Two Years Later, 988 Crisis Line Has Answered 10 Million Requests

Just two years after the launch of the nation's three-digit crisis hotline, more than 10 million calls, texts and chat messages have been fielded by counselors, U.S. health officials announced Tuesday.

Introduced in July 2022 to simplify emergency calls and help counter a burgeoning mental health crisis in the United States, 988 was toute...

Are You & Your Partner in a 'Sleep Divorce?' You're Not Alone

Many couples may be painfully familiar with the scenario: One partner snores loudly all night long, so the other partner seeks better sleep in another bed.

Now, a new survey from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) shows just how common the practice of "sleep divorce" is: 29% of Americans have opted to sleep in another bed in t...

Biking, Walking to Work a Game-Changer for Health

Bicycling to work can vastly improve your health and reduce your risk of death, a new study shows.

People who bike commute have a 47% lower overall risk of an early death, researchers found.

They also are less likely to develop heart disease, cancer and mental health problems, results show.

Walking to work also conferred some h...

Does Exercise Near Bedtime Really Disrupt Sleep? Maybe Not

Exercise near bedtime won’t necessarily wreck a person’s sleep, a new study says.

Intense exercise is typically discouraged as bedtime approaches, since such activity can disturb sleep by increasing body temperature and heart rate, researchers said.

But short resistance exercise "activity breaks" at regular intervals can actually...

'Staying Regular' Is Good for Good Health

Being regular is good for you, a new study shows.

Predictable bowel movements could be tied to your long-term health, allowing your body to absorb essential nutrients without producing harmful organ-damaging toxins, researchers found.

The “Goldilocks zone” of bowel movement frequency, once or twice a day, is associated with bette...

Hormone Therapy for Breast Cancer May Lower Dementia Risk

Hormone therapy for breast cancer might reduce a woman’s later risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, a new study finds.

Overall, hormone therapy is associated with a 7% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s or a related dementia later in life, according to findings published July 16 in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Parents, Take Note: Survey Shows Teens Need More Support Than They Get

As millions of American teens continue to struggle with their mental health, a new survey reveals a sizable gap between how much support teens say they get and how much support their parents think they are getting.

In the report, published Tuesday by the National Center for Health Statistics, just over a quarter of teens said they always ...

Long COVID Rates Are Expected to Decline: Study

People's odds for Long COVID appear to be declining with the advent of new variants of the virus, along with repeat infections and vaccinations, new research shows.

That suggests that the average person's chances of developing long-term symptoms is falling over time, concluded a team from Germany.

"Although the cause of post-COVID-1...

Blood Test Shows Promise in Spotting Preeclampsia Before Symptoms Surface

An experimental blood test could help detect pregnant women at increased risk for preeclampsia, a serious high blood pressure condition that can harm both mother and child.

Researchers report the test looks at genetic markers found in tiny particles called extracellular vesicles that transfer information between human cells.

Women wi...

U.S. Stroke Survival Is Improving, But Race Still Plays Role

There's good news and bad for stroke survival in the United States: New research shows that Americans are now more likely to survive long-term, but that's more true for whites than for Black Americans.

At least for a sample of people living in the greater Cincinnati area, "we saw that there clearly has been an improvement in five-year mort...

How Early Antibiotic Use Could Raise Kids' Asthma Risk

Early exposure to antibiotics might increase a kid’s risk of asthma by altering their gut bacteria, a new mouse study finds.

Antibiotics could specifically lower gut production of indole propionic acid (IPA), a biochemical that's crucial to long-term protection against asthma, researchers reported July 15 in the journal Immunity...

Could Living in Poor Neighborhoods Fuel Prostate Cancer in Black Men? Study Says It Might

The stress of living in a poor neighborhood might contribute to higher rates of aggressive prostate cancer in Black men, a new study warns.

Black men are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than white men, and more likely to develop it as well, the researchers noted.

This could be due in part to living in disadvanta...

How to Predict Who Will Respond to Glaucoma Treatment -- and Who Won't

An experimental blood test might be able to predict whether glaucoma patients will continue to lose their vision following treatment, researchers report.

A biochemical called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) tends to be lower in people with glaucoma compared to those without the eye disease, researchers found.

What’s more, g...

Safe Pregnancies Possible After Stem Cell Treatment for Blood Cancer

Women who've undergone stem cell treatments for blood cancers, or for illnesses such as sickle cell disease, can successfully bring a pregnancy to term, new research shows.

The German findings run counter to the perceived wisdom on this issue: Many such patients are typically told that safe pregnancies are out of the question if t...

Shannen Doherty Dies of Breast Cancer at 53

Actress Shannen Doherty, best known for her roles in 1990s television hits such as “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Charmed," has died at 53 after a long struggle with breast cancer.

In a statement, Doherty's publicist, Leslie Sloane, said she died Saturday at her home in Malibu, Calif.

According to the New York Times, Doh...

Global Childhood Vaccination Rates Still Haven't Recovered from Pandemic Declines

More than four years after the pandemic began, childhood vaccination rates worldwide have yet to recover, a new report shows.

The latest data, issued Monday by the World Health Organization and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), underscore the need for continuing to try to catch-up to pre-pandemic levels...

Five Cases of Bird Flu Reported in Colorado Poultry Workers

Five poultry workers in Colorado have been diagnosed with bird flu, state health officials reported Sunday.

"In coordination with the Colorado Department of Agriculture, the State Emergency Operations Center and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment [CDPHE] is now reporting a t...

Thinking of a Switch Away from Meat? Your Genes May Be Key

Pondering a move to a vegetarian or vegan diet? Your heart might be in it, but your genes might not, a new study says.

Genetics are an important part of whether a person responds well or poorly to a vegetarian diet, researchers said.

People with a specific genetic variant can see increased calcium levels after going vegetarian, which...

New Drug Tames Stress Incontinence in Clinical Trial

An experimental drug appears to help women deal with stress incontinence, clinical trial data show.

The drug, for now dubbed TAS-303, reduced the frequency of leaks related to stress incontinence by about 58%, compared with 47% reduction in a placebo group, trial results show.

Further, about 65% of patients taking TAS-303 had their s...

Late Cancer Diagnosis Biggest Health Concern for Most, Poll Shows

MONDAY, July 15, 2024 (HealthDay News) — When it comes to health worries, cancer leads the way, a new poll shows. 

The University of Cambridge poll included 2,000 adults who said their biggest concern is getting diagnosed with cancer when it's too late to treat it. Seven in 10 respondents have that fear, while 52% fret about th...