Covid Hit American Life Expectancy Worse Than Europe’s
Data show that even as some European countries had life expectancy predictions rise to prepandemic levels in 2021, the U.S. reported the third-largest decline among 29 countries surveyed. Also: ocular monkeypox cases, access to monkeypox vaccines, healthy living habits, and more.
USA Today:
As US Life Expectancy Drops, Europe Shows Signs Of Recovery Post-COVID
Researchers examined data from 29 countries around the world and found seven countries in Western Europe saw a significant increase in life expectancy in 2021, according to the study published Monday in Nature Human Behavior. Four of those countries – France, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden – returned to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, the U.S. reported the third-largest decline in life expectancy, following closely behind Bulgaria and Slovakia. (Rodriguez, 10/17)
In monkeypox updates —
CIDRAP:
CDC Notes Ocular Monkeypox Cases, Needlestick Infection
Four of the five patients with ocular monkeypox required hospitalization, and two were also HIV-positive, according to a study from CDC and state researchers. Four of the five patients were men. One patient experienced significant vision impairment, and the authors caution that ocular monkeypox infection could result in permanent vision loss. The patient with significant vision impairment has been hospitalized since August, and the prognosis for vision recovery is unknown. All patients received treatment with tecovirimat (Tpoxx); four also received topical trifluridine (Viroptic) treatment. (Soucheray, 10/17)
In other health and wellness news —
Fox News:
Healthy Living Habits Include Eating Dinner Earlier — It May Also Help Keep Weight Down
"Accumulating data suggest that eating earlier in the day is associated with lower body weight and improved weight loss success," senior author Frank A.J.L. Scheer, Ph.D., professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the medical chronobiology program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston told Fox News Digital. (McGorry, 10/17)
Chicago Tribune:
Study Uses Exercise To Fight Diabetes In South Asian Women
Like many moms, Asmita Patel has struggled to find time to exercise in recent years. Between working, taking care of her children, caring for relatives and shuttling her kids to activities, she didn’t work out much. That changed, however, last month when the Niles woman and her 13-year-old daughter joined a Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine clinical trial focused on getting South Asian women — who have high rates of diabetes and other ailments — to exercise more. (Schencker, 10/18)
KHN:
Don’t Drill Your Own Teeth! And Quashing Other Rotten Dental Advice On TikTok
Watch enough TikTok videos and you’re sure to see one extolling a special kind of do-it-yourself dentistry. Not about brushing and flossing, except maybe flossing with strands of your hair. These are videos on drilling into your teeth and cementing gems to them or filing your teeth to reshape them. People have been styling their teeth for centuries across the globe throughout North and South America, Africa, and Asia. But social media — particularly TikTok, where everything old and new is nip/tucked into short videos with trendy sounds and served up fresh to young eyes — has breathed life into trends like tooth gems. Celebrities such as Drake, Rihanna, and Bella Hadid wore them years ago. Now, some TikTok influencers are selling DIY gem kits. (Giles, 10/18)
