Pollution Kills More People Than AIDS, Tuberculosis And Malaria Combined

A recent study has found just how dangerous pollution is to the world's health. In other public health news: high blood pressure, obesity and cholesterol, tobacco, adult-onset ADHD, broken hearts and concussions.

The Associated Press: Study Finds Pollution Is Deadlier Than War, Disaster, Hunger

Environmental pollution — from filthy air to contaminated water — is killing more people every year than all war and violence in the world. More than smoking, hunger or natural disasters. More than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. One out of every six premature deaths in the world in 2015 — about 9 million — could be attributed to disease from toxic exposure, according to a major study released Thursday in the Lancet medical journal. The financial cost from pollution-related death, sickness and welfare is equally massive, the report says, costing some $4.6 trillion in annual losses — or about 6.2 percent of the global economy. (Daigle, 10/20)

The New York Times: Women Are More Likely To Address High Blood Pressure

Hypertension is dangerous. High blood pressure damages the inner lining of the arteries, limits the ability of the heart to pump blood and strains the organ in a way that can lead to heart failure. The condition increases the risk for stroke and vascular dementia, and hypertension is one of the most common causes of kidney failure. It impairs vision by damaging the blood vessels in the eyes. (Bakalar, 10/19)

Los Angeles Times: Scientists Engineer Proteins That Caused Obese Animals To Lose Weight And Lower Cholesterol

As the U.S. obesity rate has galloped toward 40%, doctors, drug designers and dispirited dieters have all wondered the same thing: What if a pill could deliver the benefits of weight-loss surgery, but without the knife? New research brings that hope a notch closer. Scientists from the biotechnology company Amgen Inc. report they have identified and improved upon a naturally occurring protein that brought about significant changes in obese mice and monkeys, including weight loss and rapid improvements on measures of metabolic and heart health. (Healy, 10/19)

Bloomberg: 8 Million Tobacco Deaths Could Be Avoided By Slashing Nicotine

Reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels could prevent as many as 8 million tobacco-related deaths and keep 30 million people from becoming regular smokers this century, according to new estimates from the Food and Drug Administration. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb revealed the initial estimates on Thursday during a tobacco discussion at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. (Edney and Kaplan, 10/19)

The New York Times: New Study Casts Doubt On Diagnosis Of Adult-Onset A.D.H.D.

In just the past few years, researchers have identified what they believe is an adult version of attention deficit disorder: a restless inability to concentrate that develops spontaneously after high school, years after the syndrome typically shows itself, and without any early signs. The proposed diagnosis — called adult-onset A.D.H.D. and potentially applicable to millions of people in their late teens or older — is distinct from the usual adult variety, in which symptoms linger from childhood. (Carey, 10/20)

The Washington Post: A Woman's Dog Died, And Doctors Say Her Heart Literally Broke

Joanie Simpson woke early one morning with a terrible backache. Her chest started hurting when she turned over. Within 20 minutes, she was at a local emergency room. Soon she was being airlifted to a hospital in Houston, where physicians were preparing to receive a patient exhibiting the classic signs of a heart attack. But tests at Memorial Hermann Heart & Vascular Institute -Texas Medical Center revealed something very different. Doctors instead diagnosed Simpson with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a condition with symptoms that mimic heart attacks. It usually occurs following an emotional event such as the loss of a spouse or child. That link has given the illness its more colloquial name: broken-heart syndrome. (Brulliard, 10/19)

The Washington Post: State Laws Have Reduced Concussion Risks In High School Kids, Study Finds

A lot has changed in the past 10 years when it comes to sports concussions. As evidence has grown of the devastating effects of traumatic brain injuries, athletes and parents have become increasingly alarmed and demanded preventive steps. Some of the most tangible results of that concern are new laws passed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia that try in some form to address head injuries among young athletes. (Wan, 10/19)

Columbus Dispatch: New Laws Appear To Be Helping To Reduce Concussion Rates In High School Athletes

A study of more than 8,000 concussions sustained by U.S. high-school athletes indicates that traumatic brain injury laws aimed at protecting children in the aftermath of such injuries are having their intended effect. In the 11-year study of nine sports, researchers found that the rate of repeat concussions significantly declined beginning a little more than 2 1/2 years after the laws went into effect, said senior author Ginger Yang, a principal investigator in the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. (Viviano, 10/19)

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription