Media Coverage
The work done by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine faculty members (and even some students) is regularly highlighted in newspapers, online media outlets and more. Below you’ll find links to articles and videos of Feinberg in the news.
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WebMD
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Heart Failure Risk: Where You Live, What You Look Like, and Where You Come From
Heart failure hits Black and Hispanic communities hardest. It’s clear now that social factors play a huge role – and that they can also be part of the solution. “The things that influence people’s lives outside of the clinic matter just as much as, if not more than, the medications and procedures in the doctor’s office,” says Nilay S. Shah, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Many different social factors help explain the higher risk of HF in Black and Hispanic communities. These include low income, low health literacy, cultural beliefs, the fact that doctors look different from them, long working hours, unhealthy foods and unsafe neighborhoods. All adults could benefit from changes to their own lifestyles, like a better diet and more exercise, Shah says. But broad-sweeping improvements in education, income, access to health care and our neighborhoods are also needed.
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NBC 5 Chicago
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What is Long COVID and What Are the Symptoms? Here’s What to Know
For some who contract COVID, symptoms can last for quite some time as part of a condition known as “long COVID.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID symptoms typically appear anywhere from two to 14 days after someone is exposed to the virus. The CDC says most people with COVID-19 “get better within a few days to a few weeks after infection.” COVID “long-haulers,” are defined as individuals who have had COVID symptoms for six or more weeks, Northwestern Medicine has said. A study from Northwestern Medicine last year showed that many so-called COVID “long-haulers” continue to experience symptoms like brain fog, tingling, headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, tinnitus and fatigue an average of 15 months after the onset of the virus.
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WTTW
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Explaining What Exactly Hospice Care Means After Former President Jimmy Carter’s Announcement
Former President Jimmy Carter has opted for hospice care in his home in Plains, Georgia. WTTW News spoke to Joshua Hauser, MD, an associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Hauser explained “Hospice care is focused on comfort and quality of life and support for families usually within the last six months or near the end of life. It’s often not focused on more sort of illness modifying or disease modifying therapies. So it’s really a pure focus on comfort, quality of life and support for families.” He further explains when people should start talking about hospice care, “I think the first issue is that there’s a serious disease that someone has – they have an advanced cancer, they’ve advanced heart disease, they have advanced pulmonary disease or lung disease. And the second issue is that things might be getting worse despite the therapies for those diseases. So I think that can be a time people might start talking about a more comfort oriented approach.”
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ABC 7 Chicago
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Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews reveals battle with long COVID will keep him off ice
Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews has revealed that he is fighting symptoms of long COVID. The Blackhawks announced over the weekend he is going to be out indefinitely while he deals with the effects of long COVID. Researchers say Toews is not unusual. Doctors at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine say there are some 30 million people suffering from long COVID symptoms on some level. It is the third most frequent neurological illness in the U.S. “Some people tend to improve in a seesaw pattern,” said Dr. Igor Koralnik at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Some stay flat and unfortunately some get worse over time.” Toews missed the entire 2021 season due to chronic immune response syndrome. Doctors say they have studied patients with long COVID and most – about eight out of ten – are young, healthy and never had severe symptoms initially. “There are some people who feel they are 10-20% recovered after more than two and a half years,” Dr. Koralnik said.
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Chicago Tribune
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Frankfort man saw a Facebook post about a stranger needing a liver. He donated 60% of his.
A Frankfort man donated 60% of his liver to a random man. Daniela Ladner, MD, MPH, a transplantation surgeon at Northwestern who assisted with this man’s surgery, said many people are unaware of the option to become a living donor, or the need for donors. Ladner is a professor of organ transplantation and medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “People don’t know that you can’t live without a liver, so somebody whose liver completely fails will ultimately die,” Ladner said.
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New York Times
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Every Woman Can Benefit From This Pelvic Floor Workout
The pelvic floor muslces may be the most important muscles you never target with a workout. Like a trampoline that sits at the base of your pelvis, these muscles not only contribute to overall core strength, they also hold multiple organs in place – including the bladder ,bowel and for some, the vagina and uterus – ensuring they work properly. Nearly one in three American women suffers from a pelvic floor disorder, most commonly in the form of urinary incontinence, bowel incontinence, pelvic pain, pelvic organ prolapse or some combination of the above. Many pelvic issues can be prevented or mitigated by regularly stretching and strengthening these muscles – and understanding how they function. Most of us could benefit from a “personal trainer for our pelvic floor,” said Lauren Streicher, MD, clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
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CBS News
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Irregular sleep may be harmful to your heart, study finds
When you don’t get enough good sleep, the short-term consequences are noticeable — maybe you’re distracted at work or snappy with loved ones. But in the background, irregular and poor-quality sleeping patterns could increase your risk for developing cardiovascular disease, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “People with less sleep or irregular patterns do tend to have less healthy patterns in other lifestyles (like diet and physical activity),” Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said. “Sleep is critical for the heart to be able to rest, as that is when heart rate slows and blood pressure normally dips,” he added. “Without that regular rest, the heart and vascular system are stressed over time.”
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The Washington Post
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Depression risk rises after a stroke. What that means for John Fetterman.
Sen. John Fetterman’s hospitalization for depression is most likely to be short and successful, more a reset during a difficult period than a life-altering, career-threatening event, according to mental health authorities, other stroke survivors, academic research and people on Capitol Hill. “The hospitalization doesn’t necessarily say anything about his future status,” said Will Cronenwett, MD, chief of general psychiatry and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Hospitalization is often the thing to do to recover quickly. A hospitalization, rather than ending anyone’s career, enables them to regain lost function.”
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WebMD
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How to Keep a Bladder Diary
Overactive bladder (OAB) is an umbrella term for several urinary symptoms. The most common symptom is a sudden urge to urinate that you can’t control. Other symptoms include leaking urine, frequent urination and waking up at night to urinate. OAB is a common condition, affecting as many as 40% of women and 30% of men in the United States. It can be managed with lifestyle changes, prescription medications, botulinum toxin (Botox) treatments, nerve stimulation, and, in severe cases, surgery. “If you think something might be going on, keeping a bladder diary could be really helpful just to see how often you’re really going to the bathroom and when you leak urine,” says Margaret Mueller, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology. That said, Mueller notes that women in particular tend to think that they urinate too frequently because “their bladder is interfering with their being able to do 100 million things in a day.” In reality, she says they’re often within the range of normal. A bladder diary can show this and give you reassurance.
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Fox News
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As emergency rooms see more of America’s mentally ill kids, new study pinpoints issues
A growing number of desperate parents are bringing their mentally ill kids to emergency rooms, even as most hospitals’ ERs are not equipped to help beyond addressing immediate safety concerns. The lead author of the study, Dr. Jennifer Hoffmann, assistant professor of pediatrics in emergency medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and attending emergency physician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. “Only so much can be accomplished during a single ER visit.” She added, “the main purpose is to determine the level of mental health care that a child needs, whether it’s an inpatient psychiatric admission or outpatient services, and to connect the child with ongoing care.” Low follow-up rates after an ER visit are an indicator of a broken mental health system for children, Hoffmann believes. The COVID pandemic triggered a widely recognized mental health crisis.
