Public Health News

April 12, 2025

Top Headlines

Wildfire Recovery: What Victims Say They Need Most

Apr. 9, 2025 — Wildfire victims have a range of needs, including mental health support and information about wildfire smoke, according to a new ...

Is AI in Medicine Playing Fair?

Apr. 7, 2025 — As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly integrates into health care, a new study reveals that all generative AI models may recommend different treatments for the same medical condition based solely on a patient's socioeconomic and demographic ...

When It Comes to Obesity-Related Cancers, Where You Shop for Food Matters

Apr. 2, 2025 — Obesity is at epidemic proportions in the United States where more than 40% of adults are obese and more than 70% are overweight. One common policy intervention to tackle this urgent issue is to try to improve diet quality by increasing local ...

My Robot Therapist: The Ethics of AI Mental Health Chatbots for Kids

Mar. 31, 2025 — AI mental health apps may offer a cheap and accessible way to fill the gaps in the overstretched U.S. mental health care system, but ethics experts warn that we need to be thoughtful about how we use them, especially with ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:22pm EDT

Discrimination-Related Depression, Anxiety Pronounced Among Multiracial, White, Asian Populations

Mar. 28, 2025 — A new study found that over half of US adults experienced some form of discrimination, and individuals with high exposure to discrimination have more ...

Research Highlights Urgent Need for National Strategy to Combat Rising Eating Disorders

Mar. 27, 2025 — The increasing number of people with eating disorders and a lack of national guidance for support teams has led to researchers calling for a new ...

Children of Moms Who Smoked or Were Obese Are More Likely to Become Obese Adults

Mar. 26, 2025 — A study finds that factors beyond a person's control, like socioeconomic status and whether their mom smoked or was obese, can influence whether they ...

Avoidable Deaths Are on the Rise in the United States, Yet Falling in Many Peer Nations

Mar. 24, 2025 — In most high-income countries around the world, the number of avoidable mortalities is going down. But in the United States, avoidable deaths have ...

Weather Emergencies Affect Older Adults' Views on Climate and Health

Mar. 20, 2025 — Nearly 3 out of every 4 older Americans have experienced at least one extreme weather event in the last two years, a poll finds. And living through such an event appears to make a big difference in ...

Adopting Zero-Emission Trucks and Buses Could Save Lives, Prevent Asthma

Mar. 18, 2025 — Researchers used community input to design Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) air-quality model experiments. Community asked for ACT policy simulations that convert 48% of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles ...

'Doomsday Clock' and Patterns of Mortality and Mental Health in the United States

Mar. 12, 2025 — A new study investigated the mortality and mental health correlates of the iconic Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Doomsday ...

How London's Ultra Low Emission Zone Is Changing the School Run

Mar. 3, 2025 — London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is transforming children's journeys to school by making streets safer, improving perceptions of air quality and encouraging children to live healthier lives. A ...

Lifestyle Choices During Pregnancy Can Impact Child's Motor Development Up to the Age of 5-6 Years

Feb. 25, 2025 — A healthy diet in early pregnancy supports the child's motor development at the age of 5-6 years. Higher maternal body fat mass, on the other hand, ...

Telemedicine May Help Reduce Use of Unnecessary Health Tests

Feb. 24, 2025 — A research team has found that telemedicine may help to reduce the use of low-value ...

Multi-Virus Wastewater Surveillance Shows Promise at Smaller, Site-Specific Scales

Apr. 9, 2025 — In a new study, wastewater surveillance for multiple pathogens at five different sites identified local trends that were not captured in larger surveillance programs, and some sites used the data to ...

Stroke Deaths and Their Racial Disparities Increased Over Last 20 Years

Apr. 9, 2025 — Over the last two decades, ischemic stroke mortality rates in the U.S. have grown, with almost 3 in 10 deaths occurring at home, and increases particularly among racial minorities and rural ...

Long COVID Patients Feel Pressure to Prove Their Illness Is Real, Study Finds

Mar. 27, 2025 — People living with Long COVID often feel dismissed, disbelieved and unsupported by their healthcare providers, according to a new ...

Study Quantifies Loss of Disability-Free Years of Life from COVID-19 Pandemic

Mar. 11, 2025 — Among 289 million adults in 18 European countries, more than 16 million years of life were lost from 2020 through 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new ...

Impacts of Workplace Bullying on Sleep Can Be 'Contagious' Between Partners

Feb. 21, 2025 — Workplace bullying affects not only the employee's sleep but their partner's too, according to new research published ...

U.S. Facing Critical Hospital Bed Shortage by 2032

Feb. 19, 2025 — The new post-pandemic national hospital occupancy average is 75% -- a full 11 percentage points higher than the pre-pandemic average, largely due to a reduction in staffed hospital beds. This puts ...

Advances in AI Can Help Prepare the World for the Next Pandemic, Global Group of Scientists Find

Feb. 19, 2025 — Scientists across Africa, America, Asia, Australia, and Europe outline for the first time how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can transform the landscape of infectious disease research and improve ...

We Are No Longer Living Longer: Study Across Europe

Feb. 18, 2025 — The rise in human life expectancy has slowed down across Europe since 2011, according to new research. A new study reveals that the food we eat, physical inactivity and obesity are largely to blame, ...

Adults Don't Trust Health Care to Use AI Responsibly and Without Harm

Feb. 14, 2025 — A survey of adults found most had low trust in their health care system to use artificial intelligence responsibly or to make sure an AI tool would not harm ...

Blood Test Paves the Way for Better Heart Attack Prevention

Feb. 13, 2025 — The test, which is not yet widely available, is being developed so that it can eventually be used at the ...

Research Shows Blood Test May Provide Personalized Dietary Therapy for Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Feb. 13, 2025 — Study participants who went on an IgG-based elimination diet--based on a novel blood test--experienced less abdominal pain than those on a sham ...

Long Drives and High Costs Stand Between Americans and Safe Surgery -- Especially in Rural Areas

Feb. 12, 2025 — When they need surgery, nearly one in three Americans may find themselves in a precarious position: They live more than an hour's drive from a high-quality hospital, and their insurance plan may ...

ALS Survival May Be Cut Short by Living in Disadvantaged Communities

Feb. 7, 2025 — Living in a disadvantaged community may decrease the length of time a person can survive with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, by over 30%, a study suggests. Similar studies have shown that ...

Brain Waves Measure the Effect of Anti-Alcohol Campaigns

Feb. 7, 2025 — To evaluate the effectiveness of public video campaigns against risky alcohol consumption, psychologists used EEG measurements to examine the synchronization of brain activity in groups of viewers. ...

Do Embedded Counseling Services in Veterinary Education Work? A New Study Says 'Yes'

Feb. 7, 2025 — Embedded counseling services are becoming increasingly common in veterinary medical programs, but their effectiveness has not historically been measured. A new study revealed that these programs may ...

Nutrition Labels Meant to Promote Healthy Eating Could Discourage Purchases

Feb. 6, 2025 — As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration weighs whether to require front-of-package food labels, a new study shows some food labels designed to nudge Americans toward healthier food choices can have ...

Freshwater Alga Could Be the Next Superfood That Feeds the World

Jan. 30, 2025 — A green alga that grows in lakes and rivers could be the next 'superfood' -- helping scientists to tackle global food security challenges while promoting environmental ...

Calorie Labels on Menus Could Make Eating Disorders Worse

Jan. 28, 2025 — Calorie labels on restaurant menus are negatively impacting people with eating disorders, according to a new study. The review found that individuals who have been diagnosed with an eating disorder ...

Inconsistencies in Hospital Toxicology Screening Protocols Following Serious Motor Vehicle Collisions

Jan. 27, 2025 — A new study has found that drug screening practices may be inconsistent with potential downstream effects in reporting to the ...

Progress and Challenges in Brain Implants

Jan. 24, 2025 — A scientific team looks at the progress and challenges in the research and development of brain implants. New achievements in the field of this technology are seen as a source of hope for many ...