https://medicalxpress.com/family-medicine-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Family medicine During a historic drought in northern Kenya, a pastoralist community turned to a food source it had long viewed as a fallback for people without livestock: fishing. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-historic-kenyan-drought-reshaped-livelihoods.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:40:08 EDT news706875781 A recent study from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, shows that physical activity declines substantially with age, even among older adults who are in good physical condition. Over a four-year follow-up period, physical activity energy expenditure decreased by an average of about 17%. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-older-adults-faster-daily.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:20:09 EDT news706869089 Dr. Genaro DeLeon, a resident physician at the Cleveland Clinic, couldn't decide between pursuing surgery or family medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-family-medicine-shortage-future-doctors.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:00:03 EDT news706797218 The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense (VA/DoD) updated their obesity management guideline in 2025 to reflect advances in obesity assessment and treatments. The guideline emphasizes assessing health risks beyond body mass index (BMI) alone, using comprehensive lifestyle intervention as the foundation of care, and flexibly integrating medications, including GLP-1 therapies, as well as endoscopic and surgical options when appropriate. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-obesity-guideline-personalized-effective-weight.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:00:07 EDT news706777161 Hand grip strength. Balance tests. Standing up from a seated position on the floor. These physical challenges are often touted as measurements of healthy aging and even predictors of longevity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-mobility-insights-crystal-ball.html Sat, 22 Aug 2026 11:20:01 EDT news706613940 Growing up, my brothers were fascinated by the first "Rocky" movie. They were trying to get stronger and excel in sports, so one scene stood out almost as much as Rocky sprinting up the museum steps: Before sunrise, Rocky cracked raw eggs into a glass and drank them. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-protein-breakfast-snacks-wont-muscle.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 10:00:05 EDT news706522263 Iron deficiency is one of the world's most common nutritional disorders, affecting millions of women and children globally. Yet diagnosing it remains difficult in many low-resource settings, where access to laboratories and trained health care workers is limited. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-rapid-iron-treatment-worldwide.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 19:00:03 EDT news706445076 Participants who followed a Mediterranean-style plan tailored for the Southeast not only kept weight off but also ate better in ways that may help prevent chronic disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-mediterranean-style-tailored-southeast-weight.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 13:40:07 EDT news706446421 Anyone who works in health care in rural or remote Australia knows what the challenges look like. Behind every statistic is a person forced to travel hundreds of kilometers for care, a clinician stretched beyond capacity or a community left without the services it needs. These inequities are particularly stark for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-community-virtual-indigenous-chronic-disease.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:40:05 EDT news706435982 Older adults who typically had longer intervals between meals accumulated chronic diseases more rapidly over time than those with shorter intervals, according to a study from Karolinska Institutet published in the Journal of Internal Medicine. The association was most pronounced among people aged 78 years and older. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-longer-meal-intervals-linked-faster.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 07:00:01 EDT news706281482 In a Journal of the American Geriatrics Society analysis of nationally representative data from 6,905 U.S. adults age 65 or older followed from 2011 to 2024, higher body mass index (BMI) was associated with lower mortality risk, whereas higher waist circumference, a marker of abdominal obesity, was independently associated with higher mortality risk after accounting for BMI. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-waist-circumference-bmi-mortality-older.html Wed, 19 Aug 2026 03:00:03 EDT news706193577 While consumers may save a few bucks on groceries at dollar stores, they end up paying a higher price with their health. New UC Riverside research shows a link between dollar store food quality and higher rates of obesity, high blood pressure, cholesterol and type 2 diabetes. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-hidden-health-dollar-groceries.html Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:00:04 EDT news706292881 Here is a finding that surprises most people, including plenty of regular gym-goers. When researchers tracked nearly 1,900 older adults (aged 70–79) over three years, those who held on to their muscle mass, and even those who gained some, still lost strength. Leg strength declined about three times faster than muscle mass. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-strength-stamina-reflexes-age.html Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:20:04 EDT news706272422 Monash University researchers have reviewed existing evidence and concluded that most shoulder problems get better with self-management, education and time, challenging widespread clinical reliance on early imaging and surgical interventions. The landmark review, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, provides general practitioners and physiotherapists with an updated roadmap for managing shoulder pain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-guidance-gps-physiologists-ditch-unnecessary.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:20:08 EDT news706189991 From the first hint of cold winter mornings, supermarkets and pharmacies begin heavy marketing to coax us to stock up on vitamin C to get through cold and flu season. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-vitamin-cold-nobel-prize-winner.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 08:00:01 EDT news706165382 Before breakfast, you may already have checked your sleep score, resting heart rate or blood oxygen level. By bedtime, you might look at your step count, stress score or even an estimate of your biological age. For millions of people, keeping tabs on health and well-being has become almost as routine as checking the weather. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-ten-adults-track-health-survey.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 16:20:01 EDT news705842397 Swansea University researchers have led a major European study investigating how socioeconomic circumstances influence survival among children born with major congenital anomalies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-childhood-survival-linked-socio-economic.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:40:04 EDT news705928107 In England and Canada, socioeconomic inequalities are associated with differences in how people age, with less wealthy people showing reduced mobility and function compared with their wealthier peers, according to a study published Aug. 13 in PLOS Medicine by Stephanie Schrempft of Geneva University Hospitals in Switzerland and colleagues. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-poorer-people-greater-declines-physical.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:00:04 EDT news705658736 Three minutes of sprinting can do something that 90 minutes of moderate exercise apparently cannot: dramatically reshape the molecular contents of the bloodstream. Rockefeller researchers comparing different intensities of exercise found that six sets of 30-second, all-out sprints altered nearly a quarter of the proteins measured immediately afterward. Moderate, continuous cycling for 90 minutes altered fewer than one-quarter of 1%. And while moderate treadmill running changed more proteins than cycling, it still altered far fewer than a quick sprint. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-minutes-sprinting-bigger-impact-moderate.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:00:01 EDT news705833761 Two of the nation's most powerful health officials predict artificial intelligence will play a key role in solving rural America's health challenges. Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a panel of U.S. senators that AI nurses can provide "concierge care" to rural patients. Dr. Mehmet Oz, who leads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has said "the best way to help some of these communities is going to be AI-based avatars" that connect rural patients to mental health services. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-patients-wary-companies-ai-rural.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 17:40:08 EDT news705741164 City St George's researchers have found that sexual minority individuals with long-term mental health conditions report poorer experiences in some areas of primary care, while also revealing patterns that suggest potential buffering effects that could help inform efforts to reduce health care inequalities https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-explores-sexual-minority-status-mental.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:20:04 EDT news705755428 Life expectancy has nearly doubled over the past century, thanks to remarkable advances in basic science, medicine and public health. That longer average lifespan, however, brings a greater risk of developing multiple chronic diseases at once. While so-called multimorbidity is known to be associated with poorer health outcomes—including increased hospitalizations, emergency department visits and disability—how combinations of specific conditions and variables such as age affect people's health remains poorly understood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-chronological-age.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:10:01 EDT news705753350 Stopping statins in adults 75 and older with no history of heart disease or stroke does not increase the risk of death over three years compared with continuing statins, although "bad" cholesterol rose around 50% in those who stopped, according to a randomized controlled trial published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity. Statins are a key medication for the prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a specific type of cardiovascular disease caused by the buildup of fatty plaque (atherosclerosis) inside the arteries. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-adults-older-statins-similar-year.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:40:09 EDT news705746206 More than 22 million Medicare patients received care from doctors born outside the United States in 2024, according to an American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) study published today in JAMA. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-doctors-born-play-major-role.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:00:05 EDT news705661381 Despite national efforts to improve acute kidney injury (AKI) care, thousands of patients in England are missing vital follow-up care after leaving the hospital, according to new research by The University of Manchester. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-major-gaps-acute-kidney-injury.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 10:50:02 EDT news705740863 There's no shortage of weight-loss advice on social media, TikTok, television and AI chatbots. But the most credible source—a patient's own primary care doctor—is often the one they're not hearing from. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-patients-obesity-dont-weight.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:03 EDT news705735857 With temperatures forecast to climb to 36°C (97°F) in parts of the UK, heat health alerts are once again in place—and for many people, it will mean more than an uncomfortable few days. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-difference-exhaustion-heatstroke.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 14:40:09 EDT news705670654 When a heat wave arrives, the public health advice follows a familiar script: Drink water, watch for heat stroke, check on people with heart or lung conditions. That list saves lives. But it leaves out something that shapes daily life for millions of older Americans—chronic pain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-chronic-pain-america.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:00:08 EDT news705652022 Adults who do both aerobic and muscle-strengthening exercises are less likely to develop a raft of chronic diseases, researchers have found. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-strength-vital-chronic-disease.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 09:40:02 EDT news705648121 Every year, an estimated 6,000 to 24,000 people are killed by lightning around the world, and many more are injured. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-lightning-thousands-globally-year-survive.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 19:00:04 EDT news705586363