Study Shows Regular Aspirin Doses Are Safe, Can Prevent Heart Problems

AP: Heart Study: Low- And Regular-Dose Aspirin Safe, Effective
An unusual study that had thousands of heart disease patients enroll themselves and track their health online as they took low- or regular-strength aspirin concludes that both doses seem equally safe and effective for preventing additional heart problems and strokes. But there’s a big caveat: People had such a strong preference for the lower dose that it’s unclear if the results can establish that the treatments are truly equivalent, some independent experts said. Half who were told to take the higher dose took the lower one instead or quit using aspirin altogether. (Marchione, 5/15)

The Washington Post: As Menopause Approaches, Some Women Suffer ‘Brain Fog’ And Memory Loss. What’s Causing These Problems? 
Pat Lea, 72, a longtime friend who lives in England, began forgetting words midsentence when she was 48, impairing her ability to speak in public and provoking countless embarrassing moments. Lea, then a housing benefits manager in a London borough, tried making light of it, then began writing her notes in advance, but things only became worse. “It seemed innocuous at first, but became more intense,” she says. (Cimons, 5/16)

NPR: Growing Power Outages Pose Grave Threat To People Who Need Medical Equipment To Live
At the same time that climate change has fueled a rise in severe events, the power grid is aging. By the 2000s, there were 10 times more major power outages reported each year compared with the 1980s and early 1990s, according to an analysis of data from 1984 to 2012 by the nonprofit news organization Climate Central. They were mostly driven by severe weather, though changes in data collection likely contributed as well. "We have climate change coming, which is going to throw at us more of these curve balls, more of these unexpected events that can impact the infrastructure," says Joan Casey, an environmental epidemiologist at Columbia University who has studied the health impact of power outages. (Huff, 5/15)

The Washington Post: There’s A Score To Quantify Childhood Trauma. Some Health Experts Want You To Know Yours
Even with a pandemic raging, Nadine Burke Harris, a pediatrician who is serving as the first state surgeon general of California, set a goal that had nothing to do with the coronavirus: training 20,000 medical professionals in her state in a kind of health assessment known as the ACEs score.  ACEs stands for adverse childhood experiences. A person’s score is typically a tally of how many of 10 such traumas — specific kinds of abuse, neglect or household challenges — they suffered before the age of 18. (Morgan, 5/15)

The Wall Street Journal: How To Wean Your Kids—And Yourself—Off Screens 
After more than a year of being glued to their devices, a lot of kids will have trouble easing up on the tech that brought them comfort and connection during the pandemic. In a recent survey of 325 parents conducted by market-research firm Ipsos, 22% reported that their children spend an average of 10 or more hours a week on entertainment-related screen time—far more time than many of the surveyed parents said they would like. It’s also hard for many adults to put down their devices, which is why I’m offering tips from experts on how families can do a digital reset together. (Jargon, 5/15)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘Our Hearts Beat In Unison’: Maryland Family Learns To Cope With Dementia
Flies swarmed around the trunk of Leah DuRant’s car, and she wondered what could have possibly stirred them up. Turns out, it was an ominous sign for what lied ahead. Three or four days earlier, DuRant had gone to Costco and, by her son John’s estimate, purchased $200 worth of meat products. But the shopping bags never made it inside her Braddock Heights home. (Swatek, 5/17)