Twelve-year-old Kristine Williams has logged a lot of time in the emergency room since she was diagnosed with mental health conditions about four years ago. But she has not been treated during any of her visits.

Mostly, the Elkton girl sits and waits -- for up to 24 hours a visit -- as hospital staff search for appropriate care elsewhere.

...Read more

Bad news, night owls.

Evening types have a 10 percent higher risk of dying than those up and at 'em in the morning, according to a new study from Northwestern Medicine and the United Kingdom's University of Surrey.

"This is the first study, to our knowledge, that was able to look at mortality risk," said Kristen Knutson, an associate professor...Read more

You see the labels out there -- organic, cage-free, natural -- but what does it all mean?

If you're trying to make better shopping choices for the environment by choosing "greener" or ethically made products, you're going to be bombarded by dozens of labels purporting to measure up to a certain standard, and probably charging more money for the...Read more

By now you are probably used to the probing questions your doctor asks during your annual checkup.

How have you been sleeping lately? Any increased stress at work? Problems at home? Have you engaged in any risky sexual activity?

Don't be surprised if, in the future, the questioning turns to guns.

With gun violence on the rise over the past ...Read more

Women are nearly twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with depression. Depression can occur at any age.

Some mood changes and depressed feelings occur with normal hormonal changes. But hormonal changes alone don't cause depression. Other biological factors, inherited traits, and personal life circumstances and experiences are associated with ...Read more

When you think of dementia, most people automatically think of Alzheimer's disease, too. But, under a new definition of Alzheimer's, the two terms no longer will be considered interchangeable.

The new definition is part of a new framework for researching Alzheimer's disease that the Alzheimer's Association and the National Institute on Aging ...Read more

The state of the union's health is improving. But it is doing so very unequally, and recent signs of progress are in danger of being reversed by diseases of excess and despair, including obesity, depression, suicide and substance abuse.

Those are the broad conclusions of a new roundup of Americans' vital signs published Tuesday in the Journal ...Read more

WASHINGTON--An estimated 20,000 poor parents in Mississippi would lose health coverage over five years under a state proposal to require Medicaid recipients to work for their benefits, researchers at Georgetown University reported Tuesday.

Childless adults aren't eligible for coverage under Medicaid in Mississippi, where children, seniors, low-...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- In one of the most aggressive efforts in the nation to curb soaring health care spending, a California measure introduced Monday would put the state in charge of setting prices for hospital stays, doctor's visits and most other medical services covered by commercial insurers.

The bill, backed by labor unions and consumer ...Read more

Do you catch yourself yawning during the day and yearning for an afternoon nap? You could be at more risk for Alzheimer's disease. A recent study published in JAMA Neurology found a potential link between excessive daytime sleepiness and the memory loss disease. Researchers took a look at imaging scans of the brains of several hundred patients ...Read more

According to Dr. Tarek Khalife, a Mayo Clinic Health System OB-GYN physician, ectopic pregnancies are rare. However, he says in the off chance an ectopic pregnancy is discovered, it's a situation that must be taken seriously. Often, patients have questions and are looking for answers to understand this condition.

"Ectopic pregnancy occurs when ...Read more

Uterine fibroids are common. Approximately 80 percent of black women and 70 percent of white women will develop fibroids in their lifetimes. Dr. Ebbie Stewart, a Mayo Clinic OB-GYN, says research has been scarce, and this may be one reason why myths about the condition exist.

Stewart says fibroids are noncancerous growths of the uterus.

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Overweight patients are often told that extra pounds are bad for their hearts.

It turns out the heart itself may be "talking" to fat.

That is the thrust of ongoing research by cardiologist Walter J. Koch, a professor at Temple University's Katz School of Medicine.

Koch was awarded a $1 million grant from the American Heart Association this ...Read more

ATLANTA -- While public safety commissioner Bull Connor's police dogs in 1963 attacked civil rights protesters in Birmingham, Ala., leaders in Martin Luther King Jr.'s hometown of Atlanta were burnishing its reputation as "the city too busy to hate."

Yet 50 years after the civil rights leader was killed, some public health leaders here wonder ...Read more