Antibiotics Probably Won't Ease Your Cough, Even If Infection is Bacterial: Study

Doctors sometimes prescribe antibiotics to help treat a cough, but a new study shows the drugs won’t help reduce the severity or duration of coughing -- even if a bacterial infection is the culprit.

Lower respiratory tract infections that cause coughing have the potential to become more dangerous, with 3% to 5% of these patients sufferin...

U.S. Medical Drug Shortages Reach Record High

Americans are facing more shortages of the drugs they need for medical care than ever before, a national pharmacy database shows.

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHSP) and the University of Utah Drug Information Service started tracking drug shortages as far back as 2001.

Their latest data shows that things haven...

One in 3 Women With Migraines Say Attacks Occur During Periods

Among U.S. women with migraine, a third say the attacks tend to coincide with their periods, a new survey finds.

Migraines that occur during menstruation are often frequent and severe, but only about one in five respondents said they used medications aimed at preventing the headaches.

“If you have migraines related to your menstru...

Pets Are Passing Drug-Resistant 'Superbugs' to Their Owners

Dogs and cats can pass antibiotic-resistant bacteria to their owners, raising concerns that household pets could be contributing to the world’s antibiotics crisis, a new study says.

Cases of these “superbugs” being passed between sick dogs and cats and their healthy owners have been identified in the U.K. and Portugal, according to r...

Americans Short on Sleep, Stressed Out About It: Poll

While more than half of Americans say they would feel better with more sleep, only 42% say they are getting as much shut-eye as they need, a new poll finds.

"This is nearly a reversal of the figures last measured in 2013, when 56% of Americans got the sleep they needed and 43% did not," the poll authors wrote.

Women under the age of ...

Researchers Probe Moments of Lucid Clarity Among People With Advanced Dementias

Lucid episodes are an unexpected occurrence among people with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

But these spontaneous events -- in which a person temporarily regains an ability to communicate that appeared to be permanently lost -- are not always a sign of impending death, a recent study argues.

Half the time, p...