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Cuffs on At-Home Blood Pressure Monitors Don't Fit Some Patients

People are encouraged to monitor their blood pressure at home, but many folks will find that household blood-pressure cuffs are literally a bad fit, a new study warns.

For as many as 18 million U.S. adults -- nearly 7% of adults -- at-home blood pressure cuffs are either too small or too large to provide reliable results, according to find...

Brain's Wiring May Trigger Depression in Some People

A distinct brain pattern appears to make some people more likely to develop depression, a new study indicates.

“Deep” functional MRI brain scans revealed that a brain feature called the salience network is nearly twice as large in people with depression than in those without the condition, researchers reported Sept. 4 in the jo...

Saltwater Drops in Nose Could Shorten Kids' Colds

Saltwater nose drops can reduce the length of a kid’s cold by two days, a new study demonstrates.

“We found that children using saltwater nose drops had cold symptoms for an average of six days, where those with usual care had symptoms for eight days,” said researcher Dr. Steve Cunningham, a professor of pediatric respira...

Gene Therapy Reverses a Rare Cause of Vision Loss

Gene therapy may restore vision to children and adults robbed of their sight by a rare inherited condition called Leber congenital amaurosis, researchers report.

The illness is caused by mutations in the GUCY2D gene, which is critical to producing proteins that enable vision. People with this form of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA1) typic...

U.S. Youth Vaping Drops to Lowest Level in a Decade

Just 5.9% of American middle and high school students now vape, a big drop from the 7.7% who did so a year ago, new government data shows.

Put another way, about 1.6 million youth now say they used e-cigarettes at least once over the past month, compared to 2.1 million in 2023.

Among those who say they vape, 23.6% said they do it on ...

Amid Shortages, U.S. Allows Expanded Production of ADHD Drug Vyvanse

The maker of the ADHD drug Vyvanse has been given approval by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to make more of the medication as a shortage of the critical drugs continues.

Following a request from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July, the DEA said Thursday that Takeda Pharmaceuticals may now increase its production limi...

States With Strictest Abortion Laws Offer Least Family Support: Study

States with the most severe abortion restrictions are the least likely to offer support to struggling families, a new study has found.

Anti-abortion states tend to have assistance programs that exclude many families on the fringes, because participants are required to be poorer to qualify, researchers found.

These states also are les...

Most U.S. Seniors Prescribed at Least 1 Drug, But Many Skip Meds Due to Cost

Too many U.S. seniors are skipping their prescription meds due to cost, and the problem is most acute among the poor and chronically ill, new data shows.

Almost all (88.6%) Americans age 65 or older have been prescribed at least one prescription medicine, according to 2021-2022 data from an annual federal survey.

That percentage ris...

Dirty Air Could Harm Men's Fertility, Noise Could Harm Women's

City living may be tough on couples wanting to conceive: New data shows that air pollution appears to be linked to lower fertility in men, while noisy traffic could harm the fertility of women.

“If our results are confirmed in future studies, it suggests that political implementation of air pollution and noise mitigations may be impo...

Marijuana Use Raises Workers' Absenteeism Rate: Study

The stereotype of the slacker stoner might not be too far off the mark, a new study shows.

People who use weed are prone to workplace absenteeism -- and the more problematic the cannabis use, the more likely they are to skip work, results showed.

“These findings underscore the importance of developing and implementing strategie...

The 3 Best Ways to Stop Smoking, Rated by Science

Thinking about quitting smoking?

There are three top ways to help you stop, a new review finds.

According to the study, folks wanting to quit should turn to:

• Varenicline, a prescription nicotine-blocking drug sold under the brand names Chantix and Champix

• Cytisine, a plant-based compound sold as an over-t...

New 'AI Stethoscope' Can Spot Pregnancy-Linked Heart Failure

An AI-enhanced digital stethoscope can help doctors detect a potentially deadly form of heart failure that can occur late in pregnancy, a new clinical trial reports.

The AI-driven stethoscope was 12 times more likely than traditional methods to spot heart pump weakness tied to peripartum cardiomyopathy, an uncommon form of heart failure li...

Both Dogs and Cats Can Love a Game of 'Fetch,' Study Finds

'Fetch': It's not just for dogs.

New research finds that lots of cats -- 41% -- love retrieving toys tossed by their human.

“Although cats and dogs are very different in many aspects of their behavior and in how they ended up being companion animals, we find it fascinating that so many of them share this very interesting behav...

Ketamine Can Fight Depression, But Pregnant Women Face Risks

Ketamine is becoming a popular depression drug, but doctors aren’t keeping in mind the danger it can pose to a pregnancy, a new study warns.

Ketamine can be very harmful to a developing fetus and should not be used during pregnancy, researchers said.

But only 20% of ketamine clinics require a pregnancy test at least once prior ...