spot
An outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) developed in Kansas in November 2021, and included multiple children who were born in the U.S. and became infected in the state, CDC researchers reported. The outbreak involved 13 people across four households in Kansas City and spanned 1 year. While a majority of the seven adults identified were […]
Cases of Deadly Fungus Tripled in Past Few Years, CDC Says
Cases of Candida auris have tripled from 2019 to 2021, according to national surveillance data. After first being detected in the U.S. in 2016, annual clinical case counts increased to 476 in 2019, then to 756 in 2020 (a 59% jump), and then to 1,471 in 2021 (an additional 95% increase), reported Meghan Lyman, MD, […]
Maternal Mortality Rose Significantly in 2021, CDC Says
Maternal mortality in the U.S. significantly increased in 2021 compared with the previous year, the CDC reported Thursday. A total of 1,205 women died of maternal causes in 2021, compared with 861 in 2020 and 754 in 2019, according to the report from Donna Hoyert, PhD, of the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. The […]
Shawn Mendes Shaved His Head For A Very Simple Reason
Mendes attends the 8th Annual “We Can Survive” on Oct. 23, 2021 in Los Angeles. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin via Getty Images After going through a breakup at the end of 2021, Shawn Mendes followed in the footsteps of many single people before him, and underwent what looked like a bit of a drastic haircut earlier this year. […]
If It Resembles Cancer but Doesn’t Act Like Cancer, Is It Cancer?
In January 2021, a movement to redefine low-risk Gleason 6 lesions as noncancers or precancers made its debut in this blog under the headline: “Is This Really Cancer?” Urologic oncologist Scott Eggener, MD, vice chair of urology at University of Chicago Medicine, threw down the gauntlet, saying Gleason 6 lesions may resemble cancers, but don’t […]
Opinion | Ketamine Clinics Are Jumping Ahead of the Evidence
Almost a quarter of U.S. adults suffered from a mental illness in 2021, yet less than half of them received treatment. This has incredible impacts on individuals, families, the economy, and public health, and it is of utmost importance to address these untreated mental health needs. Understandably, innovation is important as people are often looking […]
Opinion | Our Biggest Health Insurance Concern Isn’t What You Think
Only 8.3% of Americans were uninsured in 2021, a more-than 37% drop from 2013 (13.4%) — the year before the marketplace and Medicaid expansion created by the Affordable Care Act began. So why are nearly half of working age adults (46%) still skipping care or medications? Being uninsured is no longer our biggest problem, being […]
Home Births in the U.S. Increased Again, Maintaining Pandemic Trend
Home births jumped 12% from 2020 to 2021, continuing an upward trend observed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and reaching their highest level since at least 1990, according to the CDC. Home births increased from an absolute 1.26% of total births in 2020 to 1.41% in 2021, representing an increase of 6,000 births, […]