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(NEW YORK) — People who use their smartphones while sitting on the toilet face are at higher risk for painful, itchy hemorrhoids, according to new research published in the journal PLOS One.

Researchers investigated the bathroom habits of 125 adults undergoing screening colonoscopies at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. About two-thirds of participants reported scrolling through their smartphones while sitting on the toilet.

Those who were glued to their phone while using the bathroom were 46% more likely to have hemorrhoids compared to those who left their device in another room.

“The likely explanation is that prolonged sitting increases pressure in the veins around the rectum, which can contribute to hemorrhoids,” Dr. Ernesto Gonzaga, a gastroenterologist from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and who did not contribute to the study, told ABC News.

Scrollers spent a longer time on the toilet, the researchers found — about five times as many smartphone users logged over five minutes of toilet time per visit. When researchers asked what they were doing on their phones while doing their business, people confessed to catching up on the news, cruising through their social media feeds, or sending emails and texts.

Gonzaga pointed out that phone users also reported getting less exercise than non-users, suggesting that their broader lifestyle patterns could also contribute to their risk of hemorrhoids.

Hemorrhoids are swollen blood vessels around the anus and rectum, according to the National Institutes of Health. They can cause itching, pain and discomfort, and in many cases, they can also lead to rectal bleeding. Studies show that they are common in both men and women and affect about 1 in 20 Americans and about half of adults over 50 years old have hemorrhoids.

They are mainly treated with more fiber and fluids, soothing creams or sitz baths, and in tougher cases, they may require surgery.

“In clinical practice, we still recognize the more classical risk factors for hemorrhoids, including constipation, straining, low fiber intake, prolonged toilet sitting, pregnancy, obesity, and sedentary lifestyle. Constipation and abnormal bowel habits are particularly strong risk factors, while high fiber intake is protective,” Gonzaga said.

Gonzaga noted that the study does have some limitations. It looked at a small number of subjects and relied on self-reporting, so it doesn’t necessarily prove that phone use on the toilet is a direct cause of hemorrhoids, he said. He called for more research to get to the bottom of it.

“Given that hemorrhoids already account for millions of outpatient visits and substantial healthcare costs, these findings raise a broader public health concern about a growing burden of disease, potentially extending into younger populations as smartphone use,” he added.

Noor Shaik, MD, PhD, is a neurology resident physician and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

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(NEW YORK) — A large new study conducted in Spain and Italy found that beta blockers, drugs often used to slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure, did not provide clear benefits for heart attack patients whose hearts were still functioning well.

The results of the study, known as REBOOT, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Saturday and presented during the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2025 in Madrid, Spain.

The REBOOT trial enrolled more than 8,400 patients recovering from a heart attack whose heart function was above 40% and assigned them to either take a beta blocker or no beta blocker within two weeks of leaving the hospital.

Over the course of approximately 3.7 years, there was no significant difference when it came to rates of death from any cause, repeat heart attacks or hospitalization for heart failure between the two groups, according to the study.

In a “subanalysis” of the study, published in the European Heart Journal, researchers specifically looked at outcomes involving the approximately 1,600 women from the original REBOOT trial and isolated their results.

In this case, beta blockers were associated with an increased risk of death from all causes for these women, compared to women who were not taking beta blockers. In contrast, no excess risk was associated with beta blocker use in men.

However, the authors advised that the results should be interpreted with caution as the women enrolled in REBOOT trial were generally older, sicker, and received less treatment for heart attacks than men.

Second study points to benefits of beta blockers
Results from another clinical trial called BETAMI-DANBLOCK — also published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine — appeared to yield yet another finding about beta-blocker use after a heart attack.

Results from this trial of more than 5,000 adults diagnosed with a heart attack and either mildly decreased or intact heart function demonstrated that those treated with beta blockers had fewer new heart attacks in the 3 and 1/2-year study period compared to those who did not take beta blockers after their initial heart attack.

Notably, there was no difference in rates of death, heart failure, stroke or other major heart issues between the two groups.

“The major driver was a reduction in non-fatal heart attack at follow-up,” said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, in an interview with ABC News.

While it is important to acknowledge that the BETAMI-DANBLOCK study found a potential benefit in beta blocker use, it had some limitations. This was a smaller-scale study that combined two clinical trials into one because separately they were not able to enroll enough patients. Different rules for who could join each of the studies in each country may have skewed the results, as well.

“REBOOT was a cleaner study in terms of protocol and inclusion criteria,” said Dr. Steven Pfau, professor of cardiovascular medicine and interventional cardiologist at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.

Notably, REBOOT challenges over 40 years of standardized practice, which calls for patients admitted to the hospital for a heart attack to be started on beta blockers before or shortly after they are discharged.

Cardiologists’ methods for treating heart attacks and opening blockages in the coronary arteries in a timely fashion have improved drastically over the past 10-20 years, experts say. That’s why, in an age of improved medical therapies and procedural interventions for heart attacks, such as better-performing coronary artery stents, it may be time to rethink the long-standing guidance on beta-blocker use, according to some experts.

“Beta blockers were developed at a time before routine reperfusion therapy for acute heart attacks and the evolution of more potent medications, and care has really evolved,” said Fonarow.

Pfau said that neither study makes a compelling case for beta blockers versus no beta blockers for this select group of patients.

“If beta blockers do have an effect, it is probably small, given the other therapies we have,” he said. “It fits the discussion for both studies that, with the way we currently practice, beta blockers potentially add very little to outcomes after a heart attack for patients with preserved heart function and no other pre-existing reason to be on a beta blocker.”

If patients can take beta blockers safely, they should keep using them for now, Fonarow advised. But he also called for more studies to understand which patients benefit the most from this type of medication.

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(NEW YORK) — The first oral pill for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) could be around the corner after pharmaceutical company Apnimed Inc. reported positive results from its stage III clinical trial.

Currently, many people diagnosed with OSA patients require a machine that covers their nose or both the nose and mouth during sleep and delivers air through a mask to help keep their airways open.

Apnimed’s lead candidate AD109 showed “clinically meaningful and statistically significant reductions” in airway obstruction after 26 weeks, the company said in a press release.

AD109, a once-a-day pill, is a neuromuscular modulator that increases upper airway muscle tone, which is how contracted the muscles are in the upper airway.

OSA patients treated with the medication saw a nearly 50% reduction in the severity from baseline at week 26, compared to 6.8% of those in the placebo group.

The reduction was “significant” at the end of the study period, which concluded at 51 weeks. At the end of the trial, nearly 23% of participants saw “complete disease control.”

The results were part of Apnimed’s 12-month study looking at the safety and efficacy of AD109 in adults with mild, moderate and severe OSA.

AD109 was well-tolerated among participants with only mild or moderate adverse events. Which was consistent with prior studies, according to Apnimed. No serious adverse events were reported in the trial.

“With two large Phase 3 studies now demonstrating a consistent and significant efficacy profile for AD109, we are closer to delivering the first oral pharmacotherapy for over 80 million U.S. adults with OSA,” Dr. Larry Miller, CEO of Apnimed, said in a statement. “Given the scale of unmet need in OSA, where the majority of patients remain untreated, we believe AD109, as a simple once-daily oral drug, has the potential to expand and reshape the treatment landscape, which would represent a significant commercial opportunity for Apnimed.”

OSA is a sleep disorder in which the airways become narrowed or blocked while sleeping, causing breathing to pause, according to MedlinePlus.

Soon after falling asleep, people experience loud and heavy snoring. The snoring is often interrupted by a long silent period during which breathing stops and then followed by a loud snort and gasp as the patient attempts to breathe.

This can cause excessive daytime sleepiness and affect quality of life, mental well-being and cardiovascular health.

In addition to a CPAP machine, there are lifestyle changes that people with sleep apnea can make including avoiding alcohol or medications that cause drowsiness and losing excess weight.

Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded approval of Eli Lilly’s obesity medication Zepbound to include treating moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea for people with obesity.

The clinical trial did examine patients with a wide range of “weight classes” and did not see differences in efficacy based on weight.

Apnimed plans to file a New Drug Application with the FDA in early 2026, according to Miller.

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