Tag Archives: obesity

Bias or comorbidity? Risk factors for respiratory disease aren’t always what they seem

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Bias or comorbidityBy this point, anyone who’s been covering or following COVID-19 knows that several comorbidities substantially increase the risk of complications and severe disease. Among those mentioned most often are diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

We learned of the associations between those conditions and more severe disease first from clinical anecdotes, then case series, then observational studies. But observational studies can almost never show causation. (I don’t think they can ever, on their own, show causation, but I add the “almost” because nothing in science is ever absolute.) Although diabetes is linked to poorer outcomes with COVID-19, it doesn’t mean having diabetes causes poorer outcomes. Continue reading →

Tara Haelle (@TaraHaelle) is AHCJ's medical studies core topic leader, guiding journalists through the jargon-filled shorthand of science and research and enabling them to translate the evidence into accurate information.

Persistent threats to U.S. children’s health the focus of #AHCJ19 session

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Ali H. Mokdad

While measles may be the hot topic in the news at the moment for children’s health, it’s far from the only concern. Even as the historical success of vaccines has reduced child mortality and morbidity from infectious disease, chronic disease, assault and injuries have increasingly become killers of U.S. children.

These were among the issues Ali H. Mokdad, Ph.D., a professor of global health at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle, discussed during his session at Health Journalism 2019, “From measles to obesity: Key health trends affecting children and adolescents.” Continue reading →

Tara Haelle (@TaraHaelle) is AHCJ's medical studies core topic leader, guiding journalists through the jargon-filled shorthand of science and research and enabling them to translate the evidence into accurate information.

Roxane Gay’s ‘Hunger’ a worthy, perhaps necessary, read for medical journalists

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Content note: This blog post mentions sexual assault.

I read (and write) nonfiction all day long, so most of my me-time pleasure reading is limited to fiction. I recently made an exception on a friend’s recommendation and listened to the audiobook of Roxane Gay’s “Hunger,” as read by the author (which was important and relevant given its content).

It was not an easy book to listen to, but I’m so glad that I did — both personally and for my work as a journalist. I think it’s a book every health journalist ought to consider reading if they are able. (My reason for saying “if they are able” will become apparent shortly.) Continue reading →

Tara Haelle (@TaraHaelle) is AHCJ's medical studies core topic leader, guiding journalists through the jargon-filled shorthand of science and research and enabling them to translate the evidence into accurate information.

Young women falling short of exercise recommendations

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Photo: Peter Dutton via Flickr

Many young women in recent weeks have walked across a stage in cap and gown to accept their hard-earned high school diplomas. But recent research says the transition into adulthood comes with quickly forgetting lessons from their physical education classes.

Recent data analysis of findings from a long-running health study finds that women in their late teens and 20s are less physically active than their male counterparts, failing to meet minimum recommendations for exercise. Continue reading →

Based in Washington, D.C., Chew covers health care policy for a variety of media outlets. She has been published in Stat News, Politico, Provider Magazine, Modern Healthcare and BloombergBNA.

Voters around the country OK soda taxes to tackle obesity

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Photo: Andy.Schultz Soda via photopin (license)

Photo: Andy.Schultz Soda via photopin (license)

Soda taxes, it seems, are gaining some pop.

Voters in several U.S. cities in California and Colorado overwhelmingly approved additional pennies-on-the-ounce taxes in the Nov. 8 election in a move to help combat the nation’s ongoing obesity crisis and generate health funding. The Chicago area also narrowly passed soda taxes in a separate vote. Continue reading →

Susan Heavey, (@susanheavey) a Washington, D.C.-based journalist, is AHCJ’s topic leader on social determinants of health and curates related material at healthjournalism.org. She welcomes questions and suggestions on resources and tip sheets at determinants@healthjournalism.org.