Health

Increases in the use of telehealth during the coronavirus pandemic among people with private insurance has occurred mostly among those who are more affluent and those who live in metropolitan areas, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Researchers say the findings raise concerns that the pandemic may be worsening existing disparities in overall health...

Slow walkers are almost four times more likely to die from COVID-19, and have over twice the risk of contracting a severe version of the virus, according to a team of researchers from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre led by Professor Tom Yates at the University of Leicester. The...

Wealthier northeastern U.S. states and Western European countries tended to have significantly lower mortality rates during second-wave COVID-19 infections, new research from the University of Sydney and Tsinghua University has shown. However, the pattern was not as general as expected, with notable exceptions to this trend in Sweden and Germany. Researchers say mortality change could...

The coronavirus’ structure is an all-too-familiar image, with its densely packed surface receptors resembling a thorny crown. These spike-like proteins latch onto healthy cells and trigger the invasion of viral RNA. While the virus’ geometry and infection strategy is generally understood, little is known about its physical integrity. A new study by researchers in MIT’s...

COVID-19 has created new problems for pregnant women in the United States, a group that already faced the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world even before the pandemic. One of their biggest concerns is their baby contracting the disease, according to a Washington State University study published recently in the journal BMC Pregnancy and...

Financial strains like debt or unemployment are significant risk factors for becoming homeless, and even help to explain increased risk of homelessness associated with severe mental illness, reports a study in a supplement to the April issue of Medical Care. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. The findings “suggest that adding financial...

In the 1995 movie “Outbreak,” Dustin Hoffman’s character realizes, with appropriately dramatic horror, that an infectious virus is “airborne” because it’s found to be spreading through hospital vents. The issue of whether our real-life pandemic virus, SARS-CoV-2, is “airborne” is predictably more complex. The current body of evidence suggests that COVID-19 primarily spreads through respiratory...

Proof of immunization against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may soon be required in many parts of the globe. The authors discuss how immunization passports could work, what Canada needs to do, and potential barriers and limitations in a CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) commentary. “We expect that immunization passports may be imminently introduced for...

Richer countries were more likely to see rates of COVID-19 fall faster during the first wave of the pandemic, according to new research published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health. The study by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) professors Shahina Pardhan and Nick Drydakis examined economic indicators in 38 European countries, such as Gross Domestic Product...