Women are often being sold a fertility test that paints a misleading picture of their ability to conceive a child, a new study warns. The anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) test uses a blood sample to estimate the number of eggs available in the ovaries of adult women, researchers explained. However, the AMH test doesn’t judge the… read on > read on >
Peak asthma month is upon parents as summer draws to a close, experts warn. “September is known as Asthma Peak Month because kids have returned to school, and viruses are being passed around,” said allergist Dr. Gailen Marshall, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. “September also sees higher levels of environmental… read on > read on >
Turning off smartphones is an important step in making sure tweens get the sleep they need, a new study says. Leaving a phone ringer on is associated with a 25% higher risk of sleep disturbance among tweens ages 11 and 12, according to a new report published July 22 in the Journal of Adolescent Health.… read on > read on >
For the first time in two decades, the infant mortality rate in the United States has risen, new government data shows. In a report released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers found that more than 20,500 babies died in 2022 before the age of 1. Overall, there were 5.6 infant deaths for… read on > read on >
Misuse of illicit prescription drugs is falling dramatically among U.S. high school students, a new study says. The percentage of seniors who say they’ve misused prescription drugs in the past year has dropped to 2% in 2022, down from 11% back in 2009, researchers reported July 24 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.… read on > read on >
There’s a slight but significant rise in dangerous obstetric complications for pregnant women who use marijuana, new research shows. Data from almost 317,000 pregnancies in women in California found those who used the drug had higher odds for gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, weight gain that goes beyond recommended levels and a condition known as placental abruption… read on > read on >
Children exposed to Zika virus in the womb might suffer long-term damage to their immune system, a new study warns. Zika virus is known to cause microcephaly, brain disabilities and other birth defects in about 5% of children whose mothers contract Zika virus while pregnant, researchers said. But this study suggests that the 95% of… read on > read on >
A drug called hydroxyurea has long been used to fight sickle cell disease, but some female patients may have shied away from it due to concerns that it could harm future fertility. Those fears may be unfounded: A new study finds that hydroxyurea has no effect on what’s known as “ovarian reserve” — the number… read on > read on >
Boredom is the key emotion behind most teens’ use of Instagram, a new study says. Teens open the app because they’re bored, then sift through its contents looking for interesting bits to relieve their boredom, researchers report. Then, bored by slogging through the site’s “content soup,” the teens log off, researchers found. “We saw teens… read on > read on >
Ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, even more women have struggled to find reproductive care, a new report warns. Issued Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund, the report shows that women living in states long plagued by health disparities — particularly in the Southeast — have been harmed the most.… read on > read on >
