Media Coverage

Kids with High BP May Face Risk of Early Heart Disease Death as Adults

The study is the first to examine the impact of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in childhood on the long-term risk of heart-related death across a diverse group of children.
Systolic blood pressure, the top number in a blood pressure reading, is the force exerted in arteries while the heart is beating. Diastolic pressure is force between beats.
“We were surprised to find that high blood pressure in childhood was linked to serious health conditions many years later,” said lead author Alexa Freedman, PhD, an assistant professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Harmless’ virus found lurking in Parkinson’s patients’ brains, new study shows

Northwestern Medicine scientists discovered Human Pegivirus (HPgV) in the brains and spinal fluid of people with Parkinson’s, but not in those without the disease. The results challenge decades of assumptions about the virus.

“HPgV is a common, symptomless infection previously not known to frequently infect the brain,” Dr. Igor Koralnik, chief of neuroinfectious diseases at Northwestern, said in a press release.

5 warning signs of a heart attack, according to cardiologists

Heart attacks occur when blood flow to the heart stops or slows, often because a plaque rupture causes a blood clot that blocks a coronary artery, cardiologists say.
“When someone tells me their chest is aching, that elevates my concern,” said Clyde Yancy, MD chief of cardiology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Northwestern Medicine opens outpatient clinic in Bronzeville

Northwestern Medicine opened a new outpatient clinic in the Bronzeville neighborhood Wednesday.
The new clinic, 4822 S. Cottage Grove Ave., offers a range of specialties, including primary care, oncology and infusion services, pediatrics, cardiology, women’s health, dermatology and mental health services.
“Increasing access to world-class health care in Bronzeville will make a generational impact on the health and wellness of this community,” Dr. Kimbra Bell, medical director at the Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Outpatient Center, said in a statement.

‘Reborn Again’: Blind Bride-To-Be Thriving After Triple-Organ Transplant

Recently engaged to fiancé Christian, the Chicago native’s prospects looked bleak until a team of specialists at Northwestern Memorial Hospital embarked on the risky procedure.

Up until then, triple-organ transplants had only been performed 59 times in the United States, researchers said in background notes.
However, “from the day I met her in clinic, I knew we were going to pull out all the stops to do what we needed to do to get her feeling better,” Dr. Benjamin Bryner, a cardiac surgeon at Northwestern’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute in Chicago, said in a hospital news release.

Heart Failure Strikes Black Americans Almost 14 Years Earlier Than White Americans

Disparities in education and access to insurance mean that heart failure hits Black American adults nearly 14 years earlier than it does white Americans, new research shows.
Among Black patients, heart failure typically sets in at about 60 years of age, compared to 73.6 on average for white patients. Social and medical factors may collude to create such a gap, Huang said.

“Our study shows that social risk factors, including insurance status and area-level educational and economic opportunities, played a major role,” Xiaoning Huang said in a Northwestern news release. “These factors often limit people’s access to quality health care and shape people’s health long before they develop heart problems.”

C.D.C. Uncertainty Upends Covid Vaccine Access at CVS and Walgreens

CVS and Walgreens, the country’s two largest pharmacy chains, are for now clamping down on offering Covid vaccines in more than a dozen states, even to people who meet newly restricted criteria from the Food and Drug Administration.
On Thursday, Amy Thibault, a spokeswoman for CVS, said the vaccine was not available at pharmacies in 16 states, citing “the current regulatory environment” and emphasizing that the list could change.
On Friday, CVS issued an update: It could administer vaccines in 13 of the 16 states, and in the District of Columbia, to people who had obtained a prescription from a doctor or other medical provider. Requiring prescriptions for the shots is a total change in practice, said Dr. Marc Sala, a co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Covid-19 Center in Chicago.

F.D.A. Targets Mousse and Foam Sunscreens

The Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters this month to five companies that sell sunscreen mousses and foams. The agency wrote a message on X to “beware” of these novel products, stating they may not be effective. The F.D.A. allows companies to market sunscreens in a number of forms — including sticks, sprays, powders, oils, gels, ointments, even butters — but not foams or mousses, which have gone viral for their whipped-cream-like consistency.

“The F.D.A. has a very tight definition of what they allow to be marketed as sunscreens,” said Dr. Ahmad Amin, a dermatologist at Northwestern Medicine.