Illustration of a man leaning over and grimacing from low back pain.
Aging, Pain Medicine

One in five US adults report persistent, chronic pain, study finds

Overall, the study found that the rate of chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain among adults is approximately 21% and 8%, respectively. Chronic pain is pain that is experienced on most days or every day in the past three months; and high-impact chronic pain s pain that limits life or work activities on most days or every day during the past three months.

Farm in Maine in Autumn. Woods with fall colors.
Health Costs, Health Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, Rural Health

‘Grotesque Catch-22’ – Sickest Rural Adults Are the Least Likely to Be Able to Pay for Healthcare

Research on cost barriers to health care found that rural adults were more likely than urban adults to report being unable to pay their medical bills or have problems paying their medical bills. Rural adults also were more likely to use medications in ways not prescribed (like taking pills every other day or only filling prescriptions every other month) to save money on medication.

Health News

Heat Advisory Issued this Weekend for Washington State

The National Weather Service is forecasting temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s for much of western Washington by Monday. Since many Washingtonians do not have air conditioning in their homes, cooling off can be a challenge, particularly for people with health conditions, the elderly, and infants.

Abortion, Doctors, Healthcare Providers, Women's Health

After Idaho’s Strict Abortion Ban, OB-GYNs Stage a Quick Exodus

Later this month, the hospital, founded in 1949 near the shores of Lake Pend Oreille, will stop providing services for expectant mothers, forcing patients across northern Idaho to travel at least an additional hour for care. In June, a second Idaho hospital, Valor Health, in the rural city of Emmett, will also halt labor and delivery services. Those decisions came within months of Idaho’s abortion ban, one of the nation’s strictest.

Sexually Transmitted Disease, Throat Cancer

Oral sex is now the leading risk factor for throat cancer

Over the past two decades, there has been a rapid increase in throat cancer in the west, to the extent that some have called it an epidemic. This has been due to a large rise in a specific type of throat cancer called oropharyngeal cancer (the area of the tonsils and back of the throat). The main cause of this cancer is the human papillomavirus (HPV), which are also the main cause of cancer of the cervix. Oropharyngeal cancer has now become more common than cervical cancer in the US and the UK. HPV is sexually transmitted. For oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor is the number of lifetime sexual partners, especially oral sex. Those with six or more lifetime oral-sex partners are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not practise oral sex.