A common myth about aging is that older adults are burdened by illness and feel lousy much of the time. In fact, the opposite is usually true. Most seniors report feeling distinctly positive about their health.

Consider data from the 2017 National Health Interview Survey (the most recent available), administered by the U.S. Centers for Disease ...Read more

Sales of purported brain-health supplements such as fish oil and jellyfish are expected to reach $5.8 billion by 2023, but in a report released recently, an AARP panel of brain experts called them a huge waste of money for healthy seniors seeking to avoid or reverse dementia.

"The market is so large they get by without rigorous documentation of...Read more

A new Trump administration proposal would change the civil rights rules dictating whether providers must care for patients who are transgender or have had an abortion. Supporters of the approach say it protects the freedom of conscience, but opponents say it encourages discrimination.

The sweeping proposal has implications for all Americans, ...Read more

Dear Mayo Clinic: I was just diagnosed with a cataract, but it's not bothering me at all. Is it a good idea to have cataract surgery now, or can I wait? What is the recovery from this surgery like?

A: It's not uncommon for a cataract to develop slowly, so you may not notice vision problems right away or the problems may be minimal. Eventually, ...Read more

CHICAGO -- As the nation inches closer to the 2020 presidential election, issues with the U.S. health care system are moving into the spotlight.

At stake: the future of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare; proposals to expand "Medicare for All"; and ideas to target high drug prices. They're all topics sure to spark fierce debate in...Read more

Dear Mayo Clinic: Is there a specific test to definitively diagnose fibromyalgia? If not, how do doctors confidently diagnose this disorder?

A: No one test can be used to diagnose fibromyalgia. But unlike in the past, fibromyalgia is no longer a diagnosis of exclusion, which means that all other conditions that could trigger similar symptoms ...Read more

Nearly half of black men who come to a Philadelphia hospital with a physical injury -- anything from a sports accident to a gunshot wound -- develop depression or post traumatic stress disorder in the following months, a new study found.

The research, conducted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, was published in JAMA Surgery. ...Read more

First it was her husband. Then it was herself.

But actress Marcia Cross is determined it won't be their daughters.

The "Desperate Housewives" star is speaking out about the human papillomavirus, commonly known as HPV.

Cross' husband, actor Tom Mahoney, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2009, and Cross found out a year and a half ago she had...Read more

Fifty years ago, children with an aggressive form of leukemia went from diagnosis to death in a few months, as the disease rampaged through their lymph nodes, spleens, livers, and nervous systems.

Today, 90% of children with the blood malignancy, called acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), are cured.

That success story -- one with deep ...Read more

Cells as old as the body itself predominate in the brain. But they are also found in other organs, according to a study in mice led by scientists from the Salk Institute and UC San Diego. Moreover, some organs contain a mixture of old and young cells, and even old and young proteins.

If the findings can be extended to people, it could have ...Read more

Amanda Bacon's eating disorder was growing worse. She had lost 60% of her body weight and was consuming about 100 calories a day.

But that wasn't sick enough for her Medicaid managed-care company to cover an inpatient treatment program. She was told in 2017 that she would have to weigh 10 pounds less -- putting her at 5-foot-7 and 90 pounds -- ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- When Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee last month signed a law creating a new health plan alternative for Washington state residents, many accounts proclaimed Washington to be the first state with a "public option."

But the term is difficult to define -- even the word "public" is slippery in the context of health care.

"Public option ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- People with symptoms of a heart attack are less likely to visit the emergency room if they lack health insurance, studies have found.

So in 2014, when the Affordable Care Act allowed states to expand the number of residents eligible for Medicaid, that suggested a real-life experiment to a team of University of Pennsylvania ...Read more

Dear Mayo Clinic: My father, who is 68, just started treatment for bladder cancer. He's been a smoker since his 20s, and his oncologist is strongly encouraging him to quit. It seems like trying to stop smoking now, while he's going through chemotherapy, will just add more stress to a tough situation. Is this really the best time to work on his ...Read more

Corporate-backed groups that seek to weaken unions through legal challenges and public policy have set their sights on home-care workers -- one of the fastest-growing professions in the country, but also one of the lowest-paid among such jobs.

Most recently, the Trump administration issued a Department of Health and Human Services rule that ...Read more