Menopause education needed in residency programs; More gay and bisexual men allowed to donate blood; Heart disease death rates falling - Morning Medical Update

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Menopause education needed in residency programs

A new survey reveals a lack of standardized menopause curriculum for residents even though 90 million women in the United States will be postmenopausal by the year 2060. Only 31.3% of programs in the study reported that they had any type of menopause curriculum.

More gay and bisexual men allowed to donate blood

Many more gay and bisexual men are allowed to donate blood thanks to a new American Red Cross policy. The new policy accepts donations from men in monogamous relationships with other men, as well as those who have not recently engaged in anal sex. The Food and Drug Administration forbids anyone regardless of their sex who “reports that within the past three months they have had a new sexual partner or multiple partners and who during that time have had anal sex,” according to a news release.

Heart disease death rates falling

Heart disease death rates have dropped 4% in the last 30 years according to a study published in the American Heart Journal. However, this rate has stalled due to persistent rates of obesity, smoking, and drinking. “We need to maximize returns from our limited resources by identifying high-risk subsets of patients and targeting intervention to them," Cande Ananth, study lead author said in an article.