Your Health

The American Iron and Steel Institute is one of the trade groups that wants Congress to undo the stronger safety regulation enacted in 2016 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Congress May Undo Rule That Pushes Firms To Keep Good Safety Records

4:39pm March 20, 2017

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Labor statistics specialists under George W. Bush and Barack Obama warn that if the safety regulation is repealed, record keeping on worker injuries will become less accurate and less reliable.

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A pair of studies show declines in opioid use by young people, including prescription use, intentional misuse and accidental poisonings.

Studies Suggest Cautious Optimism About Declines In Teen Opioid Use

1:49pm March 20, 2017

by Tara Haelle

A pair of long-term studies found fewer children and teenagers are coming in contact with opioids, and that hospitalizations from the drugs are down. The same is not true for adults.

NPR and Kaiser Health News take on your questions about the GOP bill to replace the Affordable Care Act.

Tax Credits, Penalties And Age Rating: Parsing The GOP Health Bill

12:14pm March 20, 2017

As the GOP bill to replace the Affordable Care Act begins to move through Congress, reporters for NPR and Kaiser answer your questions about what it might mean for your health plan.

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Wounds infected with antibiotic-resistant staph often heal, but the bacteria can remain inside a person's body and cause future infections.

My Unlovely Lady Lump: When MRSA Is Ugly, But Not Life-Threatening

5:00am March 18, 2017

by Cassandra Willyard

Antibiotic-resistant staph infections don't always start in hospitals, and they aren't always particularly dangerous. But, even after a MRSA-infected wound heals, the bacteria often remain.

By combining results of common blood tests, the researchers were able to come up with a way to predict risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases.

Common Blood Tests Can Help Predict Chronic Disease Risk

2:46pm March 17, 2017

by Katherine Hobson

The creators of the risk assessment score say they want to help primary care physicians better identify patients who need extra counseling and follow-up.

Doctors who trained in foreign medical schools often end up practicing in rural or low-income areas in the U.S. with a shortage of physicians.

Let's Hope That Match Day Brings Us Lots Of Foreign-Born Doctors

11:18am March 17, 2017

by John Henning Schumann

About one quarter of medical residents in the U.S. are graduates of foreign medical schools. Many practice medicine in communities that have a hard time recruiting doctors.

The injectable drug Repatha can lower cholesterol to unheard-of levels. The next question is whether the disease-prevention benefit it worth its high price.

Pricey New Cholesterol Drug's Effect On Heart Disease Is More Modest Than Hoped

9:36am March 17, 2017

by Harlan Krumholz

The injectible drug Repatha is spectacularly good at lowering cholesterol. But the first big clinical trial of its ability to prevent heart attack and stroke finds smaller benefits.

Birth control pills actually may be safer for teenagers than for older women, a study finds.

Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pills Would Be Safe For Teens, Researchers Say

5:14pm March 16, 2017

by Rebecca Hersher

Making contraceptives available over the counter is safe, a review of research finds, and could lead to fewer unplanned pregnancies in both teens and adult women.

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Opana ER was reformulated to make it harder to crush and snort, but people abusing the drug turned to injecting it instead. And that fueled an HIV outbreak in Indiana.

Dangers Of Opana Opioid Painkiller Outweigh Benefits, FDA Panel Says

9:37am March 16, 2017

by Tom Dreisbach

Opana ER has been linked to an HIV outbreak in rural Indiana among people who abuse the opioid painkiller. An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration says the drug is too risky.

A colored scanning electron micrograph of two human retinal stem cells, shown in brown and red.

3 Women Blinded By Unproven Stem Cell Treatments

5:06pm March 15, 2017

by Rob Stein

Three patients were blinded after getting stem cells from fat at a Florida clinic. But another patient shows promise after treatment in Japanese study using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.