Motorcycle crashes are far costlier than car accidents, both in lives lost and in medical expenses, a new study shows. Canadian researchers found that the death rate from motorcycle crashes was five times greater than from car crashes, and the rate of severe injury was 10 times greater. That came with a six times greater…  read on >

Women who are overweight or obese may need to be screened for breast cancer more frequently, new Swedish research suggests. The reason? Overweight or obese women are at greater risk of having breast cancer detected after the tumor has grown large — over 2 centimeters — than their slimmer counterparts, the study found. Heavier women…  read on >

Two-thirds of U.S. parents with young children say it’s difficult to find a childcare or preschool facility that meets their health and safety standards, new survey results show. Researchers questioned more than 300 parents nationwide who had at least one child aged 1 to 5 years. Sixty-two percent said they had trouble finding facilities that…  read on >

Is your baby’s stuffy nose and cough just a cold or something more serious? It could be respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the leading cause of infant hospitalization in the United States, experts say. RSV causes symptoms similar to those of other viruses, including stuffy or runny nose, fever, coughing, sneezing, loss of appetite and irritability.…  read on >

Teens with friends are active teens, a new study suggests. “You can build beautiful parks and facilities; but if children don’t have friends to play with, these facilities won’t be enough to increase their physical activity,” said study lead author Sarah-Jeanne Salvy. “Peers and friends are the catalyst of the physical environment,” Salvy added. She…  read on >

Here’s to keeping your health on a tight leash: New research suggests that having a dog might boost a single person’s life span. The study tracked more than 3.4 million Swedes, middle-aged and older, for 12 years. All were free of heart disease at the beginning of the study. The researchers reported that dog owners…  read on >

Boys tend to pay more attention in school when there are girls around, and new research suggests it’s not just about how the girls look. The study found that young men got better reading marks in school when they were outnumbered by young women in the classroom. Researchers reviewed the reading test scores of more…  read on >

Before you let your parental frustration get the better of you, a new study suggests you should refrain from spanking your misbehaving youngster. Researchers analyzed data from more than 12,000 children in the United States and found that those who had been spanked by their parents at age 5 had more behavior problems at ages…  read on >

Getting a pet can improve not only your emotional outlook but your physical health as well, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The CDC says furry companions have been shown to trigger these health improvements: Decreased blood pressure. Decreased cholesterol. Decreased triglycerides. Reduced feelings of loneliness. Greater exposure to social activities and…  read on >

Smog might raise a woman’s risk of miscarriage early in her pregnancy, a new study suggests. Chronic exposure seemed to increase that risk by more than 10 percent, according to researchers who tracked hundreds of pregnancies among couples in Michigan and Texas. “We found that both ozone and particles in the air were related to…  read on >