A large real-life test of birth control methods found more U.S. women got pregnant while using short-acting methods such as pills, patches and vaginal rings -- and the failure rate was highest when they were used by women under 21.
One out of every seven patients having a non-emergency angioplasty to clear a clogged artery in the heart didn't meet criteria for needing the procedure, in a new study from New York.
A 40 percent decline in the death rate of diabetic American adults from heart disease and strokes is a sign that patients are taking better care of themselves and receiving improved treatment, according to a government study released on Tuesday.
Rates of two rare childhood cancers declined after the U.S. began requiring grain products to be fortified with the B vitamin folic acid, a new study finds.
About one out of every three infants who scores well below average on a test of developmental skills -- and is therefore considered at a high risk of having delays -- does not get referred to early intervention services, according to a new study.
For at least some moms-to-be, it's extra body fat -- and not blood sugar levels -- that may be key to their risk of having a big baby, a study published Tuesday suggests.
Scientists have for the first time succeeded in taking skin cells from patients with heart failure and transforming them into healthy, beating heart tissue that could one day be used to treat the condition.
The United States sees drug abuse as a public health problem as much as a crime issue and is seeking to learn from countries in Europe and elsewhere about how to treat addiction as a disease, Barack Obama's drugs policy chief said on Tuesday.
Among hospital intensive care units (ICUs) with a daytime physician specially trained in critical care, adding a specialist to cover the night shift does not improve patients' survival, according to a new study.
The percentage of U.S. teenagers with "pre-diabetes" or full-blown type 2 diabetes has more than doubled in recent years -- though obesity and other heart risk factors have held steady, government researchers reported Monday.
A small study suggests surgeons in training are still tired enough to raise their risk of making significant errors, despite new guidelines limiting their work hours.
Antibiotics are still better than probiotics at preventing urinary tract infections, but at least "good bacteria" don't add to a person's antibiotic resistance, a new study concludes.
High school kids in California, a state that limits the junk food sold in vending machines, eat fewer calories in school than kids in states without such regulations, according to a new study.
Babies who are fed milk from their mothers' breasts gain less weight over their first year compared to babies fed milk -- breast or formula -- from a bottle, suggests a new study.
Among girls and women who get their first human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine, the percent who complete all three doses is dropping, according to a new study.
Scientists have mapped the complete genetic codes of 21 breast cancers and created a catalogue of the mutations that accumulate in breast cells, raising hopes that the disease may be able to be spotted earlier and treated more effectively in future.
Traumatic brain injury, the signature wound of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, is doubly cruel: it leaves many victims emotionally shattered and cognitively crippled. But because mild and moderate brain injuries do not show up on CT or other imaging, doctors and even family members are often skeptical that any real damage exists.