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Declining religious participation linked to rising deaths of despair

A decline in religious participation among middle-aged, less educated white Americans may have played a role in the widely noted increases in "deaths of despair," a new study finds.

19 Dec 2025

Gait retraining reduces pain and slows knee damage in osteoarthritis

Nearly a quarter of people over the age of 40 experience painful osteoarthritis, making it a leading cause of disability in adults.

1 Sep 2025

Personalized gait retraining reduces pain and slows knee damage in osteoarthritis

Nearly a quarter of people over the age of 40 experience painful osteoarthritis, making it a leading cause of disability in adults.

12 Aug 2025

New analgesic shows promise as opioid alternative

Opioids like morphine are widely used in medical practice due to their powerful pain-relieving effects. However, they carry the risk of serious adverse effects such as respiratory depression and drug dependence.

4 Aug 2025

Who’s policing opioid settlement spending? A crowdsourced database might help

After years of legal battles, state attorneys general won billions of dollars in opioid settlements from drug companies accused of fueling the addiction crisis. They declared victory at press conferences, and some touted the deals during their gubernatorial campaigns.

11 Jul 2025

For opioid victims, payouts fall short while governments reap millions

Christopher Julian's opioid journey is familiar to many Americans.

8 Apr 2025

Prescription drug misuse rates higher among adults with disabilities

Adults with disabilities are nearly twice as likely to misuse prescription drugs as adults without disabilities, according to West Virginia University research.

4 Mar 2025

Review reveals high rates of opioid dependence among chronic pain patients

A new scientific review of 148 studies enrolling over 4.3 million adult chronic pain patients treated with prescription opioid painkillers has found that nearly one in ten patients experiences opioid dependence or opioid use disorder and nearly one in three shows symptoms of dependence and opioid use disorder.

8 Aug 2024

Lifesaving drugs and police projects mark first use of opioid settlement cash in California

Sonja Verdugo lost her husband to an opioid overdose last year. She regularly delivers medical supplies to people using drugs who are living — and dying — on the streets of Los Angeles. And she advocates at Los Angeles City Hall for policies to address addiction and homelessness.

12 Jul 2024

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': SCOTUS term wraps with a bang

It was a busy year for health-related cases at the Supreme Court. Among other issues, the justices grappled with two abortion cases, a separate case touching on the opioid epidemic, and a case challenging whether localities can bar homeless people from sleeping in public spaces.

3 Jul 2024

Pain doesn’t belong on a scale of zero to 10

Over the past two years, a simple but baffling request has preceded most of my encounters with medical professionals: "Rate your pain on a scale of zero to 10."

2 Jul 2024

More kids are dying of drug overdoses. Could pediatricians do more to help?

A 17-year-old boy with shaggy blond hair stepped onto the scale at Tri-River Family Health Center in Uxbridge, Massachusetts.

5 Apr 2024

Track opioid settlement payouts — to the cent — in your community

State and local governments are receiving billions of dollars in settlements from companies that made, sold, or distributed prescription painkillers and were accused of fueling the opioid crisis.

2 Apr 2024

How a friend’s death turned Colorado teens into anti-overdose activists

Gavinn McKinney loved Nike shoes, fireworks, and sushi. He was studying Potawatomi, one of the languages of his Native American heritage.

1 Mar 2024

Records show Publix opioid sales grew even as addiction crisis prompted other chains’ pullback

An executive at Teva Pharmaceuticals flagged Publix Super Markets in October 2015 after detecting what he called in an email "serious red flags" with the grocery chain's orders of powerful opioids.

29 Jan 2024

The year in opioid settlements: 5 things you need to know

This year, about $1.5 billion has landed in state and local government coffers from court settlements made with more than a dozen companies that manufactured, sold, or distributed prescription painkillers and were sued for their role in fueling the opioid crisis.

21 Dec 2023

Adolescent illicit drug use stays below pre-pandemic levels in 2023, survey finds

The percentage of teenagers reporting they used any illicit substances in 2023 held steady below the pre-pandemic levels reported in 2020, according to the latest results from the Monitoring the Future survey.

13 Dec 2023

Study: Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. more than quadrupled from 1999 to 2020

The United States is experiencing its highest overall death rates in more than a century, fueled in part by drug overdose mortality. The origins of the current epidemic are due, at least in part, to a 1986 World Health Organization pronouncement that pain treatment is a universal right.

12 Sep 2023

Legal pot is more potent than ever — and still largely unregulated

Marijuana and other products containing THC, the plant's main psychoactive ingredient, have grown more potent and more dangerous as legalization has made them more widely available.

9 May 2023

The Biden administration vowed to be a leading voice on opioid settlements but has gone quiet

Early in President Joe Biden's tenure, his administration promised to play a key role in ensuring opioid settlement funds went toward tackling the nation's addiction crisis.

21 Apr 2023