Public Health News

May 18, 2024

Top Headlines

Study Tallies Heatwave Deaths Over Recent Decades

May 14, 2024 — Between 1990 and 2019, more than 150,000 deaths around the globe were associated with heatwaves each year, according to a new ...

Global Life Expectancy to Increase by Nearly 5 Years by 2050 Despite Geopolitical, Metabolic, and Environmental Threats

May 17, 2024 — The latest findings forecast that global life expectancy will increase by 4.9 years in males and 4.2 years in females between 2022 and 2050. Increases are expected to be largest in countries where ...

New Transit Station in Japan Significantly Reduced Cumulative Health Expenditures

May 14, 2024 — A research team assessed the impact of a train station's opening on health expenditures. The natural experiment study revealed that a new mass transit station is significantly associated with ...

The Case for Sharing Carbon Storage Risk

May 14, 2024 — Even the most optimistic projections for the rapid build-out of solar, wind, and other low-carbon resources acknowledge that coal, natural gas, and other fossil fuels will dominate the world's energy mix for decades to come. If the vast greenhouse ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:02pm EDT

Better Medical Record-Keeping Needed to Fight Antibiotic Overuse

May 17, 2024 — A lack of detailed record-keeping in clinics and emergency departments may be getting in the way of reducing the inappropriate use of antibiotics, a pair of new studies suggests. In one of the ...

Mixed Public Opinion on Polygenic Embryo Screening for IVF

May 14, 2024 — Survey reveals nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults support using emerging technology to screen embryos during IVF for risk of developing certain health conditions or traits that arise from more than ...

Study Traces an Infectious Language Epidemic

May 13, 2024 — A computer scientist has shown the power of language to predict harm -- this time to the nation's ...

Team Studies Factors Related to a Sense of Economic Insecurity in Older Adults

May 13, 2024 — Researchers undertook a study of older adults to examine the connection between a sense of economic insecurity and a person's participation in social ...

Discrimination May Accelerate Aging

May 9, 2024 — Discrimination may speed up the biological processes of aging, according to a new ...

Childhood Maltreatment Responsible for Up to 40 Percent of Mental Health Conditions

May 8, 2024 — A study has found the widespread impact of child abuse and neglect, with analysis suggesting they cause nearly half of common mental conditions. ...

More Than 321,000 U.S. Children Lost a Parent to Drug Overdose from 2011 to 2021

May 8, 2024 — An estimated 321,566 children in the United States lost a parent to drug overdose from 2011 to 2021, according to a new study. The rate of children ...

New Study Finds Increase in Exposures to Synthetic Tetrahydrocannabinols Among Young Children, Teens, and Adults

May 7, 2024 — A sharp rise in exposures to synthetic cannabis products among youth -- some leading to hospitalization -- highlights the need for increased ...

Companies May Buy Consumer Genetic Information Despite Its Modest Predictive Power

May 2, 2024 — Genetics can be associated with one's behavior and health -- from the willingness to take risks, and how long one stays in school, to chances of ...

Missing Link in Species Conservation: Pharmacists, Chemists Could Turn Tide on Plant, Animal Extinction

Apr. 30, 2024 — As the world faces the loss of a staggering number of species of animals and plants to endangerment and extinction, one scientist has an urgent ...

Racial Disparities in Childhood Obesity on the Rise

May 15, 2024 — Among public school students in New York City, some of the greatest increases in childhood obesity in recent years were among those socioeconomic and demographic groups already bearing the greatest ...

Past and Guides Future Efforts to Reduce Cancer Disparities

May 6, 2024 — The toll cancer takes on lives in the U.S. has declined during the last 28 years, but not equitably. Disparities persist in many historically marginalized communities -- including communities ...

Understanding Youth Nicotine Use to Prevent Initiation and Escalation

May 1, 2024 — Using multiple nicotine products can be associated with higher levels of nicotine dependence among youth and increased mortality in adults, compared with the use of one product alone. Researchers ...

Life Expectancy in Two Disadvantaged Areas Higher Than Expected

May 1, 2024 — Better than expected life expectancy in two disadvantaged areas in England is probably due to population change according to local residents and professionals. In the UK, people from the most ...

Study Finds School Entry Requirements Linked to Increased HPV Vaccination Rates

Apr. 29, 2024 — A new study shows that school entry requirements are linked to an increase in human papillomavirus (HPV) ...

How Geography Acts as a Structural Determinant of Health

Apr. 26, 2024 — In unincorporated communities in the United States-Mexico borderlands, historically and socially marginalized populations become invisible to the healthcare system, showing that geography acts as a ...

Component of Keto Diet Plus Immunotherapy May Reduce Prostate Cancer

Apr. 26, 2024 — Adding a pre-ketone supplement -- a component of a high-fat, low-carb ketogenic diet -- to a type of cancer therapy in a laboratory setting was highly effective for treating prostate cancer, ...

New Study Uncovers Lasting Financial Hardship Associated With Cancer Diagnosis for Working-Age Adults in the U.S.

Apr. 23, 2024 — A new study highlights the lasting financial impact of a cancer diagnosis for many working-age adults and their families in the United States. It shows a cancer diagnosis and the time required for ...

Treatment from Female Doctors Leads to Lower Mortality and Hospital Readmission Rates, Study Suggests

Apr. 23, 2024 — Patients have lower rates of mortality and hospital readmissions when treated by female physicians, with female patients benefitting more than their male counterparts, new research ...

Rise Seen in Use of Antibiotics for Conditions They Can't Treat -- Including COVID-19

Apr. 22, 2024 — America is going the wrong way when it comes to prescribing antibiotics, with 1 in 4 prescriptions going to patients who have conditions that the drugs won t touch, a new study ...

Study Finds COVID-19 Pandemic Led to Some, but Not Many, Developmental Milestone Delays in Infants and Young Children

Apr. 22, 2024 — Infants and children 5 years old and younger experienced only 'modest' delays in developmental milestones due to the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions and restrictions, a study ...

Social Programs Save Millions of Lives, Especially in Times of Crisis

Apr. 22, 2024 — Primary health care, conditional cash transfers and social pensions have prevented 1.4 million deaths of all ages in Brazil over the past two decades, according to a new study. If expanded, these ...

New Data Identifies Trends in Accidental Opioid Overdoses in Children

Apr. 17, 2024 — The US saw a 22% decline in rates of prescription-opioid overdose related emergency department (ED) visits in children 17 and younger between 2008 and 2019, but an uptick in the early part of the ...

Economic Burden of Childhood Verbal Abuse by Adults Estimated at $300 Billion Globally

Apr. 11, 2024 — Childhood verbal abuse by adults costs society an estimated $300 billion a year globally, show recent ...

More Premature Babies Born Following Swedish Parental Leave Policy

Apr. 8, 2024 — The introduction of a policy protecting parental leave benefits in Sweden in 1980 had unintended consequences on child health. The policy appears to have led to an increase in premature birth ...

With the Planet Facing a 'Polycrisis', Biodiversity Researchers Uncover Major Knowledge Gaps

Apr. 4, 2024 — Connecting the study of infectious disease spread, biodiversity loss and climate change could offer win-win-win solutions for planetary health, but a new analysis has uncovered almost no research ...

Life Expectancy Increased as World Addressed Major Killers Including Diarrhea, Lower Respiratory Infections, and Stroke

Apr. 3, 2024 — Global life expectancy increased by 6.2 years since 1990, according to a new study. Over the past three decades, reductions in death from leading killers fueled this progress, including diarrhea and ...

Testing Environmental Water to Monitor COVID-19 Spread in Unsheltered Encampments

Apr. 3, 2024 — To better understand COVID-19's spread during the pandemic, public health officials expanded wastewater surveillance. These efforts track SARS-CoV-2 levels and health risks among most people, ...

Gunshots in American Cities Twice as Likely at Night, Potentially Disrupting Sleep for Those in Earshot, Study Finds

Apr. 3, 2024 — Researchers studied six cities, finding that nighttime gunshots were particularly prevalent in low-income neighborhoods. The team found gunshots are twice as likely to occur at night, and that ...

Reducing Late-Night Alcohol Sales Curbed All Violent Crimes by 23% Annually in a Baltimore Neighborhood

Apr. 1, 2024 — New study findings suggest that shortening overnight operations by seven hours at bars and taverns in a Baltimore, Md. neighborhood resulted in a 51 percent immediate drop in homicides within the ...