Category: CDC

MEwens
U.S. cancer-screening rates are falling short of the government’s targets.
According to new stats out today from the CDC, not enough people are following the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s recommendations for getting regular breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening tests. And the picture looks even worse when you look at specific racial and […]

MEwens
A long-awaited government study on a mysterious skin condition known as Morgellons disease concludes that it isn’t infectious or caused by something in the environment. It also is very rare, affecting fewer than 4 in 100,000 people surveyed.
(The study appears in PLoS ONE.)
However, it isn’t possible to say from the data whether the […]

MEwens
Teen birth rates in the U.S. have been generally declining since 1991, but are still higher than in other developed countries.
Now, new stats from the CDC show that about half of teen moms who got pregnant unintentionally weren’t using any form of birth control at the time of conception. The survey also asked […]

MEwens
Americans may be as heavy as they’re going to get — at least for now.
That’s what new government data suggest. While obesity rates climbed sharply in the U.S. in the 1980s and 1990s, their increase has slowed or leveled off in many population groups since then, according to data from the Centers for […]

MEwens
Heavy boozers are imbibing more frequently and knocking back more alcohol per binge than previously thought, according to new government data that looked, for the first time, at the detailed habits of binge drinkers.
One in six U.S. adults reported binge drinking at least once in 2010, a slight increase from the previous year, […]

MEwens
Infant Formula Test Results: The FDA and CDC said late Friday that tests of factory-sealed Mead Johnson infant formula pulled from some store shelves after a Missouri infant died from a rare infection showed no traces of bacterial contamination, the WSJ reports. The agencies said there was no need for a recall of […]

MEwens
With more than 900 posts, it’s been a busy year for the Health Blog. We thought we’d close out the year by highlighting a few of our (and our readers’) favorites. As with our “best of” last year, this is a thoroughly unscientifically determined list, with posts chosen by subject matter, quirk factor […]

MEwens
A new report of disease transmission from an organ donor could fuel demand for more rigorous testing of donors, despite concern that such screening could rule out useable organs.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports today that a Kentucky man whose organs were donated after he died following a traumatic brain injury […]

MEwens
New Medicare Plan: Republican Rep. Paul Ryan and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden plan to today propose a plan for changing Medicare that would permit private health-insurance plans to compete for enrollees with the traditional Medicare plan, the WSJ reports. The plan, which would take effect in 2022 and wouldn’t apply to current Medicare […]

MEwens
Weighing the Risks: An outside FDA advisory panel is recommending clearer language covering the potential risks of blood clots on the labels of some birth-control pills, though a majority of panel members said the benefits of the pills outweigh the risks, the WSJ reports. Studies attempting to figure out whether Bayer AG’s Yaz, […]