Harvard Health Blog

The US healthcare system is expensive, complicated, dysfunctional — and broken. The system needs a major overhaul, and the arguments for this fall into a few broad categories: high costs, uneven access, and undue emphasis on areas of spending that do not directly benefit patients

It's extremely rare for a child to die suddenly because of a heart problem, but there are several conditions that can lead to a risk of sudden death. The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a policy statement outlining four questions about personal and family health history that can help identify children who may be at risk.

If you learn your child has been bullied, ignore the temptation to fantasize about retaliation and focus on your child's immediate needs instead. Parents can't stop bullies from crossing paths with their children, but they can teach their children how to manage such situations.

Ads for consumer health monitoring devices make it seem like having ready and regular access to heart rate, heart rhythm, and electrocardiogram data is something everyone needs. While it may help some people with existing heart conditions, how about for an average person without such a concern?

Proper dental care is essential for all children, including learning how to brush and going for regular dental visits. But for children with autism spectrum disorder, the sensory aspects of a dental office may be uncomfortable, difficult, or overwhelming. But there are things parents can do to make these visits easier.

During pregnancy it's completely normal to experience a certain amount of anxiety about the baby, giving birth, and becoming a new parent. But for some women this worry takes over their thoughts and becomes debilitating. There are treatments available that may or may not involve medication, depending on the individual situation.

Magical claims are made in ads for dietary supplements marketed to enhance well-being and solve health problems. But the reality is that most do little or nothing to improve your health, and in some cases weight loss or sports supplements might actually harm you.

There are a myriad of apps and programs designed to help people lose weight, but many companies are offering products that go beyond traditional food tracking, taking a mindfulness-based approach to help people understand why they eat the way they do, and how to make beneficial changes to their eating routine.

Prediabetes often precedes the development of type 2 diabetes, and in young and middle-aged people it's important to identify prediabetes because it may be possible to prevent or delay the development of diabetes. Researchers wanted to know if the implications of being diagnosed with prediabetes are similar for older adults.