The introduction of AI and machine learning is transforming the healthcare landscape by offering data-driven, personalized tech solutions that can analyze complex datasets. Doctors can use AI to analyze genetic data, lifestyle choices and wearable metrics to identify health risks early, which enables a shift to proactive, preventive care that could help extend lifespans and improve one's overall quality of life.
Powerful weight-loss drugs are expanding use of U.S. healthcare as patients starting prescriptions are diagnosed with obesity-related conditions or take the drugs to become eligible for other services, health records and discussions with doctors show. An exclusive analysis of hundreds of thousands of electronic patient records by health data firm Truveta found slight, but measurable, increases in first-time diagnoses of sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes within 15 days of an initial prescription for a GLP-1 weight-loss drug between 2020 and 2024. In addition to obesity-related conditions, some patients are being prescribed the drugs to lose weight and become eligible for services, including organ transplants, fertility treatments or knee replacements, according to interviews with seven doctors and five other health experts.
The newly updated calculator estimates that 15 million American adults are at high risk for heart failure. Most of them are also at high risk for the heart attacks and strokes than can be caused by plaque-clogged arteries. But 4.3 million of those at high risk of heart failure appear unlikely to develop these other forms of heart and vascular disease, known as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or ASCVD.
Health care did not play a big role in the election that's sending President Trump back to the White House and giving Republicans control of Congress. That doesn't mean Congress will avoid the topic next year.
To encourage actionable change, the book includes discussion prompts alongside each narrative. These are designed to spark meaningful conversations, foster collaboration and nurture a supportive work environment for medical professionals.
One alternative to antibiotics is phage therapy, which harnesses viruses to attack bacterial cells. Conceived over a century ago, phage therapy fell to the wayside as antibiotics rose to prominence, but recently, the field has seen a resurgence.