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Stay Well
breaking health news & updates
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4 In 10 U.S. Adults With Hypertension Don’t Know They Have It | |
About 41 percent of U.S. adults with hypertension are unaware they have it, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics. Left untreated, high blood pressure can increase the risk for heart disease and stroke.
The American College of Cardiology defines hypertension as having systolic blood pressure of 130 mm Hg or above, or diastolic blood pressure of 80 mm Hg or above.
The NCHS data is drawn from a two-year survey, from August 2021 to August 2023, of the U.S. population. The survey sample “is selected through a complex, multistage design,” the NCHS report says. The survey information was collected in stages, including interviews conducted in subjects’ homes and a standardized health examination in a mobile exam site. An average of up to three blood pressure readings were taken.
In adults over age 18, 48 percent of the survey’s 6,084 subjects were found to have hypertension — 60 percent of whom were aware that they had high blood pressure. Men were more likely than women to have high blood pressure, NCHS said, but men were also less likely than women to know they had hypertension. Washington Post
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"When Part B premiums grow at a faster rate than Social Security COLAS, premium costs consume a growing portion of monthly Social Security checks.”
Mary Johnson, an independent Social Security and Medicare policy analyst
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Seniors Will Pay More For Medicare in 2025. Here's What To Know
America's seniors will pay more for their health care in the new year, as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that premiums for its Part B plan will increase by about 6% in 2025.
Part B covers visits to doctors, outpatient care, preventative services such as vaccines, medical equipment like wheelchairs as well as home health care. (Part A, which covers inpatient care in hospitals and other facilities, is premium-free for all but about 1% of beneficiaries due to taxes paid by most retirees while they worked.)
The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B enrollees will climb by $10.30, or about 6%, to $185.00 from $174.70 in 2024, CMS said Friday.
Meanwhile, the annual deductible for all Medicare Part B beneficiaries will rise to $257 in 2025 from $240.
The reason for the 2025 premium and deductible increases is due to "projected price changes and assumed utilization increases that are consistent with historical experience," according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Medicare's Part B premiums have generally outrun inflation as well as Social Security's annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). CBS News
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The Fascinating, Crucial Work Of The Bay Area’s Poison Control Center
At the California Poison Control System in San Francisco, a call has just come in from a mother whose toddler accidentally drank a stain remover called “Grandma’s Secret.” “I’m not sure how much she had and whether I should take her to the hospital,” the mom says. “She’s acting like her normal self, but she has her ‘disgusted face’ on.” “Got it,” says the operator. “So, most stain removers aren’t a problem — they’re detergent-based. With ingestion, mostly what you’ll see are mild effects, like an upset stomach or brief gagging or vomiting. Typically, the remedy is you wash out their mouth, give them some water or juice, and they’ll be absolutely fine.” Just like that, crisis averted. It’s all in a day’s work for the poison center’s operators, the specially trained physicians, pharmacists and nurses at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. Somebody comes into contact with something they shouldn’t, and a cry for help comes into the center’s 24/7 hotline (1-800-222-1222). The San Francisco office is one of four in California, with others in Sacramento, San Diego and the Fresno/Madera area. Together, they handle about 235,500 cases per year — roughly 650 a day or one every two minutes — involving everything from drug overdoses to rattlesnake bites, toxic plants and weirder things. Mercury News Read more
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Bay Area Genetic Testing Company 23andMe To Slash 40% Of Its Workforce
Bay Area genetic testing company 23andMe announced Monday that it plans to lay off 40% of its workforce as part of a broader restructuring effort aimed at cutting costs and refocusing the company on its core business. The layoffs, which are expected to affect around 200 employees, come ahead of the holiday season, according to a statement from the company. They also follow a costly data breach that has weakened public perception of 23andMe, which was one of the preeminent DNA testing services. The cuts are a significant part of 23andMe’s strategy to streamline operations, which also includes halting the development of its therapeutics programs and winding down ongoing clinical trials. SF Chronicle Read more
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Listeria Recall: Popular Brie And Soft Cheese Brands Sold At Safeway And Whole Foods Affected
A cheese producer has issued a voluntary recall of several soft cheese products, including various brie varieties, sold in California and other states due to potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. Savencia Cheese USA announced the recall over the weekend after routine testing detected traces of the bacteria in its processing equipment. As a result, major retailers, including Safeway, Andronico’s and Whole Foods, have begun removing the affected products from store shelves. The recall also impacts products sold at specialty food stores and through food service suppliers. SF Chronicle Read more
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Don’t Wait For A Holiday Surge. Now Is A Good Time To Get Your Flu And COVID-19 Vaccines
If you missed the early fall push for flu and COVID-19 vaccines, it’s not too late. Health officials say it’s important to get vaccinated ahead of the holidays, when respiratory bugs tend to spread with travel and indoor celebrations. Those viruses haven’t caused much trouble so far this fall. But COVID-19 tends to jump in the winter months, a rise that usually starts around Thanksgiving and peaks in January. And that coincides with flu season, which tends to start in November or December and peak in January or February. It takes the body about two weeks to build up immunity after either shot — meaning vaccination is needed before these viruses start spreading. A lot of older adults also need protection against another risky winter virus, RSV.
AP Read more
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1 In 5 People Could Have Long COVID
More than 1 in 5 Americans likely suffer from long COVID, a new AI-assisted review has found. The analysis suggests that nearly 23% of U.S. adults experience the symptoms of long COVID, according to results published Nov. 8 in the journal Med. That’s much higher than the 7% prevalence of long COVID that’s been suggested by other studies, researchers said. “Questions about the true burden of long COVID - questions that have thus far remained elusive - now seem more within reach,” said senior researcher Hossein Estiri, head of AI research at Mass General Brigham in Boston. For the study, researchers developed an AI tool that can sift through mounds of electronic health records looking for the frequently subtle symptoms related to long COVID. U.S News & World Report Read more
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Nasal Swab Tests Predict COVID-19 Disease Severity, Emory Study Finds
A wide variety of COVID-19 symptoms exist, ranging from mild to severe, and while current strains of the virus generally cause milder symptoms, those with co-morbidities are still at an exponentially greater risk of severe disease. Now, new research from Emory University is providing a more precise prediction of COVID-19 severity that can be found by looking at autoantibodies in the nasal cavity, leading to more personalized treatment plans. For high-risk individuals, this could provide critical information to inform immediate treatment options, including quickly taking medications like Paxlovid within one week of symptoms to mitigate a severe response. The study, published in Science Translational Medicine, followed 125 patients with varying levels of COVID-19 (from mild to severe) for nearly two years. They tracked antibodies in both the blood and nasal airways, finding that more than 70% of people with mild or moderate COVID-19 developed certain autoantibodies – generally an indication of disease – in the nose that were surprisingly linked to fewer symptoms, better antiviral immunity, and faster recovery. Emory University Read more
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As The Pandemic Deepened, Americans Kept Drinking More
Americans started drinking more as the Covid-19 pandemic got underway. They were stressed, isolated, uncertain — the world as they had known it had changed overnight. Two years into the disaster, the trend had not abated, researchers reported on Monday. The percentage of Americans who consumed alcohol, which had already risen from 2018 to 2020, inched up further in 2021 and 2022. And more people reported heavy or binge drinking, “Early on in the pandemic, we were seeing an enormous surge of people coming in to the clinic and the hospital with alcohol-related problems,” said Dr. Brian P. Lee, a hepatologist at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California and the principal investigator of the study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine. NY Times Read more
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State/National/International News | | |
Millions At Risk Of Losing Health Insurance After Trump's Victory
Millions of Americans risk losing subsidies next year that help them pay for health insurance following President-elect Donald Trump’s election win and Republicans’ victory in the Senate. The subsidies — which expire at the end of 2025 — came out of the 2021 American Rescue Plan, and increased the amount of assistance available to people who want to buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. The American Rescue Plan also broadened the number of people eligible for subsidies, extending them to many in the middle class. The looming expiration date means that the incoming Congress and next president will need to decide whether to extend them — something Trump and Republicans have already signaled they don’t support, said Chris Meekins, a health policy research analyst at the investment firm Raymond James. NBC News Read more
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Women Stockpile Abortion Pills Before Trump Term
Women are seeking out abortion medication in higher-than-usual numbers ahead of a Donald Trump presidency that they fear could severely curtail access to reproductive care. Aid Access, one of the largest suppliers of abortion pills, reported receiving 10,000 requests for the medication in the 24 hours after the election was called for the Republican nominee early last Wednesday — roughly 17 times the 600 that the organization typically gets in a day. Just the Pill, a nonprofit that prescribes abortion medication through telemedicine, said 22 of its 125 orders from last Wednesday through Friday were from people who are not pregnant. It’s normally “a rarity” for anyone to ask for that kind of “advance provision,” said Julie Amaon, the group’s interim executive director. Washington Post Read more
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Asymptomatic People May Carry Avian Flu
New research has revealed that even asymptomatic people carry the avian flu virus, suggesting that infections among dairy workers may be more common that presumed — and underscoring the need for better workplace protection. In a study released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Thursday, eight of 115 dairy farm workers, or 7%, who were exposed to H5N1 bird
flu during outbreaks among dairy cows at farms in Michigan and Colorado had antibodies to
the virus, showing evidence of prior infection. While four workers remembered having symptoms, mostly conjunctivitis, the other four workers did not recall being sick. All eight people reported milking cows or cleaning a milking parlor. In response, the CDC is expanding its recommendation for testing, saying that the test should be offered to any worker who has been exposed to the virus but lacks symptoms. It also encouraged broader use of the antiviral drug Tamiflu for all exposed workers. Finally, it urged better use of protective tools, like face masks. East Bay Times Read more
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Older Americans Living Alone Often Rely On Neighbors Or Others Willing
To Help
Donald Hammen, 80, and his longtime next-door neighbor in south Minneapolis, Julie McMahon, have an understanding. Every morning, she checks to see whether he’s raised the blinds in his dining room window. If not, she’ll call Hammen or let herself into his house to see what’s going on. Should McMahon find Hammen in a bad way, she plans to contact his sister-in-law, who lives in a suburb of Des Moines. That’s his closest relative. Hammen never married or had children, and his younger brother died in 2022. Although Hammen lives alone, a web of relationships binds him to his city and his community — neighbors, friends, former co-workers, fellow volunteers with an advocacy group for seniors, and fellow members of a group of solo agers. McMahon is an emergency contact, as is a former co-worker. When Hammen was hit by a car in February 2019, another neighbor did his laundry. A friend came over to keep him company. Other people went on walks with Hammen as he got back on his feet. KFF Health News
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FDA To Pull Common But Ineffective Cold Medicine From Market
The Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it would seek to pull a widely used ingredient in cough and cold medicines from the market, after the agency's scientists concluded that the oral version of the drug is ineffective as a nasal decongestant. The FDA's proposal comes more than a year after the agency's outside advisers voted against continued use of the ingredient, called oral phenylephrine, citing concerns with the initial data used to support its approval and new data questioning its effectiveness. Anumber of common over-the-counter nasal decongestants have relied on phenylephrine alone or in combination with other ingredients for years, including some cold and cough versions of Advil, NyQuil, Sudafed, Robitussin, Tylenol and Theraflu.
CBS News Read more
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California Dengue Cases Prompt Swift Response From Public Health Officials
Jason Farned and his team at the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District had spent years preparing for the likely arrival of dengue, a dangerous virus typically found in tropical climates outside the mainland United States. They’d watched nervously as invasive Aedes mosquito species that can carry the virus appeared in Los Angeles about a decade ago and began to spread, likely introduced by international trade and enticed to stay by a warming climate that makes it easier for mosquitoes to thrive. Then, in October 2023, an email came from the Pasadena Public Health Department: A person in the city had contracted California’s first-known case of dengue from a local mosquito.
KFF Health News Read more
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Is The Crackdown On SF Homelessness Working? Here Are The Persisting Challenges
San Francisco has seen a dramatic change in the number of tents on city streets since a crackdown began last August. While the city says there are fewer homeless people living on the streets, there are still areas where problems persist. For many on the streets, conditions have not improved and some homeless people say they are worse off today. It's the same pattern we've seen for months now when clearing out encampments in San Francisco: remove, rinse and repeat. ABC7 News followed the head of the Department of Emergency Management
during one of several daily sweeps conducted in different parts of the city. "We are seeing improvements. It is a lot better than it used to be," assured Mary Ellen Carroll, DEM executive director. ABC7 News Read more
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How Another Trump Presidency Could Impact Housing In California
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to reenter the White House, California housing advocates are bracing for how a second term could impact the state’s notoriously high home prices, rents and rates of homelessness. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to fix the country’s growing housing affordability crisis by slashing mortgage rates, reducing regulations and opening federal land for housing construction. That’s a stark contrast to his first term when housing policy was largely absent from either major candidate’s presidential platforms. This time around, that’s changed, and Trump has recognized housing affordability is a problem, said Matthew Schwartz, executive director of the policy organization the California Housing Partnership. KQED Read more
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Despite Struggles Elsewhere, Alameda County To Launch Its Own Mental Health Court
A year after San Francisco and a few other counties launched a court process to nudge people with severe mental illness into treatment, the rest of California is following suit — and hoping for better results. For officials in Alameda County, who are grappling with the same vexing street conditions that became political flash points in San Francisco, the stakes are high. Their version of Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Act court will roll out Dec. 2, hitting the deadline for counties statewide to establish such programs, unless they applied for a one-year extension. The idea is ambitious: Keep these vulnerable populations from suffering on public sidewalks, or cycling in and out of jails and emergency rooms and provide them housing, services and health care and get them to live independently. SF Chronicle Read more
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How To Talk To Children About The Election Without Making Matters Worse
Donald Trump’s election victory is leaving millions of Americans reeling and struggling to navigate feelings of disappointment, fear, anger and frustration. Many parents are also grappling with how to talk to their young children about the election. Here are some suggestions from experts on how to have those conversations with young children: Don't underestimate children's resilience. Children often sense that something is wrong but don’t know what to do, which is scary for them, said Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford. So it’s important to address it; Humphreys recalls that in 1968, Fred Rogers filmed a special episode of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” in response to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. In the episode, which aired just two days after the assassination, Rogers voices the character of the puppet Daniel Striped Tiger, who asks Lady Aberlin what assassination means, and they talk about different ways to cope with difficult emotions. SF Chronicle Read more
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Fentanyl Crisis/Drug Trends | | |
S.F.’s New Weapon Against The Drug Crisis: Billboards Urging Users To Seek Treatment
Looking up at a billboard in San Francisco’s Civic Center neighborhood, Shavonne Allen couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. “I am living proof treatment works,” the billboard at Franklin and Oak streets reads, alongside a photo of Allen and a phone number for the city’s behavioral health access line — a 24/7 call center for information on substance use and mental health services. “It kind of brings my recovery full circle,” she told a reporter. “Being a resource, an inspiration to let people know that not only is recovery possible, but so is living a meaningful, fulfilling life — this is exactly what I wanted.” SF Chronicle Read more
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Overdose Deaths Are Rising Among Black And Indigenous Americans
The recent decline in overdose deaths hides a tremendous disparity by race: Deaths have fallen only among white people while continuing to rise among people of color, according to a new Stateline analysis of federal data. Health experts in nonwhite communities say they’re finding strategies that work in their areas, but that they still struggle for recognition and funding to address the problems, especially among Black and Native people. In all, nearly 5,000 more people of color died from overdoses in 2023 than in 2021, while deaths among white people dropped by more than 6,000, according to the analysis of provisional data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of early this year, based on partial counts, Black and Native people remain the hardest hit, having earlier in the pandemic surpassed white rates. Hispanic and Asian people are still experiencing more overdose deaths as well. Mercury News Read more
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UC Davis Study Finds Narcan Improves Survival Rates Of Overdose Patients In Cardiac Arrest
A study into Narcan could shape how first responders treat overdose patients. First responders across America, and in Northern California, continue to deal with a deluge of opioid overdose cases. How to treat some of them is still evolving. "Opiate overdose usually leads to a problem with your breathing, so you don't breathe as well," Dr. David Dillon with UC Davis Health said. "And if you can catch it where your heart is still beating but you're not breathing, Narcan is the antidote." What if your heart isn't beating, which is also known as cardiac arrest? "Right now, not all of those patients are getting Narcan because we don't know if it works," Dillon said. "If your heart's not beating, we don't, right now, know how Narcan works." CBS News Read more
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Influx Of Mobile Methadone Clinics Brings Treatment To The Streets
There’s a small line forming outside a plain white box truck in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. A half-dozen folks are waiting on a gusty October morning for their turn to go inside and receive red liquid in a cup, medication that will help them get through the next 24 hours without opioids. Or if they do use, to keep them alive. It’s life-changing for some, this treatment program on wheels, and it has faced obstacles in the past, but fentanyl’s grip on Washington has given methadone distribution more urgency. Taking the drug regularly is one of the most effective ways to satisfy someone’s craving for opioids without the high, and it has decades of research to show it can help people stay alive and clean. But federal regulations have largely required someone to travel to a building every day — an obstacle for people without access to reliable transportation or who struggle to stay organized. Mercury News Read more
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The Science Behind Fluoride In Drinking Water
Donald Trump's second term may threaten what's lauded as one of the top public-health triumphs of the 20th century: adding fluoride, a mineral that helps prevent tooth decay, to drinking water. That’s due to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the notorious vaccine skeptic whom Trump has said will play a big role in health care in his administration if he is elected. “On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy recently wrote on X. Adding fluoride to drinking water reduces rates of cavities by around 25%, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says. Some U.S. communities began doing so in the 1940s, and today about 72% of the U.S. population that receives water from public utilities drinks fluoridated water, according to the CDC.
Time Read more
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About Eden Health District | | |
The Eden Health District Board of Directors are Chair Pam Russo, Vice Chair Ed Hernandez, Secretary/Treasurer Roxann Lewis, Mariellen Faria and Surlene Grant. The Chief Executive Officer is Mark Friedman.
The Eden Health District is committed to ensuring that policy makers and community members receive accurate and timely information to help make the best policy and personal choices to meet and overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other health issues.
We welcome your feedback on our bulletin. Please contact editor Lisa Mahoney.
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