Kindergarten Vaccine Exemptions Hit Record High, New CDC Data Shows

A record share of U.S. kindergartners started school last year without at least one required vaccine, new federal data show.

Exemptions rose to 4.2% during the 2025-2026 school year, up from 3.6% a year earlier, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That amounts to roughly 155,000 children.

Most of t...

Loneliness Is A Health Crisis, But Doctors Alone Can't Cure It, Analysis Argues

Loneliness is contributing to illness, but it’s a fool’s errand to expect doctors alone to cure this particular ailment, a new study says.

Social isolation — whether it be from loss, health problems or other factors that keep people apart — has been shown to dramatically affect health, researchers reported recently ...

Constipation In Space: A New Study Provides Answers

Constipation is a well-known problem for astronauts in space, and researchers now think they know why it occurs. 

Weightlessness appears to affect the gut microbiome, the billions of healthy bacteria that reside in a person’s digestive tract, researchers reported recently in Nature Communications.

"We see changes ...

Social Media Beauty Trends May Up Teens' Exposure To Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals

That beauty tutorial on social media might influence more than what your teen buys.

It may also increase their exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals, a new study warns.

"We often hear that social media may hurt kids' mental health and socio-emotional development," said lead author Emily Barrett of Rutgers School of Public Health i...

Waist Size Is Accurate Way To Gauge Unhealthy Excess Weight, Study Says

Are you worried that extra pounds might be harming your health?

Check the notches on your belt, a new study suggests.

Waist size might be one of the simplest and most effective measures to detect health risks associated with obesity, researchers reported recently in JAMA Network Open.

“Pay attention to the need t...

Panel Offers First Guidelines For Using E-Cigarettes To Help Smokers Quit

A panel of experts has issued the first clinical guidelines for using e-cigarettes to help adults quit smoking.

E-cigarettes should be offered alongside other smoking cessation strategies like nicotine replacement therapies or medications like varenicline and bupropion, a panel from the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco said. It...