Health Advice

/

Health

Kevin Painchaud/KFF Health News/TNS

A mom's $97,000 question: How was her baby's air-ambulance ride not medically necessary?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Sara England was putting together Ghostbusters costumes for Halloween when she noticed her baby wasn’t doing well.

Her 3-month-old son, Amari Vaca, had undergone open-heart surgery two months before, so she called his cardiologist, who recommended getting him checked out. England assigned Amari’s grandparents to trick-or-treat duty with his...Read more

Tezzstock/Dreamstime/TNS

What's lurking in your body? Mayo probes health risks of tiny plastic particles

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Similar to natural elements like iron and copper, people can ingest, absorb or even inhale microplastics and nanoplastics and their chemical additives. A landmark study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine links microplastics and nanoplastics found in plaques of human blood vessels to a potential increased risk of heart attack, ...Read more

Phil Galewitz/KFF Health News/TNS

COVID and Medicare payments spark remote patient monitoring boom

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Billy Abbott, a retired Army medic, wakes at 6 every morning, steps on the bathroom scale, and uses a cuff to take his blood pressure.

The devices send those measurements electronically to his doctor in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and a health technology company based in New York, to help him control his high blood pressure.

Nurses with the company,...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Why are Black people more likely to develop glaucoma? Scientists discovered new clues in the largest study of its kind

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A team led by University of Pennsylvania scientists has discovered three genetic variants that offer the first strong clues as to why glaucoma disproportionately affects Black people.

The variants are common in people with African ancestry and are associated with a significantly higher risk of developing the sight-robbing disease, the ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Telehealth sites promise cure for 'male menopause' despite FDA ban on off-label ads

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Online stores sprang up during the COVID-19 pandemic’s telehealth boom touting testosterone as a cure-all for men’s age-related illnesses — despite FDA rules issued years ago restricting such “low testosterone” advertising.

In ads on Google, Facebook, and elsewhere, testosterone telemedicine websites may promise a quick fix for ...Read more

Tatyana Gladskikh/DREAMSTIME/TNS

Mayo Clinic Minute: Wash your pet's food and water bowls to prevent salmonella

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Salmonella is a bacterial infection that can cause fever, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. It can be transmitted from contaminated food, such as raw meat or eggs. But what you may not know is that your pets — and the food they eat — could carry salmonella, which can make you and your family sick.

In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Dr....Read more

Ivan Couronne/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Few states cover fertility treatment for same-sex couples, but that could be changing

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Elizabeth Bauer was working out at the gym one morning last August when she got a phone call from her fertility nurse. It was a call that Bauer and her wife, Rebecca, had long been waiting for.

Elizabeth dialed in Rebecca so they could listen together: They were pregnant.

The Washington, D.C., couple decided before they got married three years...Read more

Environmental Nutrition: Spotlight on supplements: Hibiscus

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Hibiscus is more than just a pretty flower.

Overview

Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is a well-known flower that can be consumed as a tea or in supplements. It contains a range of bioactive compounds such as anthocyanins, proanthocyanins, and flavonols. Due to the complexity of its composition, different hibiscus preparations may have different...Read more

7 superfoods with calcium

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Calcium is essential to maintaining healthy teeth and bones. And now there is some research that shows that calcium might help with blood pressure control, says Tara Collingwood, a registered dietitian (RDN) in private practice in Orlando, Florida. But do you know how much calcium you need each day, and which foods will get you the most bang for...Read more

Kidneys, eyes, ears, and more: Why do we have a spare?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

One of the many underappreciated things about the human body is that it has a lot of excess capacity. That is, our organs have more reserve than most of us will ever need.

It’s as if our bodies were designed with the idea that we might need backups in case of illness or injury. And voila: when all goes well, we arrive at birth with two ...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q&A: 5 questions about MRI

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I suffered an injury while working out and my primary care physician ordered an X-ray. However, after reviewing the results, my doctor recommended that I have an MRI. I am a very anxious person. Can you explain more about what this type of testing entails and what I can expect?

ANSWER: Understandably, any health care concern ...Read more

(Hiram Alejandro Durán/El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member)/KFF Health News/TNS

California's expanded health coverage for immigrants collides with Medicaid reviews

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

OAKLAND, Calif. — Medi-Cal health coverage kicked in for Antonio Abundis just when the custodian needed it most.

Shortly after Abundis transitioned from limited to full-scope coverage in 2022 under California’s expansion of Medi-Cal to older residents without legal immigration status, he was diagnosed with leukemia, a cancer affecting the ...Read more

Renée Jones Schneider/Star Tribune/TNS

New Planned Parenthood leader says real issue is fairness, health equity

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DES MOINES, Iowa — Ruth Richardson waited near the Iowa capitol's grand staircase, just outside the limelight. At the podium nearby, abortion-rights supporters railed against the state's conservative swing on abortion following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, calling Republican bills "nonsense," "pseudoscientific" and "speaking for the extreme...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Mayo Clinic Minute: High blood pressure hurts the kidneys

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a common problem that affects the body's arteries. If you have high blood pressure, the heart has to work harder to pump blood.

In general, hypertension is a blood pressure reading of 130/80 or higher. Dr. Ivan Porter II, a Mayo Clinic nephrologist, says high blood pressure can lead to heart ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Understanding measles and the current outbreak

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Measles used to be a common childhood illness years ago. At the beginning of this century, measles had been declared eliminated from the country. But now, measles, one of the most contagious diseases to spread, is returning at a record pace as 17 states have reported measles cases in 2024.

"There are many viruses that are either not contagious ...Read more

Helping children eat healthier foods may begin with getting parents to do the same, research suggests

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Most parents, educators and policymakers agree that children should eat healthy foods. However, our peer-reviewed paper suggests the strategy adults often use to achieve that can sometimes backfire. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix.

We, along with fellow marketing scholars Lingrui Zhou and Gavan Fitzsimons, conducted five ...Read more

Pratchaya Leelapatchayanont/Dreamstime/TNS

Georgia's Medicaid work requirements costing taxpayers millions despite low enrollment

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan for a conservative alternative to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion has cost taxpayers at least $26 million so far, with more than 90% going toward administrative and consulting costs rather than medical care for low-income people.

Kemp’s Georgia Pathways to Coverage offers government health insurance to people...Read more

Win McNamee/Getty Images North America/TNS

How national political ambition could fuel, or fail, initiatives to protect abortion rights in states

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

ST. LOUIS — In early February, abortion rights supporters gathered to change Missouri history at the Pageant — a storied club where rock ’n’ roll revolutionary Chuck Berry often had played: They launched a signature-gathering campaign to put a constitutional amendment to voters this year to legalize abortion in the state.

“We have ...Read more

Tim Tai/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Hack poses financial problems for community health centers

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Community health centers and organizations that primarily serve low-income people are being disproportionately hurt by the biggest hack in health care history, which has disrupted payments for thousands of health care providers for a month now.

The hack, which crippled Change Healthcare, the clearinghouse for 30% of medical claims in the United...Read more

Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Needle pain is a big problem for kids. One California doctor has a plan

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Almost all new parents go through it: the distress of hearing their child scream at the doctor’s office. They endure the emotional torture of having to hold their child down as the clinician sticks them with one vaccine after another.

“The first shots he got, I probably cried more than he did,” said Remy Anthes, who was pushing her 6-...Read more