ArcaMax

Roughly 1 in 10 adults in the U.S. has a recent prescription for a pain medicine, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey. Six percent of those prescriptions are for opioids.

Prescription pain medication use rises with age. Only 5% of people ages 20-39 said they used a prescription painkiller, compared with 15% for ...Read more

New findings in a lab model of the herpes simplex virus HSV-1 suggest it might cause Alzheimer's disease. Researchers used mini-3D models of the human brain that were infected by the herpes virus (which causes cold sores).

The brain organoids went on to develop the hallmarks of Alzheimer's including amyloid plaques and neuroinflammation. They...Read more

Routine vaccinations for children plummeted earlier this year, say researchers. Compared with the first four months of 2019, there were 2.5 million fewer doses of childhood vaccines ordered for prevention of diseases like rubella, diphtheria and whooping cough, and 250,000 fewer vaccines ordered for highly infectious measles.

Pediatricians ...Read more

Women tend to live longer than men after a major illness, and the reason may be differences in how they seek treatment.

Danish researchers looked at how 65,000 adults ages 60 and older accessed care before and after being admitted to a hospital for one of four major diseases, among them heart attack and cancers of the digestive tract.

Case ...Read more

Even amid a pandemic and the rising popularity of home births, a new survey from the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests the safest place to have a baby is in a hospital or accredited birth center.

Home births now account for more than 2% of births nationwide, but the AAP said the wide variance in conditions, on-site expertise and ...Read more

In November 2018, under pressure from the Food and Drug Administration, e-cigarette maker Juul announced it was pulling its fruit flavors and some of its sweet flavors (think cotton candy) from the market -- an effort to reduce the attraction to younger consumers.

Tobacco, mint and menthol flavors remained for sale.

It appears consumers have...Read more

As global temperatures rise due to climate change, so, too, will cardiovascular-related deaths, according to a new, albeit narrowly focused, study.

Researchers looked at more than 15,000 cardiovascular deaths in Kuwait between 2010 and 2016. (Kuwait lays claim to the hottest day in the last 76 years: 129 degrees Fahrenheit on July 21, 2016, ...Read more

We all know walking is wonderful exercise, especially as we age and other forms of strenuous physical activity become more difficult. A plethora of devices let us count our steps, with 10,000 steps a day presumed to be the universal goal.

A recent study looked at 4,800 people age 40 and older to see if there was a correlation between steps ...Read more

Firsthand smoke includes the fumes tobacco users inhale. Secondhand smoke is exhaled smoke, plus substances emanating from burning tobacco. Thirdhand smoke is secondhand smoke that lingers invisibly after the smoker is gone. It also can accumulate on the surface of objects; it ages over time; and it becomes progressively more toxic.

A new ...Read more

The drug and medical device database company First Databank has partnered with Amazon Alexa to allow consumers to ask the device more specific information about a drug and its side effects.

Consumers can now ask an Alexa device common drug-related questions such as "What is Tylenol?" or "What is the difference between Advil and Tylenol?" The ...Read more

Most people who should be getting annual lung cancer screenings, specifically current and former smokers, aren't, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health officials recommend annual screenings for current smokers or those who quit in the past 15 years and who have a history of smoking at least 30 packs of cigarettes a ...Read more

A small study has found that adding palliative care -- treatment focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness -- to standard care can help raise patients' quality of life.

In a 210-person trial, half of patients with Parkinson's disease, a progressive neuromuscular disorder, received their standard medical ...Read more