When patients are given the responsibility for medical decisions, they may be less willing to try a potentially risky treatment, a study published Monday suggests.The study, of 216 patients with arthritis and other similar diseases, tested patients' willingness to take

Osteoarthritis (OA), a highly prevalent disease, raised aggregate annual medical care expenditures in the U.S. by $185.5 billion according to researchers from Stony Brook University. Insurers footed $149.4 billion of the total medical spend and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures were $36.1

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found that informed adults can help families stave off complications associated with asthma. The findings, available online and in the December issue of Pediatrics, suggest that interventions by parent mentors - caregivers of asthmatic

Some herbal supplements may boost the levels of lead in the blood of women, new research shows.Among 12,807 men and women age 20 and older, Dr. Catherine Buettner, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues found

When people think about pesticides and health, cancer and birth defects probably come to mind. But new research shows pesticide exposure may contribute to a much more common affliction: itchy, runny, stuffy noses."Pesticides have more potential consequences than we've considered.

When you eat may be just as vital to your health as what you eat, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Their experiments in mice revealed that the daily waxing and waning of thousands of genes in

Chronic pain is experienced by as many as two out of three older adults. Now, a new study finds that pain may be more hazardous than previously thought, contributing to an increased risk of falls in adults over age 70.

It's a crime so profitable that even dead people are in on the act.A U.S. Senate committee revealed last year that public health insurer Medicare had paid as much as $92 million from 2000 to 2007 for medical services or

Uzbekistan said on Wednesday it had closed the border with Central Asian neighbour Kazakhstan as part of a seasonal anti-flu quarantine.On Monday, Kazakhstan said Uzbekistan shut the border without any explanations and Kazakh media, as well as residents of the

Scientists at Johns Hopkins and their colleagues have developed sugar-coated polymer strands that selectively kill off cells involved in triggering aggressive allergy and asthma attacks. Their advance is a significant step toward crafting pharmaceuticals to fight these often life-endangering conditions

Eight years after a U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, the war-ravaged state is the most dangerous place in the world for a child to be born, the United Nations said on Thursday.It is especially dangerous for

It's not just spending on U.S. healthcare that's hitting record levels. Drugmakers, insurers and industry groups are on track to spend an all-time high of more than $500 million this year to influence Congress' revamp of the U.S. healthcare system.Lobbyists

A Florida jury on Thursday ordered cigarette maker Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million in damages to a 61-year-old ex-smoker named Cindy Naugle who is wheelchair-bound by emphysema.The Broward Circuit Court jury assessed $56.6 million in past and future

A severe H1N1 flu pandemic could cost the UK economy 72 billion pounds ($121 billion), British scientists said on Friday, but advised against closing schools even if the current mild pandemic takes a turn for the worse.Researchers from the London

Hospital patients who suffer a side effect from treatment are more likely to give high ratings to their quality of care when hospital staff are up front about what went wrong, a new study suggests.In a survey of nearly 2,300

For years, it has been widely assumed that older adults may experience memory loss and other cognitive problems following surgery. But a new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis questions those assumptions. In fact,

The Transcendental Meditation® technique may be an effective method to reduce blood pressure, anxiety, depression, and anger among at-risk college students, according to a new study to be published in the American Journal of Hypertension, December 2009."The Transcendental Meditation Program,

Heart function significantly improved in children and young adults with single-ventricle congenital heart disease who have had the Fontan operation following treatment with sildenafil, a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension, say researchers from The Children's Hospital

The H1N1 flu killed more people in Canada during the past week than in any other week this year, but health officials said on Tuesday the nation's vaccination program was going so well that it may reach its peak earlier

Researchers from the Center for Translational Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University have found that the overexpression of a sodium/calcium exchanger, without changes in other ion transport pathways commonly observed in heart failure, does not by itself lead to contraction abnormalities