Millions of patients are harmed each year due to unsafe health care worldwide, resulting in 2.6 million deaths annually in low-and middle-income countries alone. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), most of these deaths are avoidable. The personal, social and economic impact of patient harm leads to losses of trillions of U.S. dollars worldwide.

Taking one daily pill that combined medications to treat high blood pressure and high cholesterol lowered heart disease risk among underserved patients is better than taking several separate medications to treat these risk factors, according to new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine and funded by the American Heart Association (AHA).

A new injury has emerged in this, the digital era: “selfie wrist.” There is no shortage of enthusiastic selfie takers these days, especially among young people, who repeatedly aim their cell phones at themselves in order to visually document their activities, friends and special locations they visit.

Turns out bacteria may transfer to candy that has fallen on the floor no matter how fast you pick it up. Rutgers researchers have disproven the widely accepted notion that it’s okay to scoop up food and eat it within a “safe” five-second window. Donald Schaffner, professor and extension specialist in food science, found that moisture, type of surface and contact time all contribute to cross-contamination.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a highly toxic, lighter than air gas which is most often found in an area surrounding a combustion source (e.g., a furnace, boiler or space heater) where there is insufficient oxygen to allow for complete combustion of fuel in use. Deemed the “silent killer” because it is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and non-irritating, carbon monoxide is virtually impossible to detect without testing.

Many of the products targeted to children, such as toddler formulas, caffeinated beverages and even plant-based/non-dairy drinks like rice and oat milk are NOT on the list of recommended beverages for kids just released by leading medical and nutrition organizations. What did make the list for the birth-to-five-year-old set: breast milk, infant formula, water, and plain milk.

We all know that washing our hands can keep us from spreading germs and getting sick. But a new Rutgers-New Brunswick study found that cool water removes the same amount of harmful bacteria as hot. “People need to feel comfortable when they are washing their hands but as far as effectiveness, this study shows us that the temperature of the water used didn’t matter,” said Donald Schaffner, distinguished professor and extension specialist in food science.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prediabetes is a serious health condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to meet the threshold for type 2 diabetes. The federal agency says that some 84 million Americans ages 18 or older — more than one out of three — have prediabetes but 90% don’t know it.

OSHA reveals the most-cited safety and health violations of the year, research links flavored e-cigarettes to the youth vaping epidemic and the NSC announces plans to issue an opioid help kit for employers. These were among the top occupational safety and health stories featured this week on ISHN.com.