The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in May announced the first round of grants awarded through the Health Games Research national program. More than $2 million in grants will enable research teams to help strengthen the evidence base that supports the development and use of digital interactive games to improve players’ health behaviors and outcomes.

An alarming number of adults fail to recognize heart attack warning signs and symptoms that could, if heeded, save their lives, according to a new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study conducted in 14 states.

Pregnancy rates for U.S. females younger than 25, including teenagers, declined in 2004 compared to 1990, according to a report released in April by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When national drug use trends among adolescents go up or down, the risk of marijuana use among deviance-prone male youth also goes up or down. Among deviance-prone female youth, it does not, according to a study in the March issue of Prevention Science.

Women who carry excess fat around their waists were at greater risk of dying early from cancer or heart disease than were women with smaller waistlines, even if they were of normal weight, reported researchers from Harvard and the National Institutes of Health.

Citing consumer frustration with TV ads that sell the “good news” about prescription drugs but gloss over side effects, Consumers Union is collecting 50,000 signatures on a petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration demanding the agency make it easier for patients to report problems with their medications.

Summer is here, but before families fire up the barbecue, roast marshmallows around a crackling campfire or burn yard debris, they should consider some common precautions to help snuff out a serious childhood health risk: foot burns.

University of Florida researchers have identified a gene variation in heart disease patients who appear especially vulnerable to the physical effects of mental stress — to the point where blood flow to the heart is greatly reduced.