Shingles Vaccine Protects Against Dementia

The shingles vaccine can do more than protect seniors from painful, blistering rashes.

It also appears to protect older folks from dementia, researchers say.

Seniors who got the shingles vaccine when it became available in the U.K. were 20% less likely to develop dementia than those who did not take the jab, according to research pub...

FDA Removes Top Expert on Vaping and Tobacco

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) top tobacco regulator, Brian King, has been placed on leave as part of a large wave of cuts across federal health agencies. 

King, who led the FDA's tobacco control efforts, told his staff Tuesday that he was removed with “a heavy heart and profound disappointment.”

More Americans Can't Afford Health Care, Prescriptions

The inability to pay for health care has reached a new high in the United States, a new study says.

More than one-third of Americans — an estimated 91 million people — say they couldn't afford to access quality health care if they needed it today, according to the latest West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index.

...

Swallowing Disorder Not Widely Known, Understood By Public

Insomnia and vertigo are health conditions so well-known that movies have been named after them.

But only a quarter of Americans know about a condition that occurs even more often than vertigo or insomnia, called dysphagia, a new study says.

Dysphagia is a condition in which people have trouble swallowing, due to nerve, muscle or str...

Drug Overdose Deaths Rising Faster in Black Americans, Study Finds

Black Americans have been dying from drug overdoses (OD) at higher rates than white Americans, a new study says.

Both Black men and women are at greater risk of a fatal OD compared to white people, researchers reported April 1 in JAMA Network Open.

The OD death rate for Black men surpassed the rate for white men in 2016, and...

Eye Exam Can Assess Risk Of Delirium Following Surgery

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul.

The eyes also might help detect seniors at risk for a common syndrome in which they emerge from surgery in a state of delirium, new research suggests.

Seniors who have thicker retinas are about 60% more likely to develop post-surgical delirium, researchers reported April 1 in the journal...

Low 'Bad' Cholesterol Might Protect Against Dementia, Alzheimer's

Lower levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol could mean a lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, a new study says.

People with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels lower than 70 mg/dl had a 26% lower risk of dementia and 28% lower risk of Alzheimer’s, compared to people with LDL levels above 130 mg/dl,...

Experts Concerned as NIH Axes Critical Vaccine Study Funds

Hundreds of U.S. research projects aimed at boosting vaccine confidence have been shut down -- just as preventable diseases like measles and flu are on the rise.

Since Jan. 20, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has canceled more than 1,600 research grants. 

Around 300 of those were for vaccine-related projec...

Brain Implant Lets Woman Talk After 18 Years of Silence Due to Stroke

For nearly two decades, a stroke had left a woman unable to speak -- until now. 

Thanks to a new brain implant, her thoughts are being turned into real-time speech, giving her a voice again for the first time in 18 years.

The device was tested on a 47-year-old woman with quadriplegia who lost her ability to speak after a stroke....

Major Job Cuts at NIOSH Pose Risks to Worker Safety, Critics Warn

A major round of job cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) could weaken efforts to protect American workers, according to federal health officials.

About two-thirds of NIOSH staff -- roughly 875 people -- may lose their jobs as part of a larger restructuring ordered by U.S. Department of Health and Human...