Fitness trackers can help monitor health for some people, but can exacerbate disordered eating for others

georgeclerk/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — Brooklyn-based boxing instructor Nancy Chen said her Apple Watch was able to hone in on the effectiveness of her workouts.

But it wasn’t until her watch broke that she said she realized it ended up exacerbating some unhealthy behaviors.

“I really struggled with disordered eating, pretty much like off and on throughout college,” Chen told ABC News. “I realized that after like three months of not wearing [the watch], it really helped confirm that I was like moving past my eating disorder.”

Chen’s experience is not uncommon among the users of those devices, according to medical experts who point to some of the potential downsides posed by relying on the devices and data.

“There is a drawback for some, and we see this is more common in individuals that really seek perfection in a lot of aspects of our lives,” Dr. Rebecca Robbins assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told ABC News.

Many users may experience benefits from knowing their fitness levels, sleep quality, and other general health metrics.

In August 2021, Christopher Oakley, a professor at University of North Carolina at Asheville, said readings from his Apple Watch were able to convince skeptical doctors that he was having a heart attack even though it appeared his heart had calmed down between the time he left his home and got to the hospital, according to ABC affiliate WLOS.

Apple did not provide a comment to ABC News when asked about its devices.

The company’s website said the Apple ECG app can not detect cannot detect a heart attack, blood clots, strokes or other heart conditions and users should consult emergency services or a medical professional if they are not feeling well.

While some of the tech companies behind the devices said their goal is to help their users have the best information about their workout they said they have been working to create a better balance.

“Being able to have visibility into what your body is doing and how your health is going. I think that’s only good,” Shelton Yuen, the director of research at Fitbit, told ABC News.

Sarah Madaus of Brooklyn told ABC News she first started tracking her workouts and health with a Fitbit.

“For a while, it made me feel successful because I was like looking at my weekly stats and it was like, ‘Look that you crushed it,'” she said.

She later asked her parents for an Apple Watch which she now admits became a “chokehold” for her.

“It’d be like, ‘Oh, you didn’t close your rings today.’ And I’m like, ‘You better hustle. Sorry, guys can’t come to the party, can’t go to dinner,'” Madaus said.

A 2017 study of college students published in the medical journal “Eating Behaviors” found that using a fitness tracker is linked with a higher rate of eating disorder symptoms in some, but didn’t necessarily cause the behaviors.

Anxiety around wearables isn’t limited to food, according to studies.

In one case study, one woman who was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation developed health anxiety after she ran nearly 1,000 ECG recordings through her smartwatch.

“When you’re bombarded with all of this constant information about your heart, your sleep, your weight, your fitness level, all of this stuff… I think a lot of times of trouble comes from we’re putting a lot of that understanding or expectation for understanding on the individual,” Dr. Tom Hildebrant, an associate professor of psychiatry Ichan School of Medicine, told ABC News.

Some tech companies are taking different approaches to the trackers.

The Oura Ring sits on a user’s finger and doesn’t have a screen that displays their workout and health information. Users can check the data on their phone or computer.

Shyamal Patel, the head of science for Oura Ring, told ABC News that his company’s devices and apps are made with user control in mind.

“You want to calibrate your activity goals or you can actually turn off calorie tracking,” he said.

Yuen also told ABC News that Fitbit devices also allow users to stop tracking certain metrics.

“We try to meet our users where they are so that we can help them establish and meet the goals that they care about,” he said.

Hildebrant said that if anyone is feeling too overwhelmed by the trackers and apps they should stop using them for one or two weeks and see how they feel mentally and physically.

Chen and Madaus told ABC News that they were able to have better workouts once they stopped using their Apple Watches.

“I think I was able to really focus on the workout and be very private,” Chen said,

“It’s really like you can focus so much more on the mind-muscle connection to and like how you’re actively feeling,” Madaus said.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Weight loss drugs linked to lower likelihood of depression and anxiety diagnoses: Study

WLADIMIR BULGAR/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — Most weight loss drugs were linked to a lower likelihood of depression and anxiety diagnoses, according to research published by Epic Research.

The researchers looked at over three million diabetic patients and nearly one million non-diabetic patients taking GLP-1 medications, which is the class of drugs representing popular name brands such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound, and Mounjaro in the study that was published Tuesday.

Semaglutide is the active ingredient found in Ozempic, which is used for type 2 diabetes, and Wegovy, which is used for weight loss.

Diabetic patients taking Semaglutide were 45% less likely to be diagnosed with depression and 44% less likely to be diagnosed with anxiety, according to the study.

Tirzepatide is the active ingredient found in Mounjaro, which is used for type 2 diabetes, and Zepbound, which is used for weight loss.

Diabetic patients taking Tirzepatide were 65% less likely to be diagnosed with depression and 60% less likely to be diagnosed with anxiety, according to the study.

The drugs approved to treat type 2 diabetes may be prescribed “off-label” for weight loss.

“These results show that these medications may serve a dual purpose for patients, but we do not understand them well enough yet to say these medications should be given as a treatment for anxiety or depression outside of diabetes or weight management,” researcher Kersten Bartelt told ABC News.

These results come weeks after a preliminary review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that found no evidence linking weight loss drugs to suicidal thoughts.

The study used electronic patient records, meaning patients needed to be diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression — which may exclude those that had symptoms of the mental conditions but never received a diagnosis.

It remains unclear if the lower diagnoses of depression and anxiety were a direct result of the medications, weight loss in general, or a potential combination of both.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Drug shortage can put patients’ lives at risk, experts warn

Евгения Матвеец/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — National shortage of over-the-counter and prescription drugs for health issues such as asthma, ADHD or cancer have been troubling patients and medical personnel for more than a year — and at a hearing this week, lawmakers and experts discussed the threats that patients face without having access to the drugs they need.

At the House Ways and Means Committee hearing earlier this week, expert witnesses — practitioners, researchers and pharmaceutical company executives — spoke about the pressing issue the shortages pose to patients’ lives and health and possible ways the Congress can tackle it.

“We could have patients — cancer patients or pediatric patients, or other patients — without the drugs they need,” Stephen Schondelmeyer, director of the PRIME Institute at the University of Minnesota’s College of Pharmacy, said at the hearing.

Shortages of some drugs have been an ongoing problem in the U.S. for more than a decade and were recently exacerbated by COVID-19, according to a report by the Senate Homeland Security Committee in March. Lack of necessary medication means patients have to get delayed treatments, substitutions or sometimes no treatment at all, the report found.

The shortage can hurt patients financially as well, Schondelmeyer said, as they have to turn to alternate products that can cost more.

There are more than 250 active pharmaceutical shortages as of early February, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The state of chemotherapy and hormonal drug shortages were characterized as the most severe shortages in 2023.

Patients in the rural areas may experience even more difficulty with drug access, Tennessee Oncology Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stephen Schleicher said at the hearing. In remote regions it’s harder to find substitutions or reliable distributors, he added.

Overdependence on international suppliers — such as India and China — came up as a frequent cause of the shortages. Supplying raw materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients from other countries can be geopolitically risky, experts said.

Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said the drug shortages are a national security concern.

“These drug shortages, these vulnerabilities in our supply chain, they put our national security at risk,” Wenstrup said. “They put our national health security at risk.”

The U.S. depends on foreign providers for some of the active pharmaceutical ingredients necessary to give medications their desire effect. Almost half of pharmaceutical products consumed in the U.S. come from India and China, Schondelmeyer said in his testimony.

“The U.S. has raw, raw materials, carbon and oxygen, and chemicals,” he said “But we don’t have a lot of the formulated ingredients to make the drugs that we have.”

While the number of U.S. production facilities has dropped by half in the past decade, the numbers of those plants in China, India, Israel and Taiwan have been growing.

India and China have been favorable for drug production because of low labor and production costs, Schondelmeyer said. They also have fewer environmental regulations that allow toxic pharmaceutical pollution — including explosive chemicals — caused by manufacturing, added Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz.

“We almost don’t have a disposal mechanism from the toxic byproducts,” he said. “And [manufacturers] produce some really nasty stuff.”

Another risk with supplying the materials from Asia is lack of U.S. supervision. The FDA, which has the authority to conduct inspections on U.S. production sites, has to jump through several hoops to inspect international suppliers’ sites, said Jeromie Ballreich, associate research professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The limited regulation brings up quality issues, Schondelmeyer said, citing the recent incident where contaminated eye drops manufactured in India led to deaths, blindness and several people who had to have their eyeballs surgically removed.

“If [the FDA] is not in those labs in China — and especially since the pandemic — it is a problem,” Wenstrup said.

There’s also an issue with transparency: how much each manufacturing plant contributes to the production, said Dr. Julie Gralow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Without knowing how much raw material each manufacturer provides for production of a certain drug, it becomes hard to predict how an issue at one facility can impact drug availability, Gralow said.

Schondelmeyer likened it to relying on enemies in wartime.

“We don’t rely on other countries to make bullets … when we fight wars, especially our sworn enemies,” he said. “We want to make sure that the drugs we need to keep our public and our military healthy are coming from sources that we have control of.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

EPA announces new air quality standards for particulate matter, citing health risks

Eric Yang/Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new rule on Wednesday to significantly reduce the level of air pollution known as particulate matter (PM) by updating the national air-quality standards, citing negative health impacts of PM exposure.

While the rule is being praised by environmental and health groups, some industry groups have signaled that it could pose a political challenge for President Joe Biden this year as they claim it will hamper American manufacturing and eliminate jobs.

“Today’s action is a critical step forward that will better protect workers, families and communities from the dangerous and costly impacts of fine particle pollution,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters.

“The science is clear, soot pollution is one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution and it’s linked to a range of serious and potentially deadly illnesses, including asthma and heart attacks,” he said.

Particulate matter is made up of microscopic solid particles such as dirt, soot or smoke and liquid droplets in the air that are small enough to be inhaled. Those small particles can get into the lungs or bloodstream and contribute to health problems like asthma, respiratory symptoms, heart attacks, or premature death in people with heart or lung problems, according to the EPA.

This type of pollution comes from a variety of sources including power plants, cars, and construction sites. Wildfire smoke is also a significant source of particulate matter pollution.

“We know that particulate matter in the outside air leads to death. It kills people,” Patrice Simms, vice president of litigation for healthy communities at Earthjustice, told ABC News.

“And often that is a product of triggering heart attack, cardiopulmonary events or triggering asthma attacks that are fatal,” Simms said.

Regan said the updated standard will prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths and 290,000 lost workdays in the year 2032. On that same timeline, Biden administration officials also say the new standard will yield up to $46 billion in net health benefits.

“The impact of this pollution oftentimes disproportionately affects our most vulnerable communities, including low-income communities, communities of color, children, older adults and those who struggle with heart or lung conditions,” Regan said.

“Each one of these events — whether it’s someone’s death or hospitalization or heart attack or asthma attack — are traumatic experiences for the individuals,” Simms said. “They can be traumatic experiences for families and destabilizing for both families and communities.”

“There are both things that you can calculate numerically about what are the impacts [of PM pollution] and how many deaths and how many hospitalizations, but there also are really important kinds of impacts that are hard to quantify,” he added.

The previous annual standard for particulate matter was 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Under this new rule, the EPA is lowering the annual standard to 9 micrograms per cubic meter.

The updated rules do not revise the 24-hour standard which is meant to account for short-term spikes in pollution. That will remain at 35 micrograms per cubic meter.

President and CEO of the American Lung Association Harold Wimmer called the update “a step forward for public health,” but noted that the standards fall short of what his organization and others called for.

“While the stronger annual particle pollution standard will mean fewer asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes and deaths, it is disappointing that EPA did not follow the strong science-based recommendations of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and the health community to also revise the 24-hour standard to more fully protect public health,” Wimmer added.

Industry groups like the American Forest & Paper Association, American Wood Council and the group’s member company CEOs sent a letter to the White House in October expressing their opposition to the now finalized rule, saying the move, “threatens U.S. competitiveness and modernization projects in the U.S. paper and wood products industry and in other manufacturing sectors across our country.”

“This would severely undermine President Biden’s promise to grow and reshore U.S. manufacturing jobs, and ultimately make American manufacturing less competitive,” the letter said. “It also would harm an industry that has been recognized as an important contributor to achieving the Administration’s carbon reduction goals, including in future procurement for federal buildings.”

Simms, who has worked in this space for 25 years, told ABC News these industry outcries aren’t new.

“I’ve been doing this work for 25 years in a variety of different capacities,” Simms said. “And I can say that every time that an agency like EPA has taken steps to protect people and to reduce pollution, I see this same playbook start to get utilized, which is ‘the sky is falling.’ ‘If we protect people this way, we’re going to destroy business and we’re going to undermine the economy.’ And there’s really good data to show that that’s just not true.”

“We do not have to sacrifice people to have a prosperous and booming economy,” Regan said.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Recalled dairy products may be linked to listeria outbreak in seven states, CDC warns

Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

(ATLANTA) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a food safety alert for recalled cheeses, yogurts and sour creams potentially linked to a multistate outbreak of listeria that has sickened 26, hospitalized 23 and left two people dead.

Rizo-López Foods issued a voluntary recall on Monday for all cheeses and other dairy products made in its Modesto facility “because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes,” the company said in a press release.

The company said the recall is being carried out with the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which shared the company announcement on its website.

“Based on information shared by the CDC and FDA, [Rizo-López Foods] may be a potential source of illness in an ongoing nationwide Listeria monocytogenes outbreak,” the company said in its press release.

As of time of publication, the CDC continues to investigate and reported that 26 people had been infected with the outbreak strain of listeria from seven states, with another 23 people hospitalized, and two deaths in California and Texas.

The CDC has been tracking infections with this particular strain of listeria for years, prior to the Rizo-López Foods recall. It has been tied to a number of other recalls from other food manufacturers.

“CDC investigated this outbreak in 2017 and 2021,” the CDC stated Tuesday. “Epidemiologic evidence in previous investigations identified queso fresco and other similar cheeses as a potential source of the outbreak, but there was not enough information to identify a specific brand. CDC reopened the investigation in January 2024 after new illnesses were reported in December 2023 and the outbreak strain was found in a cheese sample from Rizo-López Foods.”

The recalled products were sold nationwide under the following brands and at deli counters: Campesino, Casa Cardenas, Don Francisco, Dos Ranchitos, El Huache, Food City, La Ordena, Rio Grande, Rizo Bros, San Carlos, Santa Maria, Tio Francisco and 365 Whole Foods Market. The products are marked with a wide range of sell by dates between March 23 and July 31, 2024.

Click here for a full list of recalled product information with additional descriptions, UPC codes, sizes and specific sell-by dates.

According to the FDA, the outbreak of this strain of listeria “includes cases dating back to 2014 and is currently ongoing.”

Rizo-López Foods said in its press release that “consumers should check their refrigerators and freezers for any of the products listed below and dispose of them.”

“Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-833-296-2233, which will be monitored 24 hours a day,” it added.

A representative for Rizo-López Foods, Inc. did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for additional comment.

The CDC is also urging shoppers who may have purchased the recalled products to throw them away or return them to the place of purchase, adding, “Do not eat any recalled cheeses or dairy products.”

Additionally, the agency has advised people who may have had the recalled items in their home to clean their refrigerator, containers and any surfaces the products may have touched.

Symptoms, side effects of Listeria monocytogenes

According to the CDC, listeria can cause severe illness “when the bacteria spread beyond the gut to other parts of the body” after a person consumes contaminated food. Those at higher risk include pregnant people, those aged 65 or older, or anyone who has a weakened immune system, the CDC says.

“For people who are pregnant, Listeria can cause pregnancy loss, premature birth, or a life-threatening infection in their newborn,” the agency states on its website. “For people who are 65 years or older or who have a weakened immune system, Listeria often results in [severe illness that may lead to] hospitalization and sometimes death.”

Other people can be infected with listeria, but rarely become seriously ill, according to the FDA.

According to the CDC, anyone infected with listeria may experience “mild food poisoning symptoms” such as diarrhea or fever, and many recover without antibiotic treatment.

The CDC has advised people to contact a health care provider if they think they may have eaten contaminated food and are experiencing related symptoms.

“You should seek medical care and tell the doctor about eating possibly contaminated food if you have a fever and other symptoms of possible listeriosis, such as fatigue and muscle aches, within two months after eating possibly contaminated food,” the agency states on its website. “This is especially important if you are pregnant, age 65 or older, or have a weakened immune system.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

East Palestine residents still displaced, suffering 1 year after toxic train derailment

Environmentalist Scott Smith test samples around the East Palestine train derailment. (ABC News)

(OHIO) — In the one year since the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, where 11 cars carrying hazardous materials spilled toxins into the environment, many of the residents still haven’t returned home.

The spill forced hundreds of nearby residents out of their homes and sparked fears, as five tankers carried vinyl chloride, which posed serious health risks. Vinyl chloride burning can create dioxins, which are carcinogenic, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

For the last year, residents like Ashley McCollum, have lived out of a Best Western hotel a few towns over.

Last February, McCollum fled her house with her boyfriend and son Zane and two dogs. She’s spent most of the year at this hotel paid for by Norfolk Southern.

Norfolk Southern is still paying for the relocation of roughly 40 other families, but that benefit is expected to run out Feb. 9.

McCollum said she’d rather be homeless than go back to East Palestine because she doesn’t believe it’s safe enough.

“Some people might not feel the same, but I know what my body’s telling me and some people might not have that same effect but I know that my body’s saying do not be here,” McCollum told ABC News.

She noted that her family has been experiencing several health issues since the derailment including “rashing, numbness and tingling in your mouth, ear pain, blood in your ears, hair loss.”

McCollum is not alone when it comes to ill health effects.

Lori and Wayne McConnell lived three miles from the derailment site in Pennsylvania and months after the accident their blood and urine tested positive for vinyl chloride.

Her blood also tested positive for benzene, another chemical found in the crash.

“I had headaches, a metallic taste in my mouth, burning watery eyes, tingling lips. I had muscle pain in my legs that was so intense,” Lori McConnell told ABC News.

Wayne McConnell was diagnosed with male breast cancer, 18 weeks after the derailment. He said his doctors wouldn’t rule out the cancer was caused by the chemicals.

“I can’t say for sure, but it seems awfully coincidental,” he said.

The O’Connell family enlisted the help of environmentalist Scott Smith to test their furnace filters. His findings confirmed their suspicions as the dioxin levels were 1,200% higher than normal levels.

Smith, who conducted tests on behalf of by several residents affected by the derailment, told ABC News since toxins like vinyl chloride are gas, they often affix to dust particles making furnace filters a focus point in his testing.

Smith’s data helped sway the Government Accountability Project to launch an investigation into the cleanup and testing efforts in East Palestine. The investigation is still ongoing.

Mark Durno, EPA Response Coordinator, responded to Smith’s report and challenged them. “His data does have serious quality control problems based on a limited amount of data that I’ve looked at.”

But Durno also acknowledged, “The data that I’ve looked at shows no red flags. The data falls right in line with the data that we’ve collected in soil.”

After collecting more than 45,000 samples, the EPA said in a statement last month, “While there is no evidence to suggest that additional contamination is present in areas other than those which are currently being addressed at the derailment site, we want to be sure.”

Norfolk Southern and the EPA have begun the confirmation sampling phase of their cleanup, which they say is a final “double check.” They say the derailment site could be back to normal by late summer, but the agency admits the cleanup hasn’t been a perfect process.

“I very much feel confident this area safe. I can tell you I’ve been here from the very beginning here, and I’m not having issues,” Chris Hunsicker, the railroad’s incident command, told ABC News.

However, he added that he could not tell another person what they were going through.

Norfolk Southern has also sworn they would “make it right,” and pledged millions of dollars in support to impacted communities in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

“What we want to do is look at how we can better communicate the risks and exposures that are happening, even though we’re well below our health established limits,” Durno said.

President Joe Biden announced he will visit East Palestine this month following an invitation from Mayor Trent Conway. An exact date has not been announced as of Thursday.

Some East Palestine residents however contend that there will never be a return to normal.

“People need to be held accountable for it. People need to hear what’s going on with other people in town. Because this is me now,” McCollum said.

ABC News’ Jeremy Edwards, Sasha Pezenik, and Jared Kofsky contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

How cosmetic leg lengthening surgeries are luring patients and courting controversy

Doctors prepare for a leg lengthening surgery. — ABC News

(NEW YORK) — Being tall is a stature that many men have longed for and some are turning to leg lengthening surgery to enhance their looks, but the procedure has also come with controversy.

“Impact x Nightline” takes a look into the medical trend of cosmetic leg lengthening surgeries in an episode now streaming on Hulu, the people who pursue them, and the role that height plays in society, particularly for young men.

One of those men is Hugo Ramirez, who at first glance says he could be mistaken for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Ramirez says he carries many of the hallmarks of the billion-dollar box office star. His muscles protrude from his body, while simultaneously sporting a shaved head and a rich tan. The entire package comes draped in expensive designer clothing.

Ramirez claims to be about 6-foot-1 in sneakers. But that wasn’t always the case: up until early last year, Ramirez says he was just 5-foot-9; the average height for a man in the United States, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I’m not average,” Ramirez told “Impact x Nightline.” “I don’t like to be average.”

Two years ago, Ramirez says a friend first brought up the idea of cosmetic leg lengthening. The surgery promises to add anywhere from two to six inches to your height. He was sold.

Ramirez, who’d gone under the knife for previous cosmetic surgeries, says he realized this operation would be different.

“It was breaking your legs. That was a big thing to me,” Oksana Ramirez, Hugo’s wife, told “Impact.” “I said, ‘Hugo, I don’t know. I’m actually very scared.’ Because…you never know what can happen, right?”

Las Vegas-based orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kevin Debiparshad, known casually to his patients as “Dr. D,” has performed hundreds of leg lengthening surgeries. His practice claims he performs more cosmetic leg lengthening procedures than any individual surgeon in the country. He operated on Ramirez’s upper legs in late January 2023.

Debiparshad explains that, for generations, limb lengthening surgery was limited in who it was applied to, which primarily included children, patients with deformities, and those who had suffered traumatic injuries He says as the technology advanced, patients began asking whether the surgery could be used for cosmetic purposes.

Doctors perform leg lengthening by surgically breaking the bones of either the upper or lower leg, and then inserting a telescopic rod or “nail”. That device expands inside the bone with the help of an external remote control.

“The bone constantly tries to heal itself,” Debiparshad said. “And then you just continue that process over the next two months [or] two and a half months” until the gap between the bones fills in.” The rods are surgically removed about a year later.

Jerry Agee, a traveling nurse from Mobile, Alabama, also flew to Las Vegas for leg lengthening surgery with Dr. Debiparshad, hoping to add three inches to his 5-foot-5 frame as he says his stature made him feel embarrassed.

“I think height is an extremely important thing when it comes to just life in general,” Agee told ABC News.

“I want to reach stuff in the aisles of a Walmart, and you just can’t ’cause you’re short,” he added.

Agee is nearly three months post-surgery and says despite the intense pain and long rehabilitation, he’s happy to be three inches taller.

Many experts believe that culture plays a critical role in why these procedures are being sought after.

“Those who are taller and more likely to be socially accepted, or more likely to make more money,” ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton said.

Psychotherapist Carli Blau, PhD. said she noticed the presence of height bias in her own practice.

“A lot of women that come to my practice actually set their dating app to only allowing men over a certain height,” she told “Impact.”

New York City matchmaker Anna Morgenstern agreed, saying, “We see men who are taller as the alpha. It’s something that we’ve done for thousands of years.”

Despite the desire to be taller, there are some big drawbacks to leg lengthening surgery– the cost starts at around $72,000 and is also potentially dangerous, with many risks of complications.

Sutton cautions that patients looking into cosmetic leg lengthening should consider the numerous risks including, which may include “damage to muscles…ligaments and tendons, and even permanent nerve damage.”

But Ramirez says his surgery and grueling recovery was still worth it and claimed to be 6-foot-1 with shoes.

Ramirez plans to get a second lengthening surgery on his lower legs this year and said he hopes to reach his “dream height” of 6-foot-3.

Ramirez says after he gets his lower legs lengthened, he’s “done” with elective surgery and he’s looking forward to expanding his family with his wife Oksana.

“Now it’s time to have a baby,” he said.

ABC News’ Tara Guaimano and Tien Bischoff contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Washington state experiencing first known outbreak of potentially deadly fungus: Health officials

Jasmin Merdan/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — Washington state is experiencing its first known outbreak of a potentially deadly fungus, according to public health officials.

Four patients in the last month have tested positive for Candida auris, or C. auris, Public Health – Seattle & King County said in a release.

The first case occurred in a patient who had recently been admitted to Kindred Hospital Seattle, which was identified through a proactive screening program.

Additional screenings found two new cases, as well as a case with links to Kindred, who had originally tested negative for C. auris when first admitted, the health department said.

It’s currently unclear what the initial source of the infection is and officials said the investigation is ongoing.

A case of C. auris was identified in July in a patient who was transferred to Kindred from St. Joseph’s Hospital in Pierce County. It’s believed to be the first locally acquired case in Washington state, according to the department.

Health officials said they have been working with the hospital for many months “with the expectation that C. auris would eventually be found in Washington State.”

“Public Health continues to work together with Kindred to help limit spread,” the release said. “This includes keeping patients who test positive for C. auris away from other patients to reduce risk of spread and using specific disinfecting cleaning products effective for C. auris.”

The health department said the hospital is also notifying facilities that received Kindred patients and advising that they screen for the fungus.

Kindred did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.

C. auris Is a type of yeast that can lead to serious illnesses and spreads easily among patients in health care facilities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It’s a relatively new type of fungus, first identified in Japan in 2009, according to the CDC. However, studies conducted since then have found samples of C. auris can be dated back to South Korea in 1996.

C. auris can spread either from person-to-person transmission or by people coming into contact with contaminated surfaces.

Most healthy people do not need to worry about C. auris infections, according to the CDC.

However, those with weakened immune systems or who are immunocompromised, are at risk of hard-to-treat infections as well as elderly patients or hospital patients who have had lines or tubes in their body.

There are strains of C. auris that are drug-resistant, meaning infections caused by the yeast will not respond to multiple antifungal drugs commonly used to treat Candida infections.

Despite this, there is a class of antifungal drugs called echinocandins that can be used and are given intravenously. Echinocandins prevent a key enzyme needed to maintain the cell wall of the fungus, according to the National Institutes of Health. In some cases, multiple high doses may be required, according to the CDC.

More than one in three patients with invasive C. auris infection, meaning it affects the blood, heart, or brain, die, according to the CDC.

To prevent spread, the CDC recommends family members and close contacts of C. auris patients properly sanitize their hands. Health care personnel and laboratory staff are reminded to do the same as well as disinfect a patient room and report cases quickly to public health departments.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

North Carolina governor hopes Medicaid expansion, to 600K residents, can be example after yearslong battle

krisanapong detraphiphat/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — More than a decade after the Affordable Care Act was passed, more than 600,000 adults in North Carolina are now eligible to receive benefits through an expansion of Medicaid that the state, like 10 others, long resisted.

The change in policy was bipartisan, since North Carolina, a perpetual battleground state, has a government divided between Democrats and Republicans.

And while North Carolina is the most recent state to adopt the Medicaid expansion that became possible under the ACA starting in 2014, it’s potentially not the last: Republican officials in other holdout states like Alabama and South Carolina have signaled openness to the possibility.

“Medicaid expansion is not going anywhere. So why should we turn down the federal tax money that we’ve already paid in Washington? Why should we prevent North Carolinians from benefiting from that?” the state’s governor, Roy Cooper, a Democrat, told ABC News in an interview.

The expansion was signed into law in March 2023 — with nearly two-thirds of the state House’s Republicans and even more state Senate Republicans backing it — and went into effect in December, making North Carolina the 40th state to opt into the program.

The newly qualified residents are adults from 19 to 64 years old who earn too much money to receive traditional Medicaid but generally not enough to afford public subsidies available for private health insurance.

Under the new guidelines, coverage expands to adults ages 19 through 64 who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty line, which means a single person earning about $20,000 or a family of three earning about $34,000 annually can now qualify for routine check-ups, prescription medication and other medical services without out-of-pocket expenses.

A 2022 report from the National Center for Health Statistics estimated that 17.6% of the state’s 10.7 million residents were uninsured. The Medicaid expansion will cover about 5.6% of North Carolinians.

After years of debate, here’s how North Carolina agreed on expanding Medicaid:

A change of heart over time

Cooper had advocated for providing more Medicaid coverage since he took office in 2017, despite facing what he called “stiff resistance” from Republican state leaders.

Those conservatives had long said they were not in favor of expanding Medicaid, citing concerns over government-funded insurance and the possibility that Congress could cut the financial contribution through the ACA that initially made the expansion possible. Under the ACA, the federal government pays for 90% of the cost of the expansion; individual states pay for 10%.

But if Congress one day ended the federal payments, critics said, state governments could be suddenly saddled with unworkable new bills.

Then, in 2022, the federal government offered a new financial incentive — a nearly $1.8 billion bonus over two years to any of the remaining states who decided to expand Medicaid.

There are no restrictions on how the additional money can be spent, allowing state lawmakers to decide how it should be allocated.

Cooper told ABC News that Republican legislators in North Carolina and across the country also warmed up to the idea of expansion when they realized that the ACA, also known as “Obamacare,” would not be repealed.

North Carolina state Sen. Phil Berger, a leading Republican in the chamber, echoed that in a local op-ed column published in 2023.

“Since it was enacted, every attempt in Congress and by the courts to reverse the ACA and Medicaid expansion has failed,” he wrote then. “When Donald Trump was president and Republicans controlled Congress, they did not repeal or significantly alter the ACA. It’s not going away, and refusing to accept that reality hurts North Carolinians and the state’s finances.”

The ACA did not have majority approval from the public in the first years after it was passed, but that changed after 2016, according to Gallup polling.

There is still skepticism about expanding Medicaid in the remaining 10, largely Republican-led states, however.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has linked it to “failed one-size-fit-none policies” and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, who narrowly won reelection in the fall after a race that turned in part on the issue of Medicaid, has suggested he thinks it will be bad for the state’s workforce if Medicaid expands and “able-bodied Mississippians [are added] to the welfare rolls.”

Cooper said he hopes that other state leaders will see North Carolina as an example for change.

“This is the same self-examination that should occur in Texas and Florida and Alabama, and these places that need health insurance for their people,” he told ABC News.

In Kansas, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is renewing her push for lawmakers to expand Medicaid to provide health care to about 150,000 low-income residents, and she has proposed adding a work requirement to the program.

Building unlikely alliances

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley, a native of Wilmington, played a key role in advocating for Medicaid expansion in the state.

Kinsley met with leaders in the health care industry while collaborating with Republican and Democratic legislators to plan town halls on improving access to mental health resources.

He previously worked in the Obama White House during the implementation of the ACA, which was both historic — in how it overhauled the health insurance system — and divisive, sparking fierce criticism from Republicans. In the years since, however, public attitudes have changed and softened on the ACA, as Gallup found.

Kinsley said he made it his “mission” for Medicaid expansion in his home state to become a reality.

“I grew up without health insurance,” he told ABC News. “And so getting to today has been a personal mission for me and something I’m really proud of, to pay it forward.”

“My parents got health insurance for the first time in their lives,” he continued. “Right now we know we’ve got folks that are getting health insurance for the first time in their lives here in North Carolina.”

Through his years of advocacy work, he created alliances in unlikely places.

Kinsley, a Democrat and the state’s first openly gay Cabinet member, said he spent years “working across the aisle” with numerous leaders in the health care industry, fellow Democrats and Republican legislators to find common ground on health-related issues.

“We’ve traveled all across the state,” Kinsley said. “We’re committed to trying to find a way in areas where we do agree, charting a path forward to make a difference for the people of North Carolina.”

Kinsley built key relationships like with state Rep. Donny Lambeth, one of the primary sponsors of the bill last year that expanded Medicaid. The pair bonded over their shared commitment to improving mental health care in North Carolina.

“Secretary Kinsley has been an exceptional partner in supporting legislators in our policy work,” Lambeth told ABC News in a statement. “He was a valuable resource to me during my work on Medicaid Expansion. I, along with my primary bill sponsors, would seek his advice on timing of implementation particularly and details about the federal waiver process.”

“He was our link to the federal staff on key issues that we incorporated in the Bill such as the jobs training program,” Lambeth added. “He always made himself available to us as we needed his assistance.”

A ‘positive impact in rural North Carolina’

The Medicaid expansion looks set to provide a particular boost for the state’s rural areas, where many residents fell in the insurance coverage gap, Kinsley said.

North Carolina has the second largest rural population in the country, according to census data. According to the state health department, the majority of adults 19 to 64 years old who are newly insured under the Medicaid expansion live in rural areas live in rural areas.

“I’m particularly happy that we’re seeing a disproportionately positive impact in rural North Carolina,” Kinsley said. “To see some of our rural communities where people have had historic lack of access to health care be some of the biggest gainers proportionately in the number of covered folks is such an important investment in their health and in the health system in those communities.”

Rural residents like Carrie McBane say they have been making ends meet for years while navigating the challenges that can come without health insurance.

McBane, 50, lives in the small town of Sylva along the ridges of the Plott Balsam Mountains. She worked as a restaurant server for several years and said she earned too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.

“In small towns, it’s a lot of restaurants and construction,” McBane said. “So the pay rate, the wages per hour are very low. The cost of living now is very high. It’s a struggle.”

McBane said she was working long hours, at times 10-to-12-hour shifts, to support herself until she suddenly became very ill.

“I knew that something was wrong,” she recalled. “I had very bad dry mouth, my hair started falling out, my vision changed backward … this just kind of hit me all at once.”

After visiting several doctors who could not identify her illness and paying for those visits out of pocket, she was ultimately diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, she said. Without insurance, she struggled to pay for insulin and other life-saving medications.

“When you’re really sick, and you don’t know what to do — I can’t afford it, so basically I’m robbing Peter to pay Paul,” she said.

“I was just exhausted,” she added. “I just felt like nobody was listening to me.”

Her health journey inspired her to become an advocate and help spread awareness about health coverage options in her community. She said she did not qualify for traditional Medicaid because her monthly income was about $100 too high, thus placing her in the insurance coverage gap like many other families in her town.

“When you don’t have health care coverage, the struggle is real and it is dire,” she said. “We want the recognition you know, we’re not second-class citizens because we live in the mountains.”

But now, McBane says she hopes that expanded Medicaid coverage will help aid others like her who faced the same barriers to health care access, including limited resources and costly medical expenses.

“The advocacy work is getting the information out there, trying to help people understand what’s required, trying to not be afraid of the system and just to give support,” she said. “Our next steps are they’re just going to have to be fluid. It’s a broken system. Winning big steps to get this work done — it will happen.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Heart health month: What we know about lipoprotein (a)

ATU Images/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — For decades, doctors have encouraged patients to monitor their cholesterol levels, with studies showing that heart disease risk increases with high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as the “bad cholesterol,” and not enough high-density lipoprotein (HDL), also known as the “good cholesterol.”

Diet, exercise and medications like statins can help people regulate their good and bad cholesterol levels.

But now, doctors are recognizing the importance of a third type of cholesterol — lipoprotein (a).

Lipoprotein (a) has been increasingly recognized as a standalone predictor for cardiovascular disease due to its inflammatory properties that accelerate clot formation in the blood vessels.

Scientists are still learning more about lipoprotein (a). Testing is available but not universally recommended. For now, drugs to treat high levels are not available, but may soon be on the horizon.

But, for anyone whose parents, grandparents, or relatives have developed heart disease at a young age, doctors say it’s important for everyday people to ask their doctors about lipoprotein (a), which may be a culprit.

Should I ask for my lipoprotein (a) levels to be checked, and is it covered by insurance?

“Anyone who has a strong family history of heart disease or has had evidence of heart disease that is premature — that is, before the age of 55 in men and before 65 years of age in women — should consider lipoprotein (a) testing,” Chair in Preventative Cardiology and Professor of Medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, Dr. Keith Ferdinand, says. “[It] may be a good way to predict if you are at increased risk beyond the conventional lipid panel.”

Lipoprotein (a) testing can also be measured in those whose cholesterol levels do not improve with standard cholesterol-lowering medications, says Associate Professor of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Dr. Stephen Juraschek.

The American Heart Association supports once-in-a-lifetime measurement of lipoprotein (a) in people at risk for cardiovascular disease, differing from practice guidelines across Europe and Canada, which recommend measuring lipoprotein (a) at least once in all adults.

As a result, some insurance plans do not cover lipoprotein (a) testing. Be sure to talk to your doctor about whether lipoprotein (a) testing is appropriate for you.

What can I do if my lipoprotein (a) levels are high?

“Unfortunately, there is no treatment available,” says Ferdinand.

But doctors say knowledge is power — and people with high levels can take other steps to lower their heart disease risk.

For example, efforts should be made to lower LDL to a target level with cholesterol-lowering medications, according to Juraschek. People should also focus on improving “blood pressure, avoidance of smoking, weight loss, physical activity and control of blood glucose levels,” says Ferdinand.

What treatment options are on the horizon to improve lipoprotein (a) levels?

“There are studies now looking at two different medications that specifically target one of the proteins involved in production of lipoprotein (a), and we probably won’t have the results of those clinical trials for another 2-3 more years,” says Professor of Cardiology and Director of the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Roger Blumenthal.

There are eight ongoing clinical trials investigating novel drugs that directly target how lipoprotein (a) is made on a molecular level. All but one of the ongoing trials are using an injectable form of these novel drugs that are administered subcutaneously, or underneath the skin.

“Some of the most advanced of these therapies are in stage 3 trials, which will be needed prior to FDA approval,” says Juraschek.

“Although lipoprotein (a) cannot be lowered through lifestyle modifications, this does not dismiss the importance of building healthy habits,” says Associate Professor of Cardiology and Director of the Preventive Cardiovascular Health Program, Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, Dr. Erica Spatz. “Committing to a regular exercise routine and eating a more plant-forward diet can significantly reduce total cardiovascular risk, which is even more important if lipoprotein (a) is elevated.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.