Tag: Fox News

COVID-19 pandemic causes ‘broken heart’ syndrome cases to surge: researchers

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.foxnews.com/health/broken-heart-cases-surge-covid-pandemic-especially-women-researchers?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Excerpt:

Research has reportedly identified a spike in cases of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or “broken heart syndrome,” over the course of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Experts said the potentially fatal stress-induced heart condition is disproportionately affecting women.

“I don’t know how much we can really blame COVID, or how much of this is that we’re just recognizing more of it,” Dr. Noel Bairey Merz, director of the Barbra Streisand Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, told “Good Morning America” on Monday. “But, heart disease is the leading killer of women and all ages, including teenagers, midlife women and older women. This is just a component of that major killer. So, it’s really something that needs to be addressed.”

Merz said one in five of those who suffer from the heart-brain disorder will have another attack within a decade.

In an October news release, Cedars-Sinai shared Smidt Heart Institute research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, which suggests that middle-aged and older women are being diagnosed up to 10 times more often than younger women or men of any age.

The study suggested that the condition has become more common, with incidences rising since well before coronavirus swept the globe. 

Author(s): Julia Musto

Publication Date: 8 Feb 2022

Publication Site: Fox News

US suicides dropped amid coronavirus, defying pandemic expectations

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.foxnews.com/health/us-suicides-dropped-amid-coronavirus-defying-pandemic-expectations

Excerpt:

The number of U.S. suicides fell nearly 6% last year amid the coronavirus pandemic — the largest annual decline in at least four decades, according to preliminary government data.

Death certificates are still coming in and the count could rise. But officials expect a substantial decline will endure, despite worries that COVID-19 could lead to more suicides.

….

U.S. suicides steadily rose from the early 2000s until 2018, when the national suicide rate hit its highest level since 1941. The rate finally fell slightly in 2019. Experts credited increased mental health screenings and other suicide prevention efforts.

The number fell further last year, to below 45,000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a recent report. It was the lowest number of U.S. suicide deaths since 2015.

Author(s): Associated Press

Publication Date: 9 April 2021

Publication Site: Fox News

What happened to coronavirus, flu ‘twin-demic’? Experts weigh in

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.foxnews.com/health/how-flu-remained-low-amid-coronavirus-experts

Excerpt:

With coronavirus cases soaring in late summer, experts warned about the potential for a so-called “twin-demic,” which they said would’ve seen hospital systems overwhelmed by both COVID-19 and the influx of flu patients, but the surge never came. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is reporting that flu activity in the U.S. “remains lower than usual for this time of year,” which is typically the peak of illnesses.

Since Oct. 1, 2020, or the start of flu season, there have been 165-laboratory confirmed flu-related hospitalizations in the U.S. According to the CDC, not only is this below average for this point in the season, it’s the lowest rate seen since data collection began in 2005.

So why did the influenza virus take a backseat to coronavirus? Experts say it’s a mix of factors, but mitigation measures put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19 likely played a big part.

Author(s): Alexandria Hein

Publication Date: 19 February 2021

Publication Site: Fox News