Centers for Disease Control and Prevention news stories on Newser

Third of Young White Women Use Tanning Salons

Matt Cantor — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:30:05 CDT

Some 32% of white women aged 18 to 21 have hit the tanning salon at least once in the past year, according to the first major federal study in more than 10 years. On average, members of the group tan 28 times per year. The study also found that 30%...

Vietnam Seeks Help With Deadly Mystery Illness

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:22:26 CDT

Vietnam has asked international health experts to help investigate a mystery illness that has killed 19 people and sickened 171 others in an impoverished district in the central part of the country, an official said today. The infection has mostly affected children and young people. It begins with a high...

America's Fattest City Is ...

Mark Russell — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:00:05 CDT

America is the fattest country in the world , and Mississippi the fattest state . But where are the most overweight cities? Surprisingly, none of the top 10 are in Mississippi. Instead, the metro area of McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, close to the border with Mexico, tips the scales at No. 1 with a...

CDC Launches Gross Anti-Smoking Ad Campaign

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:07:02 CDT

Starting Monday, expect to be bombarded with disturbing images showing you, quite graphically, what can happen to you if you smoke. The US government is starting its first paid anti-smoking campaign, running ads for 12 weeks in newspapers, billboards, TV and radio, and social networking sites as well as public...

Seniors Binge Drink the Most

Mark Russell — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:08:05 CST

More revelations from the new report by the CDC on binge drinking in America: Universities may be home to the biggest binge drinkers in America, but it turns out the most frequent bingers live in retirement homes, reports Discovery . The report defines a "binge" as five drinks in one short...

CDC: Murder No Longer a Top Cause of Death in US

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:00:40 CST

Some semi-encouraging news from the CDC's not-so-cheery annual report on death: For the first time since 1965, homicide did not make the top 15 causes of death in the US last year. But something had to take its place, and that was pneumonitis, a respiratory illness that mainly plagues older...

1 in 6 Americans Is a Binge Drinker

Rob Quinn — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 06:40:00 CST

Federal health officials have released their most detailed study yet of America's binge drinkers—and if you're a college-educated, high-earning young white man from Wisconsin, you may already be drunk by the time you read this. Researchers found that 38 million Americans, roughly a sixth of the adult population, are...

1M Americans Attempt Suicide a Year: CDC

Dustin Lushing — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:00:00 CDT

An estimated 8 million adults in the United States contemplated suicide over the course of one year, while 2 million formed plans to take their own lives and 1 million actually made the attempt, according to a new federal study. The most likely groups to consider suicide were women, Caucasians,...

Binge Boozers Cost Society $2 a Drink

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:13:43 CDT

Are you willing to pay an extra $2 for your beer? That’s the amount, per drink, that excessive drinking costs the US in medical expenses and other societal costs including lost work productivity, car crash-related property damage, and incarceration for alcohol-related crimes, according to a new CDC calculation. Such costs...