Fentanyl deaths nearly quadrupled in five years; Plus, how a self-care expert takes care of herself, and more health news

Overdose deaths in the United States tied to the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl soared 279% from 2016 to 2021, health officials reported Wednesday.

With the nation reeling from continued drug overdose deaths, investigators sought to identify trends in drug-related fatalities involving the five most commonly involved opioids and stimulant drugs: fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and oxycodone.

In just five years, deaths involving fentanyl — the most frequently implicated substance — rose from 6 per 100,000 people to 22 per 100,000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of all the skin cancers, melanoma is the one that scares doctors and patients the most.

Luckily, there are now several options for treatment should you be diagnosed with this aggressive, sometimes deadly, cancer.

Melanoma affects over 1 million Americans, and its rates have risen significantly in the past 30 years, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).

Here, experts explore what melanoma is, along with its causes, risk factors and key symptoms. Plus, you’ll learn about melanoma’s stages, types and treatments.

Could an electronic chest “tattoo” — wireless, lightweight and razor-thin — upend heart monitoring and lower the odds of heart disease for folks who are at high-risk?

The clear patch in question is not quite 4 by 5 inches in size, weighs less than an ounce, and is powered by a battery no bigger than a penny.

And just like a temporary tattoo sticker, it’s designed to stretch over heart patient’s chest. Once in place, it can provide round-the-clock monitoring of two key heart functions: electrical activity and mechanical capacity.

Add airplane noise to the list of issues keeping people up at night, at least for those who live near U.S. airports.

Researchers found that exposure to airplane sounds — even at moderate levels — increased the odds of short sleep.

They reported that people exposed to airplane noise levels as low as 45 decibels (dB) tended to sleep fewer than seven hours a night.

Really, 45 dB isn’t that loud. A whisper is 30 dB, background noise in a library clocks in at 40 dB, and a standard conversation at home is 50 dB, the study pointed out.

Self-care means many things to many people. To Dr. Beth Frates, director of lifestyle medicine and wellness in the department of surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, it boils down to “caring for your body, mind and soul.”

And to do that, she might pick up a hula hoop. Or a dog.

Frates, who is president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, has written extensively about wellness and helped develop a self-test for evaluating it. She shared her self-care tips for “The Experts Say,” an American Heart Association News series where specialists explain how they apply what they’ve learned to their own lives.

Half of U.S. parents think social media is bad for their kids’ mental health, a new survey reveals.

The finding highlights growing concerns about how these platforms affect children’s and adolescents’ well-being, according to the On Our Sleeves Movement for Children’s Mental Health, which had the Harris Poll conduct the survey.

The program encourages parents to help their kids by talking regularly about how using social media makes their children feel.

While in the past year some platforms like TikTok have introduced new safety measures and lawmakers have talked about limiting access, that’s not enough, the researchers said.

The first vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in seniors aged 60 years and older. Arexvy is expected to help prevent lower respiratory tract infections caused by RSV, the agency said Wednesday.

Now that the vaccine is approved, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will weigh later this summer whether all seniors should get the shot or just those considered at high risk for severe infection.

The FDA gave its approval based on a clinical trial in which approximately 12,500 participants 60 years of age and older from around the world randomly got an Arexvy vaccine, while 12,500 others received a placebo shot. Results from a single RSV season showed that the vaccine was 82.6 percent effective in preventing RSV-induced lower respiratory tract infections and just over 94 percent effective in reducing the risk for a severe infection.

For the first time, doctors have successfully performed fetal brain surgery to treat a rare blood vessel abnormality that can be fatal to newborns.

Experts said the accomplishment, for a condition known as a vein of Galen malformation (VOGM), is “exciting.” But they also cautioned that this is one case, and more research is needed to know whether the prenatal brain procedure is a good strategy.

VOGM is rare, occurring in an estimated 1 in 60,000 births, and is often detected during routine ultrasounds late in pregnancy.

The key to a happier and longer marriage may be pooling your money.

Researchers found that couples with joint bank accounts had better relationships, fought less about money and felt better about how their household finances were handled.

“When we surveyed people of varying relationship lengths, those who had merged accounts reported higher levels of communality within their marriage compared to people with separate accounts, or even those who partially merged their finances,” said Jenny Olson, an assistant professor of marketing at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. “They frequently told us they felt more like they were ‘in this together.’”