Mayo Clinic Health Matters

As the new year kicks off, many people renew or begin a commitment to improving their health. Often, that starts with healthy eating, and this year it might include kicking bad habits developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Katherine Zeratsky, a registered dietitian nutritionist at Mayo Clinic, offers nutrition tips and suggests small changes that can lead to better...

Hip replacement surgery is a common procedure that is necessary when the hip joint is worn or damaged. But what if the joint replacement could be avoided? Mayo Clinic's Center for Regenerative Medicine is pioneering alternatives for some patients. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Rafael Sierra, an orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic, discusses regenerative medicine alternatives to hip replacement...

Stress, isolation and limited access to resources are fueling rising rates of substance abuse and overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic. While coronavirus has been the focus of so much attention this year, the opioid crisis has continued unabated and has even worsened. More than 40 states have reported increases in opioid related deaths, according to the American Medical Association. On the Mayo...

2020 has been a year consumed by COVID-19, from first news of the virus in the U.S. January to vaccines rolling out in December. Scientists, health care providers and the public have gained new knowledge and understanding of infectious diseases and virus transmission, and COVID-19 vaccines were developed in record time. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases exp...

A recent Mayo Clinic study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that patients with COVID-19 who received care at Mayo Clinic had lower mortality rates than the national average. Mayo Clinic patients were treated using an integrated, team-based approach for patient monitoring and treatment. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. John O'Horo, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases physician and the st...

The holiday season can be stressful all on its own, but add the COVID-19 pandemic and you have the potential for increased anxiety. With health concerns and potential financial worries, coupled with being inside for the winter, some relationships might be feeling the tension of too much togetherness. "At the beginning of the pandemic, I was hearing a lot from couples that I work with, about how mu...

Arthroplasty is a surgical procedure to restore the function of a joint by replacing disease and damaged parts. However, everyone is not made the same way. When it comes to complex shoulder and elbow surgeries, 3D anatomical modeling can be used to help a surgeon plan the surgery for better outcomes. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Mark Morrey, an orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic, discusses c...

Front-line health care workers across the country are receiving the first COVID-19 vaccinations. With the recent approval of a second COVID-19 vaccine for use here in the U.S., more COVID-19 vaccine doses are expected to be available this week. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel has recommended allocating COVID-19 vaccines for the next phase. Phase 1b includes those who are 75 and...

Several communities and populations are underserved by the U.S. health care system. There are many reasons for this, including differences in risk incidence, morbidity and mortality due to social, economic and structural factors. And the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed these health care inequities. "The term health care inequity actually implies justice and fairness, as well as intentional a...

Knee pain is a common problem that can have many causes, but one common reason is damage to the cartilage. Because cartilage doesn't have its own blood supply, it can't heal itself. When knee cartilage is damaged, treatment options are available, including a new method using a patient’s own cells to grow new cartilage. The new technique is called matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte implantati...

The latest direction in cancer treatment has been toward potential cancer vaccines and immunotherapies. As these therapies become standard, continued research is important to understand how the body interacts with these treatments. A recent Mayo Clinic study found a unique form of immunosuppression caused by brain cancer that could inhibit the effectiveness of cancer vaccines and immunotherapies....

Type 1 diabetes in children is a condition in which a child's body no longer produces insulin, an important hormone. The missing insulin needs to be replaced with injections or with an insulin pump. The diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes in children can be overwhelming. Depending on his or her age, the child must learn how to give injections, count carbohydrates and monitor blood sugar. There's no cure...

The news about COVID-19 vaccines being approved, distributed and administered so quickly is causing concern for some people — what is often referred to as vaccine hesitancy. "We have always struggled with vaccine hesitancy and a sense of uncertainty," says Dr. Robert Jacobson, a Mayo Clinic pediatric infectious diseases expert and director of Mayo Clinic's Primary Care Immunization program. "But w...

The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have approved the first of several COVID-19 vaccines developed in response to the pandemic. The first vaccine has been distributed to all 50 states, and vaccinations are underway. Development of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines has been an extraordinary effort of science and engineering. "This is a milestone human...

3D printing can provide an exact replica of a body part. But the printing process is not building or molding the model in traditional ways. The technology creates a solid 3D object by taking thin imaging slices from computer files. Mayo Clinic has been working with 3D printing for at least 16 years, applying it to clinical and surgical areas. "And one of the many benefits we have from 3D printing...

Back pain is one of the most common reasons people go to their health care provider or miss work, and it is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Most back pain gradually improves with home treatment and over-the-counter pain relievers. But for some people, back pain can be a debilitating problem that requires more advanced treatment. One option for persistent back pain is an implanted spinal c...

Like many parts of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, medical education has had to adjust to necessary restrictions on in-person training, meetings and classes. While patient safety comes first, training the next generation of medical professionals needed to continue during the ongoing pandemic. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Jonathan Barlow, director of the Orthopedic Residency program at Ma...

To stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have transitioned to working from home or working from offices with social distancing and using virtual technology to connect with others. Much of life has gone virtual, including schooling, but how does this affect you psychologically and physically? On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Jeffrey Staab, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and...

Monitoring screen time for children can be a challenge for parents and caregivers under normal circumstances. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, remote schooling has increased the amount of time students are glued to computer monitors and smartphone screens. "Depending on the age of the child there are some considerations, because our younger children are just not meant to be staring at a screen for...

Last week, the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved for emergency authorization use in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile in the U.S., plans are being made to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, pending approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a committee within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommends that health care workers and elderl...

As the COVID-19 surge sweeps across the U.S., it's crucial that people stay home and avoid gatherings to reduce community spread of the virus. But for some, that loneliness is becoming an epidemic within the pandemic. Social isolation, especially for people in high-risk health care facilities, like nursing homes, is taking a toll on their mental health. Health care professionals say people have an...

Eating disorders are complex medical issues, and the COVID-19 pandemic has created additional challenges for people who battle these disorders. For some, being home with constant access to food is difficult. For others, the lack of social support is a struggle. Now isolation and stress are contributing to an increased risk of people developing eating disorders. In this Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr....

Pediatric growth charts track growth in infants, children and adolescents. While children can go through brief periods where they gain or lose a little weight, if children don't gain weight or grow well, they may be diagnosed with failure to thrive. On the other end of the nutrition spectrum are children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This occurs when too much fat is stored in the liver a...

For generations, people have intentionally and unintentionally exposed their skin to the sun. As a result, skin cancer has become the most common form of cancer in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Treatment options are limited for people with skin cancer, especially on the face and more specifically the nose. Dr. Brittany E. Howard, a Mayo Clinic otolaryngolog...

The first COVID-19 vaccines to reach the market are likely to be messenger RNA vaccines, or mRNA. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mRNA vaccines work by teaching cells in the body how to make a protein that triggers an immune response. Unlike many vaccines that use a weakened or inactivated form of a virus, mRNA vaccines do not use the live virus that causes COVID-19. O...