Study bolsters notion that exposing babies to peanut products can reduce allergiesVideo
Feeding peanuts to babies can reduce their risk of developing allergies, a study published this week affirmed. While nuts themselves remain choking hazards, giving foods made with nuts to babies may prevent them from developing nut allergies, according to a study published Monday in Pediatrics, the journal of the American...
Pa. bill would require high schools to stock naloxone
A bill introduced last week in the Pennsylvania Senate would require all high schools in the state to have opioid reversal drugs on hand. Under the measure, school personnel would volunteer to complete training on the use of naloxone, which goes by brand names including Narcan, and to store it...
Local medical experts provide clarity on conflicting covid vaccine guidelines in Pennsylvania
After being told over the summer he needed a prescription to get the latest covid booster, AR Ravi sat in a Downtown Pittsburgh building Friday, hoping the Allegheny County Health Department could help. “We get it every year,” Ravi, a Mars resident, said of the booster. He expressed frustration at...
Facing burnout, stress and shortages, Pa. nurses push to limit patient workload
Some days, Ashley Grieco feels behind the moment she steps into the neonatal intensive care unit at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital. On those difficult occasions, three critically ill babies might need her attention — all at once. Ideally, Grieco would spend more time with each infant, nurturing language skills by reading...
Trump wants more U.S. babies. This is his plan to lower costs, expand access to IVF
WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump announced a plan aimed at expanding access to in vitro fertilization, seeking to fulfill a 2024 campaign promise by launching a new effort to lower IVF costs for families. Trump’s plan, which he unveiled Thursday in the Oval Office, also calls for eliminating red tape...
Research shows annoying sounds might not be in your ears, but in your brain
The sound of someone sniffling can be irritating, but that has almost nothing to do with the sound itself, new Carnegie Mellon University research shows. “It’s not the sound, it’s how I feel about the person sitting next to me, and how it’s rude to sniffle,” said Laurie Heller, a...
Report claims Heritage Valley Sewickley, St. Clair hospitals perform needless back surgeries
Two Pittsburgh-area hospitals and one near State College are being called out by a health care think tank for performing what it calls unnecessary back surgeries. A report released earlier this month by the Massachusetts-based Lown Institute says around 38% of spinal fusions performed at Heritage Valley Sewickley weren’t warranted,...
AHN signs deal to pull Heritage Valley hospitals into its network
Allegheny Health Network and the much smaller Heritage Valley Health System have signed a merger agreement, marking the latest push by the Pittsburgh region’s biggest hospital systems to expand their reach. Officials on Thursday announced the deal, which requires state and federal government approval. It would bring Heritage Valley hospitals...
Study questions value of beta-blockers for heart attack patients
Doctors are reassessing decades of standard treatment for patients who have had heart attacks after new research shows beta-blockers may be anywhere from useless to harmful in certain cases. The research was conducted in Spain and Italy and hit medical journals only in August, but it’s already started to impact...
Sticker shock: Pennie expects Obamacare premiums to soar even more than first feared
The end of enhanced Obamacare subsidies could be even more costly than initially feared for Pennsylvanians who use the health insurance program. Pennie, the state’s Affordable Care Act health insurance exchange, now estimates the average enrollee will see premiums climb 102% if Congress lets the subsidies expire at the end...
UPMC enters takeover talks for Ohio’s Trinity Health System
UPMC is looking to absorb Trinity Health System and its four hospitals in eastern Ohio. CommonSpirit Health, the parent organization of Trinity Health System, said in a joint release Wednesday its has a nonbinding deal with UPMC to pursue a takeover agreement. “Over the next several months, both entities will...
New covid guidelines add confusion, complications for Americans seeking shots
NEW YORK — Americans headed to pharmacies for covid-19 vaccines are running into roadblocks and confusion due to new U.S. guidance that abandoned broad support for the shots, contributing to the lowest vaccination rates since they were introduced. For the four-week period ended Oct. 3, covid immunizations were down about...
White House: Trump gets covid shot in preparation for upcoming travel
President Donald Trump has received updated flu and covid-19 booster shots in preparation for upcoming travel, the president’s physician announced Friday. Sean P. Barbabella, a Navy captain, shared the information in a letter submitted Friday to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “President Donald J. Trump successfully completed a scheduled...
Giant Eagle wades into pharmacy benefit management, promising transparency
As Giant Eagle expands its pharmacy business by absorbing customers from the failed Rite-Aid chain, it quietly has been making a bigger push into a more obscure sector of the industry: pharmacy benefit management. After dabbling for at least a decade in pharmacy benefit management, serving as the go-between among...
Health Secretary Kennedy, Trump link circumcision to autism through TylenolVideo
WASHINGTON – Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expanded his crusade against using Tylenol with a cutting-edge warning: boys who were circumcised were twice as likely to be diagnosed with autism later. “There are two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism,” Kennedy...
Covid shot led to less severe illness, fewer hospitalizations last year, U.S. study finds
Last year’s updated covid-19 vaccines helped prevent severe outcomes including hospitalizations and deaths, according to data from a large study of U.S. military veterans published on Wednesday. Vaccinated veterans who developed covid after receiving the 2024-2025 boosters from Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech were also less likely to visit the emergency room...
Arnold Schwarzenegger gets real about aging, joint pain. Does he regret Mr. Olympia training?
In the 1977 film “Pumping Iron,” Arnold Schwarzenegger famously described “the pump” − or when blood flows into your muscles during a workout − as “the greatest feeling.” Akin to sex, even. Now, at 78, Schwarzenegger says he stands by this description − but he’d like to add some important...
Health official calls for separating measles combination shots, pulls broad covid vaccine support
A top U.S. health official on Monday called for the combined measles-mumps-rubella shot to be broken up, drawing a quick rebuke from vaccine maker Merck, which said there is no scientific evidence that shows any benefit to doing so. The U.S. CDC earlier on Monday pulled broad support for covid-19...
Western Pennsylvania’s Mark Christman champions FSHD awareness
Mark J. Christman doesn’t have the strength to hold his nearly 8-month-old grandson, William “Willie” Chavara. “I am weaker every year,” said Christman, who was diagnosed in 1977 with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a genetic disorder that weakens skeletal muscles. “I can’t get in and out of bed myself or...
Though wary of covid shots, these Trump voters balk at restricting traditional vaccines
Chad Hill thinks some questions need to be asked about vaccines. Hill has harbored doubts about the covid-19 vaccine since it was introduced, due to how quickly it was developed and released. He suspects that medical experts who pushed the vaccine were compromised by ties to drugmakers. And he supported...
Health Secretary Kennedy speeds autism drug with GSK help
Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. could deliver a policy win for the Trump administration in just a few months after the Food and Drug Administration enlisted GSK to help it fast-track approval of a decades-old drug to treat an autism-related disorder. The FDA’s unusual move will allow it to...
Yoga in Sewickley fosters wellness and communityVideo
Yoga in Sewickley is a place to relax the body and the mind. Sharon Beddard Hess always tries to start each class with an intention, something to focus on because, to her, teaching yoga isn’t just about “going in there and exercising.” “This is a body, mind, practice,” Hess said....
Conservatives furious as FDA approves new generic abortion pill
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new generic version of the abortion drug mifepristone, as conservatives slammed the decision as a stab in the back to the anti-abortion movement. The new generic mifepristone is manufactured by Evita Solutions, which says its mission is to “normalize abortion” and make...
UnitedHealth to exit Medicare Advantage plans in 16 U.S. counties
NEW YORK — UnitedHealth said it will stop offering Medicare Advantage plans in 16 U.S. counties in 2026, impacting 180,000 members, as the company balances higher costs with reimbursement pressure in the insurance program. “The combination of (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) funding cuts, rising healthcare costs and increased utilization...
Trump executive order aims to use AI to boost childhood cancer research
CHICAGO — U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to bolster the use of artificial intelligence and provide an additional $50 million in research grants aimed at finding cures for childhood cancers, according to a White House official. The order builds on the National Cancer Institute’s Childhood...
