In December 2024, the share of South Koreans ages 65 and older surpassed 20% for the first time, making it what demographers like us call a “super-aged society.” By August 2026 that share had risen further, to 22.1%.

That label can sound like a diagnosis, but population aging is not inherently a problem. In part, it reflects ...Read more

The Tampa Bay Times reported the death of an elderly woman on Sept. 8, 2026. Her family says local doctors attributed her death to dengue fever, although the Florida Department of Health has not yet confirmed that.

This death was likely part of a larger dengue outbreak in Hillsborough County, where there have been 95 documented cases ...Read more

WAIANAE, Hawai‘i — Native Hawaiians will need to comply with new work requirements to qualify for Medicaid after being excluded from exemptions carved out for other Indigenous groups, an omission that clinicians fear will exacerbate the challenges the marginalized population already faces in getting healthcare.

In 43 states and the District...Read more

DENVER — Colorado had one of the lowest measles vaccination rates in the country for kindergarteners during the last school year, but that appears to reflect a large number of kids arriving at school without records, rather than an unusually high opt-out rate.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated about 87.7% of ...Read more

People are living longer, reshaping what it means to grow old.

By the late 2060s, an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide will be age 60 or older – more than the number of people under 18. The population age 80 and older is expected to grow even faster, more than tripling between 2023 and 2060 to about 545 million.

Living ...Read more

Nearly 70,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2025. While that is a decline from the nearly 108,000 deaths recorded in 2022, these grim figures distinguish the U.S. from other high-income countries. At the peak of the opioid crisis, the U.S. overdose death rate was 68% higher than Canada’s and nearly five times that of Australia.

...Read more

Shingles can cause pain that is notoriously difficult to manage and can last for months to years for some people. The pain can be so severe that it causes a significant decline in quality of life and can be accompanied by suicidal thoughts and emotional distress.

If the pain lasts longer than three months, doctors call the condition ...Read more

A relationship is a social connection we share with others. Our relationships can include friends, family, dating partners, classmates, teammates and more. Relationships of any type can occur on a spectrum, from healthy to unhealthy to abusive. Knowing how to recognize healthy, unhealthy and abusive relationships is an important skill.

What ...Read more

A new report found that Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium best known for causing stomach ulcers, may be associated with one in five cases of bowel cancer worldwide.

Although H. pylori infects nearly half of adults, the authors cautioned that their findings do not prove the bacterium causes bowel cancer. Also known as colorectal cancer, the ...Read more

Penn Medicine researchers are testing whether an ultrafast form of radiation therapy can treat cancers in the head and neck with fewer side effects.

The clinical trial marks the first time the technology, conformal FLASH proton therapy, is being used in humans.

Radiation therapy, one of the most commonly used cancer treatments, works by aiming...Read more

TROY, N.Y. — Like many residents of this aging industrial city on the Hudson River, Starletta Washington was stunned when she heard Troy’s last remaining hospital planned to close its birthing center.

“It was devastating,” said Washington, who heads the local YWCA. Washington was born at the hospital and had her children there. She ...Read more

The massive diarrhea-causing parasitic outbreak that sickened tens of thousands of people across 21 states over the summer has ended, though officials continue to investigate the cause of contamination.

On Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the cyclosporiasis outbreak officially over, saying the number of ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Four Pennsylvanians who were vaccinated against measles have contracted the highly contagious illness, state officials announced Friday.

Called “breakthrough cases,” such infections in vaccinated people are rare, but sometimes occur if someone’s immune system “did not respond as well” as most patients’ to the ...Read more

DETROIT — Gladys Knight's husband had no interest in cutting back the 82-year-old star's touring schedule despite assertions to the contrary, her son contends.

Knight, the early Motown star known as the "Empress of Soul" for tracks such as "Midnight Train to Georgia," has continued touring after she announced on Aug. 27 that she would cut ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Retired Philadelphia Police Capt. Mark Fisher gets winded and lightheaded while emptying the dishwasher or pushing his gas-powered lawnmower, his lungs forever scarred by the ankle-deep ash that he trudged through at ground zero.

When Fisher arrived at the nation’s worst crime scene, two days after the Sept. 11, 2001, ...Read more

If you’ve been following the dispute between Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., you probably know that it centers on the deaths of two infants in Lancaster County in late August 2026.

And you may be aware that despite the county coroner’s confirmation that one infant died ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I recently read that Mayo Clinic researchers discovered DNA changes linked to Alzheimer's disease. Does this mean scientists are getting closer to preventing or curing Alzheimer's disease?

ANSWER: Research advances are helping scientists better understand Alzheimer's disease, but no single study has found a cure or identified ...Read more

Illinois is issuing its own guidance about flu, COVID-19 and RSV vaccinations for this fall – amid continuing confusion over federal vaccine recommendations.

The Illinois Department of Public Health on Thursday released its guidance for this fall respiratory virus season, with recommendations including:

• Flu vaccines for everyone ages 6 ...Read more