EDITORIAL: Gather, analyze, act on health data

Doctors and nurses examine patients carefully, listening to voiced complaints but also studying data before making suggestions to help these individuals. The same process should be followed to improve public health.

Water fluoridation debate rages on after 70 years

Fluoride in the water, introduced in the 1940s, continues to be a controversial topic. No one is calling it a Communist plot anymore, but the two sides still can be heated about it.

CDC report shows suicide surge in middle-aged Hoosiers

The suicide rate for middle-aged Indiana residents rose almost 54 percent during an 11-year period, an increase nearly twice the national rate and one of the highest among the 50 states.

Apps can track heart health

Just a download away are hundreds of apps on your iPhone or Android that can help save your life.

Heart Health: Quick emergency tips

Every year, about 935,000 Americans experience a heart attack.

Heart Health: Quick emergency tips

While physicians say prevention, a healthy diet and exercise is the best way to prevent a heart attack what do you do if you start to feel chest discomfort or pain?

Flu epidemic kills 27, hospitalizes 369 in Illinois

The Illinois Department of Public Health is not expecting a decrease any time soon with more reported cases from previous weeks coming in, but the flu vaccine is still available and may help those with current health problems avoid the virus.

To Get a Shot or Not?

The only thing that is spreading faster than the flu these days seems to be this question: Did you get a flu shot this season?

Beer: A healthier choice than wine?

Beer is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages, but its health benefits have been largely ignored, while the benefits of wine have come to the fore. But some studies now show that beer is actually healthier than wine.

CDC says US flu season starts early, could be bad

Health officials on Monday said suspected flu cases have jumped in five Southern states, and the primary strain circulating tends to make people sicker than other types.

Coffee may reduce risk of getting oral cancer

A study released this week by the American Cancer Society found that caffeinated coffee may reduce the risk of oral cancer.

GUEST COMMENTARY: Lives, economy suffer from lack of trauma system

The Nov. 14 editorial, "Draft a prescription for trauma," made the point that Indiana, and in particular Northwest Indiana, needs more trauma centers. You couldn't be more correct.

Treating asthma? There's an app for that

Researchers hope a new sports-themed cell phone app will encourage asthmatic kids to use their inhalers and allow doctors to more closely monitor their patients.

Keeping kids and teens tobacco-free

The teen years bring plenty of changes for students, as well as new worries for parents. Smoking is at the top of that list for many parents.

DOUG ROSS: Living large isn't what it's cracked up to be

If you're looking for broad assumptions about Hoosiers' largest problems, one of them should be obvious: We're large.

Report shows success in community-based overdose treatment

Efforts are under way in parts of the country to broaden access to a medication that can reverse the effects of some drug overdoses.

GUEST COMMENTARY: Project quenching hunger for healthy food

The food system is broken. In Indiana and around the world, vast amounts of food are wasted while many go hungry. One-third of all greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. The number of food-related disease is on the rise.

Prescription drug abuse reaching 'epidemic' levels

PORTAGE | SWAT team members serving an arrest warrant for alleged drug dealing swarmed the home of a 56-year-old Portage man late last month. Inside that Central Avenue apartment, officers said they discovered a cache of drugs — not heroin or cocaine, but dozens of bottles of prescription pi…

Zoeller seeks to combat prescription drug abuse

INDIANAPOLIS | Attorney General Greg Zoeller urged more than 300 Hoosier health care workers and law enforcement officials Tuesday to find ways to halt the illegal distribution and misuse of prescription drugs in Indiana.