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US hospitals see rising complications in patients with takotsubo cardiomyopathy

A large US study found that takotsubo cardiomyopathy is associated with high in-hospital mortality and serious cardiovascular complications, with no improvements in outcomes over five years. Mortality is more than double in men compared to women, and risk factors include age, race, and hospital characteristics.

15 May 2025

Lower fitness before infection raises risk of long COVID, study finds

Adults who later developed long COVID had lower cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) before infection than those who did not. COVID-19 was not linked to accelerated or clinically significant declines in CRF, even among long COVID cases.

15 May 2025

HIV vaccine study marks breakthrough in targeting broad immune responses

A decades-long scientific challenge in HIV vaccine development has been finding a way to train the immune system to produce antibodies that can target many variants of the virus.

15 May 2025

Breakthrough bat organoid platform sheds light on behavior of zoonotic viruses

Did you know that more than 75% of new infectious diseases affecting humans originally come from animals? Bats, in particular, are natural hosts to some of the world's most dangerous viruses, including those responsible for COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), MERS-CoV, influenza A, and hantavirus outbreaks.

15 May 2025

Study links long COVID brain fog to inflammation and stress markers

A new study that is the first to compare inflammation and brain stress responses in long COVID-19 patients with individuals who have fully recovered shows that those with continued brain fog and other cognitive issues have a lower ability to adapt to stress and higher levels of inflammation in their brains.

15 May 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': GOP poised to cut billions in health benefits

After all-night markups, two key House committees approved GOP budget legislation that would cut hundreds of billions of dollars from federal health programs over the next decade, mostly from the Medicaid program for people with low incomes or disabilities.

15 May 2025

Study sheds light on public attitudes about transplant allocations

Becoming an organ donor has never been easier. Registration is available online when renewing a driver's license or, for iPhone users, through an app.

15 May 2025

Customized CRISPR gene editing therapy successfully treats infant with rare disease

In a historic medical breakthrough, a child diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder has been successfully treated with a customized CRISPR gene editing therapy by a team at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Penn Medicine.

15 May 2025

New WHO report reveals the deeper health impacts caused by COVID-19 pandemic

WHO published its World health statistics report 2025, revealing the deeper health impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on loss of lives, longevity and overall health and well-being.

15 May 2025

SLIRP protein identified as key regulator of immune responses

Even after the COVID-19 pandemic, various new infectious diseases continue to emerge, posing ongoing viral threats that demand robust and sustained immune defenses.

15 May 2025

How 196,000 Spanish participants are helping decode heart disease risk

The CORDELIA study combines data from 35 Spanish cohorts (n = 196,632) to investigate genetic, clinical, and lifestyle risk factors for ASCVD in Southern Europe. It aims to conduct the region’s most comprehensive genome-wide association study and develop tailored risk prediction tools.

14 May 2025

Reinfections lower long COVID risk but raise cumulative burden

A population-based study in Quebec found that healthcare workers faced a threefold higher risk of long COVID after a first infection compared to reinfections. However, the cumulative risk rose with each additional infection, especially among those with severe illness or early variants.

14 May 2025

The GOP’s trying again to cut Medicaid. It’s only gotten harder since 2017.

It has been nearly eight years since Sen. John McCain's middle-of-the-night thumbs-down vote torpedoed Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and make drastic cuts to Medicaid.

14 May 2025

Nasal vaccine boosters can trigger strong immune defenses in the respiratory tract, study finds

Most vaccines — and boosters — are injected directly into muscle tissue, usually in the upper arm, to kickstart the body's immune system in the fight against disease.

13 May 2025

Readers scrutinize federal cuts and medical debt

The recent KFF Health News article "Beyond Ivy League, RFK Jr.'s NIH Slashed Science Funding Across States That Backed Trump" (April 17) struck a nerve.

13 May 2025

What’s stopping restaurants from offering healthier kids’ meals?

Dutch researchers explored what motivates restaurants to offer healthier kids’ meals and what stands in the way. While willingness is high, perceived low demand, food waste, and operational barriers hold many back.

13 May 2025

More screen time, less happiness? New study links phones to poorer child and adolescent health

Smartphone use and symptoms of problematic smartphone use (PSU) have increased among children and adolescents between 2018 and 2024. The study links this trend to a decline in quality of life, particularly in girls and younger children, though causality remains unclear.

13 May 2025

CAR-T cell therapy linked to brain fog in cancer patients

After treatment with CAR-T cells - immune cells engineered to attack cancer - patients sometimes tell their doctors they feel like they have "brain fog," or forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating.

12 May 2025

New report reveals progress and persistent inequities among global nursing workforce

The global nursing workforce has grown from 27.9 million in 2018 to 29.8 million in 2023, but wide disparities in the availability of nurses remain across regions and countries, according to the State of the World's Nursing 2025 report, published by the World Health Organization (WHO), International Council of Nurses (ICN) and partners.

12 May 2025

Failure to adopt covid suppression strategy led to avoidable deaths in the UK

Early in the covid-19 pandemic, the failure of UK government advisers to follow World Health Organization (WHO) advice and emerging evidence from East Asia that suppression could bring the virus under control quickly led to avoidable UK deaths, argues an expert in The BMJ today.

12 May 2025