The Biden administration on Thursday offered assistance to communities and hospitals dealing with a surge in cases of pediatric respiratory illnesses, but it did not declare a national public health emergency. The Children’s Hospital Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics had asked President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra for…  read on >  read on >

Something — or rather, someone — may be standing between moms and a regular exercise routine: their children. New research from the universities of Cambridge and Southampton in the United Kingdom suggests that fewer than half of mothers met recommended activity levels, a number that was even lower when the children were younger or there…  read on >  read on >

It’s sort of like the Goldilocks principle — a room that’s either too dry or too humid can influence transmission of COVID-19 and cause more illness or death, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers say. Maintaining an indoor relative humidity between 40% and 60% is associated with lower rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths, they reported…  read on >  read on >

More than 1 in every 10 births in the United States now occur prematurely, and the number of these more dangerous deliveries jumped by 4% during 2021, a new report from the March of Dimes shows. The premature birth rate has now reached 10.5% of all births — the highest level since 2007, according to…  read on >  read on >

More pregnant women in the United States are choosing to deliver their babies at home rather than in hospitals, a trend that may have been influenced by the pandemic. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published Thursday showed that 52,000 women gave birth at home in 2021, an increase of 12% over…  read on >  read on >

Children’s health is jeopardized when they have a parent in prison, new research finds. In the United States, 5 million kids have an incarcerated parent. Those children have worse access to primary, dental and mental health care than their peers, the investigators found. And that puts the kids at risk of worse mental and physical…  read on >  read on >