Two natural experiments in Canada suggest that herpes zoster (shingles or varicella zoster) vaccination averts or delays dementia diagnoses. [University of Minnesota-CIDRAP]

The analysis, published in The Lancet Neurology, was led by Stanford University researchers. The team estimated the effect of live attenuated shingles vaccination on new-onset dementia in 232,124 Canadians aged 70 years and older based on a natural experiment in Ontario. The researchers then triangulated the findings with a second natural experiment in Ontario and a quasi-experimental approach that used data from multiple provinces.

A quasi-randomized rollout of shingles vaccine took place in Canada in 2016. In Ontario, residents who turned 71 in or after January 2017 were eligible for free vaccination, while those who turned 71 before that month were ineligible.

“The date-of-birth eligibility thresholds of Ontario's herpes zoster vaccination programme created three comparison groups: ineligible because they were born before Jan 1, 1945; eligible for only 3.5 months because they were born in 1945; and eligible for at least 1 year and 3.5 months because they were born between Jan 1, 1946, and Sept 15, 1951 (ie, aged 65–70 years on Sept 15, 2016),” the study authors wrote. 

Role of microbes in dementia 

Participants were born in Canada from January 1930 to December 1960 and registered with one of 1,434 primary care providers in the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network as of September 2016. 

Dementia diagnoses were counted using electronic health records from January 1990 to June 2022, and Ontario residents aged 65 years and older were surveyed to estimate shingles vaccine coverage.

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Annual heart disease deaths fell 2.7% from 2022 to 2023, the report found.

Fewer people are dying from heart disease, but the condition is still the leading cause of death in the U.S., a new report from the American Heart Association (AHA) finds. [ABC News] 

Although death rates from heart disease have dropped for the first time in the past five years, it still kills more Americans than any other condition, according to the report, published early Wednesday in the journal Circulation. 

Annual heart disease deaths decreased by 2.7% between 2022 and 2023 -- from 941,652 to 915,973, according to the report. However, cardiovascular disease still killed more people in the U.S. than cancer and accidents combined. 

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Organ donations from the recently deceased dropped last year for the first time in over a decade, resulting in fewer kidney transplants, according to an analysis issued Wednesday that pointed to signs of public mistrust in the lifesaving system. [AP -ref.. Kidney Transplant Collaborative]  

More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are on the list for an organ transplant. The vast majority of them need a kidney, and thousands die waiting every year.

The nonprofit Kidney Transplant Collaborative analyzed federal data and found 116 fewer kidney transplants were performed last year than in 2024. That small difference is a red flag because the analysis traced the decline to some rare but scary reports of patients prepared for organ retrieval despite showing signs of life.

Those planned retrievals were stopped and the U.S. is developing additional safeguards for the transplant system, which saves tens of thousands of lives each year. But it shook public confidence, prompting some people to remove their names from donor lists.

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Only about 17% of hospitals met standards for high pediatric readiness in a 2024 national study of almost 5,000 emergency departments, Axios reported. In related news, the United States is on the cusp of losing its measles elimination status.  [KFF Health News] 

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 

Researchers combined soil measurements and public health data to identify area where children may be exposed to unsafe levels of lead in the dirt.

by Rebecca Owen15 October 2025 (published- EOS)

LINK: Chicago Soil Maps Childhood Lead Exposure Risk – Eos

Lead is a neurotoxin that can damage multiple body systems and lead to learning and developmental problems. The element has been phased out of use in paint, gasoline, and other industrial applications for decades, but it can persist for years in the soil. Children, who can be particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning, can accidentally ingest and inhale lead particles when they play in contaminated areas.

Even though one in four U.S. homes likely has soil lead levels over the recommended safety limits, no major U.S. city includes systematic soil monitoring as part of its lead prevention services, and blood testing often happens only after exposure.

…“…analyzed 1,750 soil samples from Chicago’s 77 community areas. The researchers then used these data with the EPA’s Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic model (IEUBK) to estimate how much lead children are likely to have in their blood. Comparing these data to actual EBLL findings from the Chicago Department of Public Health and accounting for factors such as household income, the age of housing, and the housing’s proximity to industrial land, the researchers built a comprehensive map that identifies the Chicago communities most at risk for soil lead exposure.

More than half of the citywide soil samples showed lead levels above the EPA’s recommended threshold of 200 parts per million—with some hot spots rising above 300 parts per million. When matched with the modeling from IEUBK, an estimated 27% of children across the city are at risk of EBLL. In the hot spot areas, that risk rises to 57%.

These findings suggest that though median household income is the strongest predictor of EBLL prevalence, soil lead levels are also a significant predictor. Systematic soil testing could become a crucial way to reduce children’s risk of lead exposure in contaminated areas, the authors say. (GeoHealth, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GH001572, 2025)

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If you feel a lift after exercise, you're in good company. Movement can boost mood, and according to the results of a new study, it can also help relieve symptoms of depression. [NPR & WBEZ]

As part of a review of evidence by the Cochrane collaboration — an independent network of researchers — scientists evaluated 73 randomized controlled trials that included about 5,000 people with depression, many of whom also tried antidepressant medication.

Exercise is more important than ever

"We found that exercise was as effective as pharmacological treatments or psychological therapies as well," says Andrew Clegg, a professor at the University of Lancashire in the U.K.

The findings are not a surprise to psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Mateka, medical director of psychiatry at Inspira Health. "This new Cochrane review reinforces the evidence that exercise is one of the most evidence-based tools for improving mood," says Mateka.

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Feb. 17, 2026  A Public Health Opportunity: Addressing the Health Needs of Justice-Involved Individuals during Reentry

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Access to mental healthcare remains out of reach for millions of Americans, with some states facing more severe shortages of mental health professionals than others, new federal data shows. [Becker's Behavioral Health]

The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Health Workforce published its latest quarterly report of Designated Health Professional Shortage Area Statistics on Jan. 14, reflecting data as of Dec. 31, 2025. For mental health, an area generally qualifies as a shortage area when the population-to-psychiatrist ratio is at least 30,000 to 1 — or 20,000 to 1 in communities with unusually high need.

Compared with the 2024 snapshot, the latest HRSA figures suggest shortages have worsened. The number of designated mental health professional shortage areas rose from 6,418 to 6,807 as of Dec. 31, and the population covered by those designations grew from about 122 million to 137 million. Over the same period, the percentage of Americans’ mental health needs met improved only slightly — from 26.4% to 27.3% — while the estimated number of additional practitioners needed to remove the designations increased from roughly 6,200 to 6,800. The figures suggest that workforce growth has not kept pace with demand.

Below is a breakdown of how each state and Washington, D.C., rank based on the percentage of mental healthcare needs met.

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1.21.2026 10th State of Health of Chicago - eight speaker panel and more>

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The U.S. has reached a watershed moment in the fight against cancer: Seven in 10 people now survive five years or more after diagnosis, according to the latest annual report from the American Cancer Society. [NBC News & American Cancer Society] 

That’s a big improvement since the 1970s, when only half of those diagnosed lived at least five years. In the mid-1990s, the rate was 63%.

The 70% figure is based on diagnoses from 2015 to 2021. The findings were published Tuesday in the American Cancer Society’s medical journal, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

Five years is the most common benchmark for measuring cancer survival, since the risk of certain cancers’ recurring declines significantly if the cancers haven’t come back within that time.

Thanks to improved treatment options over the last decade, many cancers have gone from death sentences to chronic diseases, according to the report’s lead author, Rebecca Siegel, the American Cancer Society’s senior scientific director of surveillance research.

“It takes decades for research to understand and develop these more effective treatments, and now we’re seeing the fruits of those investments,” Siegel said.

The report estimates that 4.8 million cancer deaths were prevented from 1991 to 2023, largely because of better treatments, earlier detection methods and reductions in smoking.

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10th State of Health of Chicago, Jan. 21,2026, more>

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There is exactly one vaccine that prevents several cancers. It's safe, effective, and puts the elimination of cervical cancer within reach. Even as the world reaches this medical moment, the U.S. faces a persistent challenge: human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake has remained steady but is insufficient to achieve herd immunity. [MedPage Today} 

We should want broad community protection: a staggering 85% of people will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives. And with approximately 78% of 13- to 17-year-olds receiving at least one dose of the HPV vaccine, coverage lags significantly behind other routine childhood immunizations. HPV vaccination rates were on the rise until 2022, when initiation stagnated for the first time in about a decade. This stall is further complicated by geographic disparities, with rural areas showing dramatically lower rates compared to urban areas -- for example, the percentage of adolescents up to date with HPV vaccination ranged from 39% in Mississippi to nearly 80% in Massachusetts in 2024. This gap, and the knowledge gap about the virus' prevalence and impact, leaves individuals and the public vulnerable.

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