Study Shows Late-Stage Colon Cancer Found In More Younger Adults

USA Today: Colon Cancer Found In More Younger Adults. 'Get Screened,' Doctor Says
A growing number of young adults are being diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer, according to a new peer-reviewed study. Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine examined data from 100,000 people with adenocarcinoma, an aggressive form of cancer that's more likely to be caught in later stages. Some of the reasons for a rise in young adults could be linked to obesity, diet and environmental factors, according to the study. The study revealed that young patients ages 20 to 29 have seen the highest spike in rates of diagnosed colon cancer cases. That age group is also more likely to have a distant, less treatable form of cancer when officially diagnosed. (Gleeson, 1/27)

In other public health news —

Bloomberg: Blood Shortage 2022: US Hospitals Plead For Donations After Dropping In Pandemic
U.S. hospitals face a critical shortage of blood supplies, adding to the pressure on the health-care system already strained by surging Covid-19 cases. Ongoing blood shortages “could significantly jeopardize the ability of health care providers” to care for patients, the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association said in a joint statement Thursday. “The need for blood has increased while staffing shortages and high rates of Covid-19 in communities have diminished donations,” the groups said. They said people shouldn’t be discouraged from donating if they can’t get appointments right away because the need is ongoing. (Muller, 1/27)

CNN: Vitamin D And Fish Oil Supplements May Help Prevent Autoimmune Disease, Study Says 
Taking daily vitamin D and fish oil supplements may help protect older adults from developing autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, thyroid diseases and polymyalgia rheumatica, an inflammatory disease that causes muscle pain and stiffness in the shoulders and hips, a new study found. People age 50 and older taking 2,000 IU (International Units) of vitamin D3 for over five years had a 22% lower relative rate of confirmed autoimmune diagnoses, said study author Dr. Karen Costenbader, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in the division of Rheumatology, Inflammation and Immunity and the director of the lupus program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. (LaMotte, 1/27)

Fox News: Men Concerned About Fertility Should Limit Cell Phone Use To Protect Sperm Quality, Study Says
Men may want to limit their cell phone use if they are concerned about fertility, according to a recent metanalysis published this past November in Environmental Research, which found the radiofrequency electromagnetic waves (RF-EMWs) emitted by cell phones decrease sperm quality by reducing their motility, viability, and concentration. ​​"Male cell-phone users should strive to reduce mobile phone use to protect their sperm quality," said Yun Hak Kim, lead researcher and an assistant professor at Pusan National University. (Sudhakar, 1/27)

The Atlantic: Can Medieval Sleeping Habits Fix America’s Insomnia?
One day, I was researching my nocturnal issues when I discovered a cottage industry of writers and sleep hackers who claim that sleep is a nightmare because of the industrial revolution, of all things. Essays in The Guardian, CNN, The New York Times, and The New York Times Magazine recommended an old fix for restlessness called “segmented sleep.” In premodern Europe, and perhaps centuries earlier, people routinely went to sleep around nightfall and woke up around midnight—only to go back to sleep a few hours later, until morning. They slept sort of like I do, but they were Zen about it. Then, the hackers claim, modernity came along and ruined everything by pressuring everybody to sleep in one big chunk. (Thompson, 1/27)

In abortion news —

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Study On Irregular Periods Opens Discussions Around Abortion Access
A new research paper on menstrual irregularity shows more than one in five women have highly irregular cycles that are linked to certain common health conditions and even the person's race, a finding that poses major implications for people living in states that are trying to ban abortions at six weeks or earlier. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the National Institutes of Health published their study late last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, in which they analyzed a total of 1.6 million menstrual cycles, using anonymized data self-reported through a smartphone app by 267,000 people. They found 22% of the people in their study had menstrual cycles that vary by a week or more, a finding that is consistent with other research on the topic, said Jenna Nobles, a UW-Madison demographer who led the study. Nearly all the study's subjects identified as women, she said. (Shastri, 1/27)

The Washington Post: How Hard Is It To Get A Court-Approved Abortion? For One Teen, It Came Down To GPA
When a 17-year-old identified as “Jane Doe” applied to get a court-approved abortion in Florida earlier this month, she laid out her reasons: She was not financially stable and wanted to be able to live on her own before having a child, she said, according to court documents. She hoped to join the military, then go on to college and become a nurse. She told a judge how she planned to get the procedure: Her boyfriend would drive her to the clinic, she said, and his mom would help pay for the abortion. (Branigin, 1/27)