News/Health

About 44 per cent of men living in Canada die prematurely, according to a new report from the Movember Institute of Men's Health.The report defines premature mortality as deaths in men before age 75. The deaths from cancer, coronary heart disease, accidents, suicide and the opioid crisis include some causes that might have been prevented through vaccinations, lifestyle changes like quitting smoking or avoiding injuries. In 2023, almost 75,000 males died prematurely, according to Statistics Canada. "We're here because too many men are dying too young from largely preventable causes," Catherine Corriveau of Movember Canada said at a news conference on Parliament Hill on Thursday. Suicide was the fourth leading cause of premature death in males after cancer, coronary heart disease and acciden...

Health Canada issued a recall notice on Friday for some Seasonique birth control products due to some packages containing the correct blue-green pills coming with extraneous yellow tablets.The agency says the recall is for the 0.01-milligram ethinyl estradiol, 0.03-milligram ethiny lestradiol and 0.15-milligram levonorgestrel Seasonique pills made by Teva Canada.Health Canada said those who find the yellow pills should not consume them and return the product to a pharmacy for a replacement or alternative, adding that those who can't return them right away should continue taking the regular blue-green tablets as instructed until they are able to return them."If you took a yellow pill instead of a blue-green pill ... or if you are unsure, you should also use another method of non-hormonal ba...

The death of an Ontario infant born prematurely and infected with measles through the mother is raising questions about how the virus is transmitted during pregnancy.On Thursday, Ontario health officials announced the death of a baby who was infected with the virus while in the womb. It was the first fatality in the provincial outbreak that began on Oct. 28 last year and includes 2,009 probable and confirmed cases."While measles may have been a contributing factor in both the premature birth and death, the infant also faced other serious medical complications unrelated to the virus," Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, said in a statement released Thursday. Measles is a respiratory infection with symptoms that include fever, a blotchy rash, a cough and red, watery ...

As the Canadian Dental Care Plan expands this week to include all eligible age groups, 35 per cent of Canadians report they've skipped or reduced dental visits, a new survey suggests. Dental care was the most commonly delayed health service, according to the survey released Tuesday.The Canadian digital insurance company PolicyMe carried out the online survey of 1,500 adults in partnership with the Angus Reid Institute from May 9-12.More than half of Canadians (56 per cent) said they're delaying health appointments due to costs, with some skipping appointments."They're skipping as a result of cost," said Andrew Ostro, CEO and co-founder of PolicyMe in Toronto.Young adults aged 18 to 34 were the most affected of respondents, according to the survey, with 66 per cent saying they were delaying...

James Smith woke up from a colonoscopy to be told devastating news. At 59, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. Doctors found a mass so large it completely blocked their view of the rest of his colon. Smith said he was shocked."It was hard, it was a hard diagnosis," he said. "It was hard to believe it was actually happening."Smith underwent surgery and four rounds of chemotherapy. When his doctors suggested he join a study to examine regular exercise and its possible role in preventing cancer recurrence, he said yes. He was concerned — through the course of his treatment he had lost about 26 kilograms, as well as muscle mass. But he joined, anyway."At the beginning it was difficult, I won't deny. It was like, 'How am I going to do all this?'"Though he wasn't included in the final study, he ...

You may be hearing a lot about the gut microbiome these days — it's been mentioned everywhere from wellness podcasts to the grocery aisle. Doctors are tapping into it to try and treat some diseases differently.The gut microbiome is the community of all the bacteria and viruses in our intestines, including friendlier microbes that promote health as well as some foes that can cause illness.One evolving procedure is the fecal transplant, where a small sample of stool from the colon of a healthy person is given to a recipient for therapeutic purposes. Despite the ick factor, they have been used to treat potentially fatal, recurring bacterial infections for which antibiotics have been less effective.Now, doctors and researchers are looking to see whether fecal transplants can be used for other ...

Diabetes Canada says it's received a surge in reports from people who've seen ads for or bought products that use the charity's logos without authorization.Since January, Diabetes Canada says it's had over 300 calls to its 1-800 line and emails from people reporting misleading advertisements for diabetes products that have the charity's logo.Diabetes Canada isn't the only organization being affected. Products ranging from purported medications and supplements to devices that claim to be blood glucose monitors are also carrying the logos of Obesity Canada and Health Canada. Some of the groups say they want the ads taken down and social media companies are doing that, but new ads keep appearing.A class of injectable medications known as GLP-1 agonists, sold in Canada under the brand name Oze...

The wide-ranging "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) report spearheaded by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited hundreds of studies, but a closer look by the news organization NOTUS found that some of those studies did not actually exist.Asked about the report's problems on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report will be updated. She did not directly respond to a question of whether artificial intelligence had been used to generate the 72-page report, which calls for increased scrutiny of the childhood vaccine schedule and decried America's food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs."I understand there was some formatting issues with the MAHA report that are being addressed and the report will be updated." Leavitt told repo...

Measles cases are surging across Canada, so it might not come as a surprise that nearly 70 per cent of Canadians surveyed recently agreed that childhood vaccinations should be mandatory.The Angus Reid Institute polled nearly 1,700 Canadian adults online between May 20 and May. 23, asking them if proof of immunization should be required for kids to attend daycare or schools.Sixty-nine per cent said yes — an increase from last year, when only 55 per cent of respondents agreed that vaccinations should be mandatory for kids.Maxwell Smith, a bioethicist and associate professor at Western University's School of Health Studies, says the figure suggests mandating childhood vaccinations is not as divisive as once thought. "Given what we just experienced with COVID and controversies around vaccine m...

This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.As Canada's measles outbreak continues to grow, the country is at risk of losing its measles elimination status — a bar set by the World Health Organization. "The risk is substantial," said Dr. Sarah Wilson, a public health physician with Public Health Ontario who has been tracking the measles outbreak in that province. Ontario is now reporting more measles cases each week than it once saw over an entire decade, Wilson said. "It is a very different situation than what we experienced in the last decade since measles elimination was achieved," she said.Measles elimination is reached...