More Than 321,000 U.S. Kids Lost a Parent to Drug ODs in a Decade

More than 320,000 U.S. children lost a parent to drug overdose during the past decade, according to a new study reported May 8 in JAMA Psychiatry.

What’s more, the death rate accelerated during the period, more than doubling between 2011 and 2021, researchers found.

About 27 children per 100,000 had a parent die from an ov...

About 90% of U.S. Adults Are On the Way to Heart Disease

Nine of 10 American adults are in the early, middle or late stages of a syndrome that leads to heart disease, a new report finds, and almost 10% have the disease already.

"Poor cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic health is widespread among the U.S. population," concludes a team led by Dr. Muthiah Vaduganathan of Brigham and Women’s Hos...

There's a New Set of COVID Variants Called FLiRT: What You Need to Know

The virus behind COVID has mutated again, this time producing variants nicknamed FLiRT, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported.

The variants are appearing in wastewater sampling, the CDC said, and case monitoring suggests that between April 14 and April 27, one FLiRT variant called KP.2 made up about a quart...

Drive to Be 'Perfect' Parent Isn't Healthy, Survey Finds

Parents striving to be “perfect” will never attain that goal, and the aim isn’t even healthy for their families, a new study says.

The risks of striving for perfection are such that researchers have now created a scale to help parents track their burnout and, if necessary, counter it.

The first-of-its-kind Working Parent Burnou...

How Bad Was Beethoven's Lead Poisoning?

No one knows what caused the liver and kidney disease that led to Ludwig van Beethoven’s untimely death.

But one popular theory – that high lead levels killed the great composer – should be ruled out, researchers argue in the journal Clinical Chemistry.

Analysis of samples taken from preserved locks of Beethoven’s ha...

Big Rise in Emergencies Involving Synthetic Weed Among Kids, Adults

Calls to U.S. poison centers regarding so-called synthetic cannabis jumped 88% between 2021 and 2022, as use of these legally sold products rose, research shows.

Synthetic cannabis contain varying forms of the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC): delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC and THC-O acetate. 

They're banned...