People buying pills that look like prescription opioid painkillers or stimulants who are not buying them from a licensed pharmacy may be buying a lethal drug, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warned this week.

This was the first public safety alert the DEA has issued in six years, CNN reported.

Many of these counterfeit pills are laced with fentanyl and methamphetam...

Weight loss surgery is riskier for men than women, with males five times more likely to die within 30 days of the procedure, a new study finds.

Moreover, men's odds of dying over the long run are almost three times higher, said researchers who looked at thousands of weight loss (bariatric) procedures in obese patients in Austria.

The reason? Compared to women, men who opt for weight...

A record increase was seen in the number of murders in the United States in 2020, in the biggest one-year jump reported since federal officials began tracking homicides in 1960.

Figures showed 4,901 more murders committed in 2020 than in 2019. A total of roughly 21,500 people were killed last year, according to data from 16,000 law enforcement agencies across the country. While the number...

The death of eight babies has prompted the Boppy Company and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to recall more than 3 million baby loungers, they announced Thursday.

A year ago, the CPSC issued a safety warning about similar pillow-like baby products, CBS News reported.

When babies are placed on their back, side, or stomach on these loungers there is a dange...

As the highly contagious Delta variant has swept across the United States, the country has reached a tragic milestone.

COVID-19 has now killed more Americans than the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic did, when roughly 675,000 people died.

It didn't have to be that way.

"Big pockets of American society -- and worse, their leaders -- have thrown this away" by not getting vaccinated, Dr...

An animal tranquilizer, xylazine, is increasingly linked to drug overdose deaths across the United States, health officials say.

According to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, xylazine has turned up in overdose deaths in 25 of 38 states examined. In 2019, xylazine contributed to death in 64% of cases and almost always also involved fentanyl.

The ...

Hospitalized opioid addicts die at a rate similar to people who have a heart attack after leaving the hospital.

Nearly 8% of patients addicted to opioids died within 12 months of hospital discharge, according to researchers from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

"We need systems that can address comprehensive needs of people with substance use disorder and serious medical i...

Logging and landscaping are the most dangerous jobs in America, a new study finds.

The risk of death for loggers is more than 30 times higher than for all U.S. workers. Tree care workers also encounter hazards at rates far higher than a typical worker.

"This was the first research to look at commercial logging and landscaping services together," said Judd Michael, a professor of agr...

Older adults who are socially isolated are more likely to experience serious disability or die after a stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), new research reveals.

"This important research finding sheds light on a crucial health care issue that has become more dire during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dr. E. Albert Reece, dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, in Baltimore....

Wildfires are killing people around the world -- even those with limited exposure to wildfire-related pollution, an international team of researchers reports.

The new research revealed that short-term exposure to wildfire-related fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air is i...

A high amount of coronavirus in the lungs is a major contributor to death in COVID-19 patients, new research shows.

The findings challenge previous theories that simultaneous infections such as pneumonia or an overreaction of the body's immune system are significant factors in COVID-19 deaths, the researchers noted.

To come to that conclusion, the investigators analyzed bacterial an...

Coronavirus cases and deaths in Florida are at record highs as the Delta variant ravages the state and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis holds firm on forbidding vaccine and mask mandates.

As of Tuesday, Florida had reported a record average of 227 COVID-19 deaths a day this week, and the average number of new known cases reached 23,314 a day on the weekend, 30% higher than the state's previou...

The United States' early rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations may have saved nearly 140,000 lives, a new study suggests.

Using data on state vaccination campaigns and COVID-19 deaths, researchers estimate that immunizations prevented 139,393 deaths nationwide between December 2020 and early May 2021.

On the state level, vaccinations prevented an average of five deaths for every 10,000 r...

It can take years for a survivor of a traumatic event to recover from the loss of a loved one, new research shows, but treating the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) early may help prevent what's called complicated grief.

"Grief is a normal response to the loss of someone close, but traumatic losses may severely harm survivors for years," said lead study author Kristin Alv...

Widowers have a higher risk for advanced prostate cancer than men who are part of a couple, Canadian researchers say.

The new findings are from an analysis of 12 studies comparing 14,000 men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer and 12,000 healthy men.

The study -- recently published in the European Journal of Epidemiology -- suggests that social environment is an important ...

With apologies to William Shakespeare, this is the stuff bad dreams are made of: Sleep apnea may double your risk for sudden death.

The condition -- in which a person's airway is repeatedly blocked during sleep, causing pauses in breathing -- may also increase the risk for high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure, new research shows.

"This [study] ad...

A proposed $26 billion settlement on opioid-related lawsuits has been reached with four large drug companies, a group of state attorneys general announced Wednesday.

If enough states sign on to the deal with the country's three major drug distributors -- Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson -- and pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, the companies could be released from all ...

In yet another finding that illustrates the tragic toll the pandemic has taken on families around the world, a new study shows that 1.5 million children have lost a parent, grandparent or other caregiver to COVID-19.

"For every two COVID-19 deaths worldwide, one child is left behind to face the death of a parent or caregiver. By April 30, 2021, these 1.5 million children had become the tr...

While there's been much talk about pandemic lockdowns being a burden on people's health, new research finds the effects of large COVID-19 outbreaks are typically worse.

"It is unlikely that government interventions have been worse than the pandemic itself in most situations," say the authors of an international study published July 19 in the BMJ Global Health.

There's been ...

Could cholesterol-lowering statins help lower your risk of dying from COVID-19?

For patients with a history of high blood pressure or heart disease, the answer appears to be yes. At least that's the conclusion of a new study that enlisted roughly 10,500 patients across 104 U.S. hospitals between January and September of 2020.

All had been admitted with a serious bout of COVID-19. Pr...

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria is causing deadly pneumonia infections among large numbers of children in the South Asian nation of Bangladesh, a rising threat that could one day reach American shores, experts warn.

Doctors found these "superbug" bacteria in more than three of four children with a positive blood culture for bacterial pneumonia while being treated at a major Bangladesh hospi...

Climate change has already become deadly enough to cause 5 million extra deaths worldwide each year, researchers report.

"This is the first study to get a global overview of mortality due to non-optimal temperature conditions between 2000 and 2019, the hottest period since the pre-industrial era," said study co-leader Yuming Guo, a professor at Monash University in Australia.

The fi...

A steep rise in vaccination rates has dropped COVID-19 from the first to the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, a new analysis shows.

The disease was the third leading cause of death for much of 2020, but became the leading cause of death in December 2020 and early 2021, reaching a peak of 3,136 deaths per day in January 2021 and far surpassing U.S. deaths from heart dis...

Planning to celebrate the Fourth of July with a traditional Southern-style spread of fried chicken, pork rinds, buttermilk biscuits and sweet tea?

Don't make it an everyday habit.

These staples of a regional diet heavy in fried foods, fats and sugary drinks may boost your odds for sudden cardiac death, a new study warns.

The good news: You might be able to lower that risk by ...

Men, take note: An unhappy marriage might end in divorce, but staying unhappily hitched could also raise your risk of stroke or early death, a new Israeli study suggests.

The increased risk was as much as that seen with smoking or a 'couch potato' lifestyle, said lead researcher Shahar Lev-Ari, chair of health promotion at Tel Aviv University School of Public Health.

Israeli men who...

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a significant blow to life expectancy in the United States, researchers say.

Overall, American life expectancy dropped by just over one year in 2020. But researchers found the pandemic hit minority groups even harder, shaving more than three years off the life expectancy of Hispanic people and almost two years off that of Black people.

The numbers "give y...

The United States reached two promising pandemic milestones on Monday: COVID-19 deaths dropped below 300 a day and 150 million Americans are now fully vaccinated.

COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in America in 2020, behind only heart disease and cancer, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But as the pandemic loosens its grip on this country, it h...

A rising number of young Americans, including children, are taking their own lives using firearms, a new study finds.

Researchers found that between 2008 and 2018, gun suicides showed an "alarming" increase among Americans aged 5 to 24. And while those suicides remain rare among children, the rate among kids under 15 quadrupled during the study period.

It's well known that youth sui...

If you're obese, you're far more likely to have long-lasting health issues if you get COVID-19 and survive, a new study warns.

You are more likely than patients who aren't obese to be hospitalized. You're more likely wind up in the intensive care unit, need to be put on a ventilator and suffer from long-haul COVID than patients who aren't obese, researchers reported.

"About 40% of C...

A combination of poor sleep and diabetes significantly increases a person's risk of early death, a new study finds.

The analysis of data from nearly 500,000 middle-aged adults in the United Kingdom showed that compared to other folks, the risk of death from any cause over nearly nine years was 87% higher among those with diabetes and frequent sleep disturbances. It was 12% higher among th...

In rural America, more people die from chronic health conditions and substance abuse than in suburbs and cities, and the gap is widening.

Researchers report in a new study that the difference in rural and urban death rates tripled over the past 20 years mostly due to deaths among middle-aged white men and women.

"We looked at all-cause death, and found that instead of the difference...

Human-caused global warming is responsible for more than one-third of heat-related deaths worldwide, but the proportion is much higher in certain countries, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed data gathered between 1991 and 2018 from 732 locations in 43 countries. They concluded that 37% of all heat-related deaths in recent summer periods were attributable to the warming of the planet...

Rising temperatures caused by climate change could trigger a worldwide increase in stillbirths, researchers warn.

The team at the University of Queensland in Australia analyzed 12 studies on the subject. They found that exposure to extremely high temperatures throughout pregnancy appeared to increase risk of stillbirth, particularly late in pregnancy.

"Overall, risk of stillbirth ap...

COVID-19 caused nearly 1 million excess deaths in 29 wealthy nations in 2020, with the United States claiming the highest number, researchers report.

Excess deaths refer to the number of deaths above what's expected during a given time period.

Overall, there were an estimated 979,000 excess deaths in the 29 countries last year.

The five countries with the highest number of ex...

The fully vaccinated will soon be welcome to visit countries in the European Union, officials there announced Wednesday.

The new measures for tourists and other travelers could take effect as early as next week, The New York Times reported.

Visitors will be allowed into the bloc's 27 member states if they've been fully immunized with vaccines approved by the European Union...

Neurological problems are occurring in a very high percentage of hospitalized COVID-19 patients -- and what's worse, those symptoms foretell a bad end for many sufferers, a new study finds.

About four out of five people sick enough to be hospitalized for COVID-19 suffer some sort of neurological problem, ranging from headache and a loss of sense of smell to confusion, delirium, stroke a...

New research gives insight into why people with epilepsy are at increased risk of sudden death during sleep.

The study found that both sleep and epileptic seizures work together to slow heart rate, and that seizures also disrupt the body's natural regulation of sleep-related changes.

These factors can sometimes lead to sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), which caused the 20...

The risk of dying within five years of a heart attack is notably higher among poor Americans than their wealthier peers, but race also plays a role, a new study reveals.

While Black residents of poor neighborhoods appear to face a higher risk of death than their counterparts in wealthier ZIP codes, poor Black patients are also more likely to die after a heart attack than poor white patien...

In a sign that the coronavirus pandemic is beginning to ebb in America, a new analysis finds the seven-day average of new COVID-19 deaths in the United States has hit its lowest point since last October.

As of Wednesday, 684 new deaths had been reported, data from Johns Hopkins University showed. That's roughly an 80% drop since January, CNN reported. And the decline has bee...

The more gun laws a state has, the lower its suicide and murder rates, a new U.S. study finds.

Gun violence in the United States is a public health crisis. In 2017, nearly 67,000 Americans died by suicide and homicide. And guns were involved in about half of the suicides and 74% of the murders, the researchers reported.

But in recent decades, "as states' strictness [on gun ownership...

While U.S. federal government experts probe potential risks of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, what do you need to know if you have had the one-dose COVID shot or hope to get it?

Experts at the American Heart Association (AHA) describe what to look out for.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration paused administration of the J&J (Ja...

Americans were living shorter lives and dying at a significantly higher rate than the citizens of wealthy European countries even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, a new study reports.

The United States suffered more than 400,000 excess deaths in 2017 alone, pre-COVID, compared to the combined populations of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, England and Wales, said senior researcher Samue...

Exercise guards against a host of chronic diseases that can plague people as they age, but can it also protect against severe cases of COVID-19?

New research suggests that's so: Being physically active reduced COVID-19 patients' risk of hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and death, and even being just somewhat active provided some protection.

"This is a wake-up cal...

As the coronavirus pandemic continues in the United States, less than half of older Americans have legally stated their wishes should they become seriously ill, a new survey finds.

People 50 and older are at increased risk for severe COVID-19, and the pandemic may be an opportunity for them to discuss health care issues with their family and document their preferences if they suffer sever...

More than 40,000 U.S. kids have lost a parent to COVID-19 and the long-term impacts could be severe, experts warn.

Americans under age 65 account for about 1 in 5 COVID deaths. Of those, as many as 15% involve someone in their 40s and 3% someone in their 40s.

"In these younger age groups, substantial numbers of people have children, for whom the loss of a parent is a potentially dev...

COVID-19 was the major cause of a nearly 23% increase in U.S. deaths during the last 10 months of 2020.

Researchers noted that the rate of excess deaths in the United States -- those above the number that would be expected based on averages from the previous five years -- tends to be consistent at about 1% to 2% a year.

But between March 1, 2020 and Jan. 2, 2021, excess deaths rose ...

Heart disease is gaining on cancer as the leading cause of death among American women under 65.

"Young women in the United States are becoming less healthy, which is now reversing prior improvements seen in heart disease deaths for the gender," said Dr. Erin Michos, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. She's the co-author of a new study that inv...

In a finding that illustrates the heavy toll the pandemic has taken on America, a new government report confirms that COVID-19 became the third leading cause of death in 2020.

Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that more than 547,000 lives have been lost to COVID-19 since the pandemic began last spring. Only the two long-term biggest killers, hea...

New research offers insight into why regular, long-term use of low-dose aspirin may reduce the risk of death from colon and rectal cancers.

Resarchers found that aspirin prevents blood cells called platelets from producing an enzyme that allows them to clump together. Tumor cells can attach to these clumps and spread (metastasize) throughout the body.

"Aspirin inhibits platelet act...

California's strict limits on diesel air pollution appear to have paid off.

Since the limits were added in 1990, diesel exhaust-related deaths have been halved, with the largest reductions in deaths seen in lower-income communities, a new study finds.

By 2014, California saw a 78% decrease in diesel emissions, while diesel emissions in the United States fell by only 51%.

The ...