Health

ByBy Julie Rovner and Rachana Pradhan, KFF Health News (KFF Health News) — Isabella Rosario Blum was wrapping up medical school and considering residency programs to become a family practice physician when she got some frank advice: If she wanted to be trained to provide abortions, she shouldn’t stay in Arizona. Blum turned to programs

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN (CNN) — Instead of a traditional speculum-involved pelvic exam to screen for cervical cancer, the US Food and Drug Administration has given the go-ahead for patients to have the option to collect their own vaginal samples for screening in a health care setting, such as at their doctor’s office, an urgent

By Meg Tirrell, CNN (CNN) — When Cheri Ferguson started taking Ozempic last year, she said, she hoped to lose about 50 pounds she’d gained during the Covid-19 pandemic. Over about three months, she told CNN in June, the medicine – which is approved for type 2 diabetes and used off-label for weight loss –

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN (CNN) — Eating a vegan, vegetarian or lacto-ovo vegetarian diet significantly reduces the overall risk of developing cancer, heart disease and dying early from cardiovascular disease, according to a new “umbrella” analysis of more than 20 years of research. An umbrella review looks at existing metanalyses of large numbers of studies,

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN (CNN) — I’ve been working steadily for hours but feel as if I haven’t even started. My attention is being pulled from my assigned task — writing this story — by a myriad of what I believe are necessary work interruptions. (OK, a couple were from my cat, who also firmly

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — After a steep rise during the Covid-19 pandemic, preliminary data shows that drug overdose deaths in the United States ticked down in 2023 for the first time in five years. About 107,500 people died from a drug overdose in 2023, according to data from the US Centers for Disease

By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN (CNN) — It’s spring, and the air is filled with the melodies of mating songbirds. But when I walk down a tidy street near my suburban Virginia home, the jarring memory of another sound echoes in my mind: my daughter’s piercing screams. Those desperate cries jolted me out of a

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN (CNN) — A new blood test can be performed in a pregnant person’s first trimester to help assess their risk of developing preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening pregnancy complication. It’s the first and only test of its kind available in the United States that can be used between 11 and 14 weeks

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN (CNN) — The internet is ruining our lives, right? Not necessarily, according to a new study. “Nearly everyone seems to think that internet-powered technologies are driving an epidemic of ill-being and mental health problems,” said lead study author Dr. Matti Vuorre, assistant professor of social psychology at Tilburg University in the

By Brenda Goodman, CNN (CNN) — After decades of decline, accidental drowning rates are rising in the US, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported. With Americans getting ready to hit swimming pools and beaches on Memorial Day weekend, a new study shows that many lack the skills they need to stay

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN (CNN) — Since using weight loss medication, Allie Olivares has quieted the voice of her eating disorder in her brain while getting more comfortable running around with her 6-year-old. But her 80 pounds of weight loss while taking Wegovy has not come without challenges of its own, she said. “I still

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — Most abortions in the United States are medication abortions, and telehealth has become an increasingly common way to access abortion pills — especially since the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision revoked the federal right to an abortion. In the last few months of 2023, nearly 1 in 5 abortions

By Kristen Rogers, CNN (CNN) — Eating enough healthy fats is great for brain and heart health, but new research has possibly provided even more evidence for adding them — particularly omega-3s — to your diet. “We found that a higher omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is associated with a greater risk of dying,” said Yuchen

By Meg Tirrell, CNN (CNN) — New analyses of the longest clinical trial yet of the weight-loss drug Wegovy are shedding light on how quickly it helps people lose weight, how long they sustain that weight loss and how safe the medicine is over four years of use. The analyses – of a trial called

By Andrea Kane, CNN (CNN) — When you open a bag of nacho-flavored chips or cheese puffs, you probably know that you’re about to indulge in an unhealthy snack. The dead giveaway? It’s the yummy, spicy, cheesy, neon-orange dust that coats each morsel and gets all over your fingers. Ditto for a frozen pizza and chicken

By Paradise Afshar, Chris Boyette and Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN (CNN) — A 62-year-old man has died months after becoming the world’s first living recipient of a genetically edited pig kidney transplant, hailed as a medical milestone. Rick Slayman received the kidney at Massachusetts General in March after he had been diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease

By Katia Hetter, CNN (CNN) — Many people love their ultraprocessed foods. Sodas, chips, ice cream, lunch meat and other prepared foods are staples of the American diet. They are hard to avoid, too. More than 70% of the US food supply is made of ultraprocessed food. But a diet heavy in ultraprocessed food isn’t good for