Public Health News

April 22, 2024

Top Headlines

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 ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:55pm EDT

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 ...

More Than One Billion People Around the Globe Are Facing Obesity

Mar. 27, 2024 — The prevalence of malnutrition across the globe was shared by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, a network of health scientists from around the world who provide and evaluate data on major risk ...

New Roadmap to Prevent Pandemics Centers on Protecting Biodiversity

Mar. 26, 2024 — An international team of 25 scientists has proposed a roadmap for how to prevent the next pandemic by conserving natural areas and promoting biodiversity, thereby providing animals with enough food, ...

Troubling Trends in Midlife Mortality in the US and UK

Mar. 21, 2024 — A new study reveals that US working-age adults are dying at higher rates than their peers in high-income countries; the UK is also falling ...

Research Identifies Characteristics of Cities That Would Support Young People's Mental Health

Mar. 25, 2024 — As cities around the world continue to draw young people for work, education, and social opportunities, a new study identifies characteristics that ...

2 in 3 Parents Say Their Adolescent or Teen Worries About How Sick Days May Impact Grades

Mar. 25, 2024 — Many parents recognize increasing mental health concerns among children, reflected by the 1 in 5 who say they're open to allowing a child to take a ...

Millions Are at Risk Using High Arsenic Water for Cooking

Mar. 21, 2024 — Around 32 per cent of the world's population live in countries that do not adhere to the World Health Organization's recommendations on safe limits of arsenic in drinking ...

New Technique Helps AI Tell When Humans Are Lying

Mar. 18, 2024 — Researchers have developed a new training tool to help artificial intelligence (AI) programs better account for the fact that humans don't always tell the truth when providing personal information. ...

Low Social Status Increases Risk of Health Problems from Alcohol Problems

Mar. 20, 2024 — Men and women with lower income or education levels are more likely to develop medical conditions related to alcohol abuse compared to similar individuals with a higher socioeconomic status, ...

Good News: The US Maternal Death Rate Is Stable, Not Sky Rocketing, as Reported

Mar. 13, 2024 — A new study challenges the prevailing view on the maternal death rate in the United States. The findings show that the rates of maternal death were ...

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 ...

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 ...

Job Flexibility and Security Promotes Better Mental Health Among Employees

Mar. 26, 2024 — A new study found that employed adults with greater job flexibility and higher job security were less likely to experience serious psychological distress or anxiety. Greater job flexibility and ...

Less Obesity in 3 And 4-Year-Olds After the Pandemic, Swedish Study Finds

Mar. 25, 2024 — The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the group of 3- and 4-year-olds in Sweden has decreased after the pandemic. The increase during the pandemic thus appears to have been temporary, according ...

Most New Doctors Face Some Form of Sexual Harassment, Even After #MeToo

Mar. 22, 2024 — More than half of all new doctors face some form of sexual harassment in their first year on the job, including nearly three-quarters of all new female doctors and a third of males, a new study ...

Rural and Minority Dementia Patients Face Disparities in Access to Neurologists

Mar. 20, 2024 — A study of nearly 95,000 Washington state residents found that people living outside of urban areas as well as Native American and Hispanic people face longer travel distances to be seen by ...

Powerful New AI Can Predict People's Attitudes to Vaccines

Mar. 20, 2024 — A powerful new tool in artificial intelligence is able to predict whether someone is willing to be vaccinated against ...

Laws That Punish Drug Use During Pregnancy Likely Lead to Worse Health Outcomes for Families, Study Finds

Mar. 18, 2024 — Contrary to some claims, laws that criminalize or otherwise punish drug use during pregnancy are more likely to worsen rather than improve health outcomes. The study is the first to systematically ...

How Home Food Availability Affects Young Children's Nutrient Intake

Mar. 14, 2024 — Early childhood is an important time for learning about nutrition and establishing healthy eating behaviors. Young children rely on parents to provide food options, and the availability of food in ...

Federal Housing Programs Protect Residents from Lead Exposure

Mar. 13, 2024 — Americans already living in housing supported by federal housing assistance programs have significantly lower blood lead levels than counterparts who would later join these programs, according to new ...

Curbing Coal-Burning Emissions Translates to Health Gains for Children

Mar. 13, 2024 — Research finds a nearly 40% decline in the annual average concentration of respirable particulate matter (PM2.5) in Krakow, Poland, between 2010 and 2019 following the implementation of clean air ...

New Study Quantifies Health Impacts from Oil and Gas Flaring in U.S.

Mar. 12, 2024 — A new study finds that pollution from oil and gas venting and flaring results in $7.4 billion in health damages, more than 700 premature deaths, and 73,000 asthma exacerbations among children ...

Climate Policies to Reduce Motor Vehicle Emissions Can Improve Children's Health, Save Money

Mar. 12, 2024 — A new study finds that policies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from motor vehicles combined with investments in electric vehicles and public transportation would reduce air pollution and ...

The Health Impacts of Migrating by Sea

Mar. 7, 2024 — A new study of migrant drowning deaths in the Pacific Ocean lays the groundwork for future ...

More Than Half of American Indian Youth May Have Abnormal or High Cholesterol

Mar. 6, 2024 — More than 70% of American Indian young adults aged 20-39 and 50% of American Indian teens have cholesterol levels or elevated fat in the blood that put them at risk for cardiovascular disease, a new ...

Psychosocial Stressors Linked to Higher Inflammation in Black Pregnant Women

Mar. 6, 2024 — Living in neighborhoods with more white residents and greater lifetime experiences of racial discrimination are linked to increased systemic inflammation during pregnancy among Black women, according ...

Firearm Ownership Is Correlated With Elevated Lead Levels in Children, Study Finds

Mar. 4, 2024 — Childhood lead exposure, primarily from paint and water, is a significant health concern in the United States, but a new study has identified a surprising additional source of lead exposure that may ...

A New, Comprehensive Roadmap for the Future of Biomedical Engineering

Feb. 26, 2024 — Experts published a detailed position paper on the field of biomedical engineering which lays the foundation for a concerted worldwide effort to achieve technological and medical ...