Public Health News and Research

RSS

A brain-dead pregnant woman was kept alive in Georgia. It’s unclear if state law required it.

A Georgia woman declared brain-dead and kept on life support for more than three months because she was pregnant was removed from a ventilator in June and died, days after doctors delivered her 1-pound, 13-ounce baby by emergency cesarean section.

29 Jul 2025

How a leaky gut could be putting your heart at risk

Researchers reviewed recent studies showing that gut dysbiosis contributes to heart failure by weakening the gut barrier, enabling harmful metabolites like TMAO to trigger inflammation and cardiac damage. The review highlights a bidirectional “gut-heart axis” and points to new avenues for dietary and microbial therapies.

28 Jul 2025

Moderate coffee and tea habits linked to sharper thinking in seniors

Moderate coffee intake and both moderate and high tea consumption are associated with a slower decline in fluid intelligence among older adults over nearly a decade. High coffee intake, however, is linked to a faster decline in cognitive function.

28 Jul 2025

Vaccine preferences found to be driven by national loyalty and trust

the Chinese vaccine was the most common, an unprecedented phenomenon occurred.

28 Jul 2025

Most dairy foods linked to neutral or better health but yogurt stands out for real benefits

A major scoping review of recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses finds that most dairy products are either neutral or modestly protective for heart, cancer, metabolic, and mortality outcomes in adults. Yogurt and other fermented dairy consistently show the strongest health associations, while some risks remain for specific cancers.

28 Jul 2025

Living near the ocean breeze may extend life expectancy

Living within miles of the ocean breeze may be linked to a longer life, but you shouldn't count on the same benefits if you live in a riverside city, suggests a recent study.

28 Jul 2025

Bacterial self-defense may hold clues to tackling antibiotic resistance

Researchers at the University of Southampton have worked out how bacteria defend themselves against viruses called phages and the new insights could be key to tackling antibiotic resistance.

28 Jul 2025

TraMA offers breakthrough in measuring biological age

A new research paper was published in Aging (Aging-US) Volume 17, Issue 6, on June 13, 2025, titled "Development of a novel transcriptomic measure of aging: Transcriptomic Mortality-risk Age (TraMA)."

28 Jul 2025

American Heart Association expands Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Health Initiative to 15 regions

People in 15 regions across the U.S. will soon benefit from the American Heart Association's Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Health Initiative™, designed to improve treatment of the interconnected conditions that lead to heart disease and stroke.

28 Jul 2025

California looked to them to close health disparities, then it backpedaled

Fortina Hernández is called "the one who knows it all." For more than two decades, the community health worker has supported hundreds of families throughout southeast Los Angeles by helping them sign up for food assistance, sharing information about affordable health coverage, and managing medications for their chronic illnesses.

28 Jul 2025

Fearing Medicaid coverage loss, some parents rush to vaccinate their kids

For two decades, Washington, D.C., pediatrician Lanre Falusi has counseled parents about vaccine safety, side effects, and timing. But this year, she said, the conversations have changed.

28 Jul 2025

Persistent intense grief linked to higher healthcare use and mortality

Grief after the loss of a loved one is a natural response – an inevitable part of living and loving. But in a minority of the bereaved, grief is so overwhelming that it can lead to physical and mental illnes, even if they don't necessarily qualify for a diagnosis with the mental health condition 'prolonged grief disorder'.

28 Jul 2025

Predicting measles vaccination coverage for targeted public health action

Knowing how many people are vaccinated against an existing or re-emerging threat is a key factor guiding public health decisions, but such information is often sparse or non-existent in many regions, according to researchers at Penn State.

28 Jul 2025

Outpatient therapy offers hope for young eating disorder patients after hospitalization

Eating disorders affect more than 5% of young people, and they have one of the highest mortality rates of any mental illness.

28 Jul 2025

Experts say you don’t need 10,000 steps, here’s the new magic number

A major systematic review finds that walking just 7,000 steps per day, rather than the traditional 10,000, can significantly reduce the risk of mortality, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and more. The analysis, published in The Lancet Public Health, provides an evidence-based and achievable target for adult health.

27 Jul 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Here come the ACA premium hikes

Much of the hubbub in health care this year has been focused on Medicaid, which faces dramatically reduced federal funding as the result of the huge budget bill signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month.

24 Jul 2025

Older adults with serious illness face greater burdens after elective surgery

Older adults who have serious illness before undergoing elective surgery had hospital stays twice as long as similarly aged counterparts; were twice as likely to return to the hospital or the emergency department; and had almost double the yearly costs of health care, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

24 Jul 2025

Expanding mastectomy access could prevent more breast cancer cases

More women at higher risk of breast cancer should be offered a mastectomy, according to a new study led by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Queen Mary, University of London.

24 Jul 2025

Exploring tick microbiota and their impact on disease transmission

Announcing a new article publication for Zoonoses journal. Ticks have garnered significant research interest owing to their ability to vector pathogens into humans and animals.

24 Jul 2025

New study reveals high lifetime exposure to hepatitis B and C in Ukraine

A study just published on Eurosurveillance has found evidence of substantial lifetime exposure to hepatitis B and C viruses in Ukraine in a 2021 nationwide, representative sample of the population, with findings also suggesting significant ongoing circulation of these viruses.

24 Jul 2025