Twenty percent of U.S. adults said they smoked a cigarette in the past week, matching what the Gallup poll found in 2009 was the lowest level on record. Gallup”s annual Consumption Habits survey said this year”s and 2009 smoking levels were less than half what the smoking rate...

From 1997 to 2010, an estimated 40,400 U.S. children age 13 or younger were treated in a hospital for battery-related injuries, health officials say. A report published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report said 72 percent of these were...

Today's 29-year-olds may have to pay $331,200 for healthcare when they retire if the Romney-Ryan Medicare plan is approved, a U.S. critic of the plan says. David Cutler, an economist at Harvard University and the Center for American Progress, said the Romney-Ryan Medicare plan —...

Parents of U.S. high school athletes should review the latest guidelines about concussions, sports medicine doctors suggest. “Parents, coaches and student athletes should know what symptoms to pay attention to,” Dr. Robert Dimeff, director of primary care sports medicine at the...

Researchers in Britain say people who drink alcohol from curvy glasses may drink more than those who drink alcohol from a straight-sided glass. Dr. Angela Attwood and colleagues from Bristol's School of Experimental Psychology recruited 160 social drinkers ages 18-40 with no history of...

A moderate amount of chocolate per day — about one-quarter cup of chocolate chips — may be associated with a lower risk of stroke, researchers in Sweden say. Study author Susanna C. Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm said the study involved 37,103 Swedish men ages...

U.S. stay-at-home mothers spend 6.8 hours a day cooking, shopping and playing with children, 2.2 more hours than full-time working moms, researchers say. Lead author John Cawley of Cornell University's College of Human Ecology and colleagues said fathers whose partners worked a full-time...

A U.S. fruit distributor has announced a recall of as many as 1 million mangoes that may carry salmonella bacteria. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says researchers found indications the mangoes are to blame for a “multistate cluster” of salmonella, CNN reported. A majority...

The first phlebovirus found to cause illness in humans in the Western Hemisphere was discovered due to two severely sick farmers, U.S. researchers say. Two men from Missouri independently went to a medical facility with fever, fatigue, diarrhea, a decrease of platelets in blood and a decrease...

Fifty-six percent of employees estimate they waste up to $750 a year because of mistakes made with insurance benefits enrollment, a U.S. survey indicates. The Open Enrollment Survey of the Aflac Work Forces Report, a survey of 2,516 U.S. consumers conducted in July by Research Now, found...

The effectiveness of drugs can be destroyed by fire, flooding or unsafe water during a natural disaster, U.S. government officials said. Officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a disaster, it is especially important to assure the effectiveness of lifesaving drugs, so these...

A Quebec provincial minister announced an inquiry Thursday into a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Quebec City. Public Security Minister Robert Dutil told reporters nine deaths and more than 140 other confirmed cases of the bacterial lung infection since July would be...

Overuse injuries can arise gradually as one progresses through training and exercise regimes and should not be overlooked, a U.S. expert says. Dr. Robert Dimeff — director of primary care sports medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Medical...

In the 1960s, some ate dinner with dimmed lighting with music playing on the stereo and it may have resulted in smaller waistlines, U.S. researchers say. Lead author Brian Wansink, professor of marketing and director of Cornell University's Food and Brand Laboratory, said the mood for...

Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Catholics and Protestants with a degree of spirituality have better mental health, U.S. researchers say. Dan Cohen of the University of Missouri said despite differences in rituals and beliefs among the world's major religions, spirituality often enhances health...

It's crucial heading into fall sports for athletes to reduce their chances of suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament, a U.S. expert says. Sports-medicine specialist Dr. Katherine Coyner, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said...

Babies born in New York City have a life expectancy of 80.6 years, nearly 2.5 years longer than the national average of 78.2, city officials say. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Dr. Thomas A. Farley, health commissioner of New York City, said the city's innovative public health...

Tweens and teens, who may think that their days of getting back-to-school shots are behind them, should roll up their sleeves, a U.S. pediatrician says. Dr. Rashmi Shetgiri, a pediatrician at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the Children's Medical Center Dallas,...

Pregnant women have a higher rate of undiagnosed depression than non-pregnant women, U.S. researchers say. Jean Ko and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta found more than 1-in-10 women ages 18-44 had a major depressive event during the previous year —...

Secondhand smoke decreases sensitivity to cough-eliciting respiratory irritants and may explain why children of smokers are sicker, U.S. researchers say. Julie Mennella and Paul Wise, both of the Monell Center in Philadelphia, said 60 percent of U.S. children ages 3-11 years and 18 million...

Children as young as age 3 apparently can detect the difference between whining and when someone truly deserves sympathy, German researchers say. Lead author Robert Hepach of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said the study involved 48 children ages...

Children with a neurologic disorder such as cerebral palsy, intellectual disability or epilepsy have a higher risk from influenza, U.S. officials say. Dr. Lyn Finelli, chief of the surveillance and outbreak response team in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Influenza Division,...

Earphones on personal music players can reach noise levels similar to those of jet engines and may result in temporary hearing loss, British researchers say. Study leader Dr. Martine Hamann of the University of Leicester said turning the volume up too high on headphones could damage the...

The increase in West Nile virus cases has many concerned, but simple actions can prevent mosquitoes from breeding, a U.S. mosquito control expert says. “Mosquitoes can breed in as little as a tablespoon of standing water that remains for as little as one week,” Jonathan Cohen,...

West Nile virus jumped 40 percent over last week's 1,118 total cases, but U.S. health officials say the peak may be soon depending on Hurricane Isaac. Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the division of vector-borne infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in...

A diet of 30 percent fewer calories but the same nutrients of a standard diet did not extend life in rhesus monkeys, U.S. researcher say. However, first author Julie A. Mattison, head of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health, said the reduction in calories did...

U.S. researchers say the protein galectin-3 can identify people at higher risk of heart failure — the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. Study author Dr. Daniel Levy, director of the Framingham Heart Study, said the research was based on work from the National...

The United States lags France, Britain and Germany in reducing the number of preventable deaths, researchers found. The study, published online ahead of the September print issue of Health Affairs, compared mortality rates in the Unites States, France, Britain and Germany from 1999 to 2007 and...

Charismatic leadership, an upbeat, unchallenging vision of Christianity provide mega churches with a powerful religious experience, U.S. researchers say. “Our study shows that — contrary to public opinion that tends to pass off the mega church movement as consumerist religion...

A hand washing survey indicates most U.S. Americans wash their hands, but most are not washing them long enough — many wash for only 5 seconds. The fourth annual Healthy Hand Washing Survey, conducted by Bradley Corporation, a manufacturer of bathroom and locker room furnishings, found...