Uterine cancer risk higher for women with ‘breast cancer gene’ mutation

It’s a top-10 list that helps explain where hundreds of billions of health-care dollars are spent by medical condition in the United States. Published Wednesday in Health Affairs based on federal data, the list holds some surprises — and signals some of the challenges ahead as this country continues to age. Number one on the […]

If you get colon cancer, your prognosis depends partly on where it started

People with cancer that starts on the left side of their colon live significantly longer than those with right-side tumors, according to a new study that provides insights into how best to match drugs to patients with advanced disease. The retrospective analysis, released Wednesday, involved a federally funded clinical trial with more than 1,100 colon-cancer patients. […]

New mom: My doctor dumped me after I didn’t see him for a year because I was too busy caring for my family

As the mother of three children under age 6, I don’t always make my health a priority. It’s been years since I saw a doctor for anything other than pregnancy, my crow’s feet have multiplied due to my squinting to see the TV in the evenings, and I’ve canceled my dental appointment at least three times this […]

Rating hospitals by the stars: The feds’ latest plan to measure quality is the most controversial

Over the past decade, the federal government has devised 115 different ways to measure medical quality in hospitals, from assessing wait times in emergency departments and noise levels outside hospital rooms to tracking blood clots in surgical patients. But the latest effort, to combine dozens of metrics into one patient-friendly quality indicator, has proven the […]

Here’s what men need to know about the Angelina Jolie ‘breast-cancer gene’

Should men worry about the “Angelina Jolie breast-cancer gene?” A few years ago, Jolie had her breasts and ovaries removed after she found out she had a breast-cancer gene mutation that sharply increased her risk of cancer. Her decision encouraged many women to take a closer look at their family medical histories and, in some […]

‘Forest bathing’ is latest fitness trend to hit U.S. — ‘Where yoga was 30 years ago’

Over thousands of years of human history, we have effectively become an indoor species. Particularly for those of us trapped in the cubicle life, often the only times we regularly step foot outside is for our daily work commute or to run errands. In 2001, a survey sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that, […]

Defective ‘breast cancer’ genes aren’t just dangerous for women. They’re also linked to aggressive cancer in men.

Joe Scholten’s sister had already beaten breast cancer and was battling ovarian cancer when she tested positive for a genetic mutation linked to both. He responded by doing something unusual: He got tested, too. That’s how the District resident discovered that he also carried the defective BRCA gene. He quickly told his brothers, other relatives […]

Puerto Rico reports first Zika-related case of microcephaly

Puerto Rico is reporting its first Zika-related microcephaly case amid an outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus that has hit the commonwealth harder than anywhere else in the United States. In San Juan, Health Secretary Ana Rius told reporters Friday that a fetus turned over to U.S. health officials had severe microcephaly and tested positive for Zika. […]

This popular painkiller also kills kindness

If your job, or simply your state of mind, depends on feeling empathy for others, you might want to reconsider reaching for the Tylenol the next time you have a headache. In research published online in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, scientists from the National Institutes of Health and Ohio State University describe […]

Researchers document troubling rise in strokes in young adults, starting at age 25

There’s a troubling statistic in the United States when it comes to strokes. Although stroke hospitalizations have declined in recent years among the aged, the opposite appears to be be happening among younger Americans. In a study released Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers found that between 2000 and 2010, hospitalizations for ischemic stroke, the most […]

Abortion falls to all-time low in developed countries but remains virtually unchanged in developing countries

A new analysis of global abortions shows a stark and troubling divide between what’s happening in wealthier, developed countries versus their their poorer and less developed counterparts. The paper, published Wednesday in the journal The Lancet, represents the most comprehensive analysis ever conducted on the subject. Worldwide, it shows, an average 56 million abortions took place annually from 2010 to 2014. […]

CDC: Doctors should test for Zika in urine as well as in blood

Federal health officials are recommending that people suspected of having Zika infections get tested for evidence of the virus in their urine in addition to undergoing blood tests. The shift comes as new data show that traces of the virus can remain longer in urine than in blood, making for more accurate diagnosis. That’s especially important […]

‘Salvaging some good’: The unexpected side effect of the tragic opioid epidemic

America’s opioid epidemic has had far-reaching and generally devastating consequences. Now, the impact is being seen in organ donations. Coinciding with a rise in drug-related deaths, the number of organ donors who died of drug overdoses has sharply increased in recent years — “a silver lining to what is absolutely a tragedy,” Alexandra K. Glazier, president […]

Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading killer of college athletes. Here’s the NCAA’s plan of attack.

Basketball fans attending Loyola Marymount University’s game against the University of Portland in March 1990 thought they were in for a spirited semifinal game. But then the unthinkable happened: 23-year-old Hank Gathers, a 6-foot 7-inch superstar, collapsed on the court. Stunned fans later learned that he died of sudden cardiac arrest — a condition that […]

‘God is telling me not to let go’: A mother fights to keep her 2-year-old on life support

Two-year-old Israel Stinson was being treated for an asthma attack in an emergency room in Northern California last month when he started to shiver, his lips turning purple and his eyes rolling back in his head. Over the next day, court records claim, Israel had a hard time breathing, went into cardiac arrest and seemingly slipped into a […]

FDA to ban e-cigarette sales to teens under 18
The Food and Drug Administration’s new regulations, which also cover pipe and hookah tobacco, aim to protect minors from the risk of addiction to nicotine, officials said. This is a developing story. It will be updated.

New, sweeping federal rules bar e-cigarette sales to teens younger than 18

The Obama administration on Thursday announced controversial new rules for electronic cigarettes, cigars, hookahs and pipe tobacco, including barring the sales of the products to teens under 18 years old. The new requirements, which go into effect in 90 days, mark the first time the Food and Drug Administration has regulated any of the items. […]

Hepatitis C-related deaths hit record high in U.S., CDC says

Deaths from the liver disease hepatitis C reached an all-time high in 2014, killing more Americans than HIV, tuberculosis and staph infections. New data released Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that more Americans die now as a result of hepatitis C infection than from 60 other infectious diseases combined. Baby […]

Researchers: Medical errors now third leading cause of death in United States

Nightmare stories of nurses giving potent drugs meant for one patient to another and surgeons removing the wrong body parts  have dominated recent headlines about medical care. Lest you assume those cases are the exceptions, a new study by patient safety researchers provides some context. Their analysis, published in the BMJ on Tuesday, shows that “medical errors” in hospitals and […]

CDC warns that Americans may be overmedicating youngest children with ADHD

U.S. health officials are urging parents of preschoolers with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to try behavior therapy first before trying drugs — and they’re calling on insurers to cover the treatments. The concern comes from new statistics that show a troubling gap between recommended practices for treating the youngest Americans and what’s happening on the ground at doctors’ […]

1 in 3 antibiotics prescribed in U.S. are unnecessary, major study finds

Nearly a third of antibiotics prescribed in doctors’ offices, emergency rooms and hospital-based clinics in the United States are not needed, according to the most in-depth study yet to examine the use and misuse of these life-saving drugs. The finding, which has implications for antibiotics’ diminished efficacy, translates to about 47 million unnecessary prescriptions given out each […]

Truth and transgender at any age: Readers tell us their own stories

Scores of readers responded to “Truth and Transgender at 70,” which appeared in The Washington Post in late April. The story recounted the journey of a transgender woman named Kate Rohr and how her marriage of nearly 48 years not only survived her transition but was strengthened. The overwhelming majority of emails were positive. In […]

These hospitals make the most money off patients — and they’re mostly nonprofits

Seven of the top 10 most profitable hospitals in the United States are nonprofit facilities that each netted more than $150 million from caring for patients in 2013, according to a study published Monday. Topping the list is Gunderson Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, Wisc., which earned $302.5 million in profit from patient care services […]