EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 16-Dec-2025 10:11 ET (16-Dec-2025 15:11 GMT/UTC)

Study finds link between hypertension and breastfeeding outcomes

Yale University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New Haven, Conn. — Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP) — like chronic or gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia — are among the leading causes of maternal and infant death in the United States.

Between 2017 to 2019, 16% of all U.S. pregnancies were complicated by an HDP diagnosis, with much higher rates seen among non-Hispanic Black/African Americanand American Indian/Alaskan Native women. But HDPs don’t just affect women in the short term; these disorders can increase their long-term risk for heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke.

But there could be an opportunity to mitigate these longer-term health risks through breastfeeding, Yale researchers have found. In a new study, they discovered that an HDP diagnosis before or during pregnancy related to higher odds of never breastfeeding, or for those who initiated breastfeeding, higher probability of stopping. The findings suggest women with HDPs may benefit from targeted interventions that promote their exposure to the cardioprotective benefits of breastfeeding.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Inhaled agricultural dust disrupts gut health

University of California - Riverside
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Inhaling agricultural dust may pose significant risks to gut health for workers in animal agriculture, a University of California, Riverside, study has found.

Journal: Journal of Applied Toxicology
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

Heart-healthy habits also prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, COPD, other diseases, Emory study finds

Emory Health Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research from Emory University reveals that even seemingly small lifestyle improvements decreased one’s risk of developing heart disease, and these decreases also translate to lower risk of subsequent conditions, such as cancer, dementia, type 2 diabetes, and eye, liver, and kidney diseases. The study also links heart health to vision, hearing, and dental health. The study analyzed more than 450 peer-reviewed studies, assessing the overall impact of implementing the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7™ metrics, a series of preventative measures, which include: not smoking, healthy eating, regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, and managing blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. Even a 1-point improvement on Life’s Simple 7™ scale, which ranges from 0-14 points, translates to critical health gains for the heart and other organs.

Journal: Journal of the American Heart Association
Funder: American Heart Association, NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

One-third of U.S. public schools screen students for mental health issues

RAND Corporation
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Increased attention has been focused on the mental health of American children following the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey of public school principals finds that nearly one-third of the nation’s K-12 U.S. public schools mandate mental health screening for students, with most offering in-person treatment or referral to a community mental health professional if a student is identified as having depression or anxiety.

Journal: JAMA Network Open
Funder: NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Trends in physician exit from fee-for-service Medicare

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: Over time, physician exit from traditional Medicare has increased. This result is consistent with earlier findings, but exits remained high even after the pandemic, which likely accelerated some physicians’ exit. The findings may reflect multiple factors, including the greater burden of new communication methods (e.g., portal messages) and demands for clinical documentation.

Journal: JAMA Health Forum

rcssci: Simplifying complex data relationships with enhanced visual clarity

FAR Publishing Limited
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The R package rcssci offers an intuitive solution for visualizing Restricted Cubic Splines (RCS) in regression analyses. It automates the generation of spline plots for outcomes like odds ratios (OR), hazard ratios (HR), and risk ratios (RR), facilitating the identification of non-linear relationships in data. Supporting Cox, Logistic, linear, and quasi-Poisson models, rcssci aids researchers in interpreting complex data relationships before delving into advanced machine learning techniques.

Funder: Noncommunicable Chronic Diseases-National Science and Technology Major Project of China, Noncommunicable Chronic Diseases-National Science and Technology Major Project of China, The Climbing Plan of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong special funds for science and technology innovation strategy, China (Stability support for scientific research institutions affiliated to Guangdong Province-GDCI 2024)

First global-to-local study reveals stark health inequalities from COVID-19 in 2020–2021

FAR Publishing Limited
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A first-of-its-kind global-to-local study has found that COVID-19’s impact varied remarkably across 920 locations worldwide, even within the same country. By analyzing data on cases, deaths, and healthy years lost between 2020 and 2021, the researchers revealed that broad national or regional averages may mask substantial local disparities. The study calls for more detailed, location-specific data to guide better public health decisions in future pandemics.

Funder: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation