#epidemiology

#epidemiology

Jonathan Caulkins reported that 2022 marked the year daily, or near-daily (i.e., at least 20 days each month), cannabis users outnumbered daily, or near-daily, alcohol users for the first time. While the total number of Americans consuming alcohol is still greater than those using cannabis, heavy users of each tells a different story. An estimated 17.7 million Americans use cannabis every day, or nearly every day,

Yeah, definitely. So in general lung cancer is the number-one cancer [killing]people in the U.S., both men and women. If you look at the American Cancer Society, around 226 new226,000 new cases of lung cancer are projected to be diagnosed in 2025. Of those about 50 percent are cancer-related deaths, meaning [roughly] 120,000 people die every year from lung cancer. Now, what'sthe good news is that the incidence has actually been decreasing in the last few years.

Contrary to overall cancer trends, there's been an increase in certain cancer diagnoses in people under 50. From 2010 through 2019, the incidence of 14 cancer types increased among people in this demographic. The big question is, why? Does it have to do with lifestyle choices? Are there environmental factors at play? What can be done to mitigate risk? Welcome to "Harvard Thinking," a podcast where the life of the mind meets everyday life.

The increase is real and global, rising from approximately 94,700 cases in 1990 to 225,736 in 2019. A study across Europe found that for those aged 20-29, incidence rose 7.9% per year between 2004 and 2016, with the rates increasing by 4.9% in those aged 3039, and 1.6% in the 40-49 group in roughly the same period. Not only is colon cancer increasing in every age cohort under 50, the growth rate is highest in the youngest group.

People with a psychiatric disorder are more likely to marry someone who has the same condition than to partner with someone who doesn't, according to a massive study suggesting that the pattern persists across cultures and generations. Researchers had previously noted this trend in Nordic countries, but the phenomenon has seldom been investigated outside Europe. The latest study, published in Nature Human Behaviour today, used data from more than 14.8 million people in Taiwan, Denmark and Sweden.

Exposure to certain forms of air pollution is linked to an increased risk of developing dementia, with the number of cases expected to rise significantly by 2050.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus rapidly spread through poultry and caused significant poultry culls, human infections, and a noticeable impact on grocery availability.

Psychosis is not a diagnosis, it is best understood as a final common pathway of multiple conditions. What unites these causes is their impact on the brain's ability to interpret reality.

Pathogens have been a constant threat to human health throughout our evolutionary history. Infectious diseases are estimated to have been responsible for more than half of all children deaths before age 15.

"German measles, known as rubella, devastated families in the U.S. during its epidemic from 1962 to 1965, sickening about 12.5 million and ending 11,000 pregnancies."

The recent outbreak of bird flu has decimated the southern elephant seal population in Argentina, raising alarms for the vulnerable northern elephant seals along the Pacific Coast.

I think I'm only now realizing how difficult it was five years on, and the responsibility and the pressure.

Some studies suggest limited alcohol consumption, like occasional champagne, may have health benefits, sparking debate over its true impact on health.

A Devastating Error. In answer to that question, Zimmer reminds us of a now-infamous tweet the World Health Organization sent out on March 28, 2020... "FACT: #COVID19 is NOT airborne." This misinformation perpetuated misunderstanding about transmission.

When I was first starting out as a new research fellow in the field of mineral metabolism, I read many seminal papers that were published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, which is the leading journal of the American Society of Investigation.