(HealthDay News) – Juul Labs on Wednesday reached a $462 million settlement with several states over the aggressive marketing of its electronic cigarettes to minors. This latest settlement includes New York, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Mexico. Juul settled with West Virginia earlier this week. The company has already agreed…  read on >  read on >

Whether the gender of a blood donor could affect the recipient’s survival was an unanswered question in medicine. Until now. “Some observational studies had suggested female donor blood might be linked with a higher risk of death among recipients compared to male donor blood, but our clinical trial found that isn’t the case,” co-lead author…  read on >  read on >

As people with HIV live longer they’re at risk of premature heart disease. But a new study finds statin drugs can cut the risk of serious heart problems by more than one-third. The U.S. National Institutes of Health trial found the cholesterol-lowering drugs so effective, in fact, that the study was stopped early. Taking the…  read on >  read on >

U.S. officials said Wednesday that they plan to strengthen existing privacy rules to prevent the sharing of private legal reproductive health care information for use in investigations and prosecutions against patients or providers. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), through its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), moved to strengthen the Health Insurance…  read on >  read on >

Pregnancy rates in the United States suffered a steep decline during the last decade, new government data shows. The overall U.S. pregnancy rate fell by 12% between 2010 and 2019, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The pregnancy rate among women aged 15 to 44 was 85.6…  read on >  read on >

Getting care in the United States for lingering COVID-19 symptoms can be challenging, affecting long-term health and ability to work, a new study finds. Adults with so-called long COVID have had greater challenges with health care access and affordability than other adults, and these barriers to care have implications for their well-being, said lead researcher…  read on >  read on >