Health

Florida’s insurance regulator has demanded an unusually intrusive trove of data on millions of prescription drugs filled in the state last year, including the names of patients taking the medications, their dates of birth and doctors they’ve seen. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in January sought this information from pharmacy benefit managers like UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx and CVS Health’s …

Getty Images Scientists believe they have discovered how the cheap painkiller aspirin can stop cancers spreading. In animal experiments they showed the drug enhanced the ability of the immune system to fight back. The team at the University of Cambridge said it was an exciting and surprise discovery that could eventually lead to cancer patients being prescribed the drug – …

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University health economist who came to prominence crusading against lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic, faced questioning from the Senate health committee on Wednesday morning as President Trump’s nominee to direct the National Institutes of Health. The agency, the world’s largest funder of biomedical research, with a $48 billion budget and 27 separate institutes and centers, …

A representational image depicts a human heart. — Unsplash/File A blood test to detect the biological age of organs can predict the risk of health conditions years, or even decades later in a finding made by a team led by researchers at University College London in the United Kingdom. Their study, which was published in The Lancet Digital Health, found …

Nick Triggle and Hannah Karpel BBC News Getty Images Most areas in England are planning cuts to specialist eating-disorder services for children and young people this year, an analysis shows. Of the nation’s 42 NHS integrated care boards, 24 are due to reduce spending for under-18s in 2024-25, once inflation is taken into account. Overall spending is due to go …

BBC At-home tests for men worried about prostate cancer can give inconsistent and inaccurate results, BBC News has found. The tests, which resemble a Covid lateral flow strip, turn positive if a high level of a protein called PSA is detected in a drop of blood. Of five rapid tests analysed by the BBC, one did not work, three were …

Nicola Hughes hid a covert camera in a radio in her mother’s bedroom at the care home. Mona McAlinden BBC Scotland news A woman secretly filmed her mother’s mistreatment in a care home after concerns she raised about her care were ignored. Nicola Hughes, who is a registered nurse, hid a covert camera in a radio in her mother’s bedroom …

A measles outbreak that has spread over a swath of West Texas, killing one child, shows no signs of slowing, according to data announced on Tuesday by state health officials. The Texas Department of Health reported that since late January, nearly 160 people have contracted measles — 20 more cases than reported on Friday — and 22 have been hospitalized. …

The High Street pharmacy chain Boots is asking customers to return packs of 500-milligram paracetamol tablets because a labelling error incorrectly states they are a different painkiller, aspirin. More than 110,000 packs, with the batch number 241005 and expiry date “12/2029” on the bottom, are affected. Customers can receive a full refund without a receipt. Boots and the supplier, Aspar …

The new head of the Food and Drug Administration division that regulates infant formula was in recent months a corporate lawyer defending a top formula maker from claims that its product gave rise to debilitating harm to premature babies. Kyle A. Diamantas joined the F.D.A. last month to lead the food division, leaving the law firm Jones Day, which has …