THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking increases depressive symptoms in teens, especially among those who say they smoke to improve their mood, researchers have found.

The new study included 662 Canadian students between grades 7 and 11 who completed up to 20 questionnaires about their use of cigarettes to affect their mood. The participants were...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Having a rapid response team manage hospital patients whose condition is rapidly deteriorating sharply reduced the rate of cardiac arrests at a U.S. hospital, a new study found.

Researchers looked at a rapid response team, known as the eTeam, created at the VA Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2005. The team includes physicians specializing...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Many Americans have skewed perceptions when it comes to their weight, often believing they are thinner than they really are, even when the scales are shouting otherwise, a new poll finds.

As part of the Harris Interactive/HealthDay survey, respondents were asked to provide their height and weight, from which pollsters...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- The mystery of why some people are more likely to become addicted to opioid painkillers has been partially unraveled by the Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania.

Its researchers found that the group most vulnerable to addiction has four main risk factors in common: age (being younger than 65); a history of depression; prior drug abuse; and...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, are more likely to develop dementia than those without the disorder, according to researchers at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Texas.

The results were significant even after accounting for other risk factors for dementia such as diabetes, high blood...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Over the last 10 years, the percentage of Americans who took at least one prescription drug in the past month increased from 44 percent to 48 percent, says a federal government study released Thursday.

Use of two or more drugs increased from 25 percent to 31 percent, and the use of five or more drugs increased from 6 percent to 11 percent,...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Most Americans are willing to have their genetic information shared in a national database, but they first want to be asked, researchers report.

The new study included participants in the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study, a long-term project tracking age-related changes in thousands of patients that's being conducted by a team at the Group...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to online social networking, people are more likely to change habits that might affect their health when encouraged to do so by cyber conversations with friends they already know well and with whom they are in close contact, new research suggests.

The finding runs contrary to prior indications that health information gleaned from...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- As the provisions of the Affordable Care Act begin to be implemented, many small businesses in the United States will be able to take advantage of new tax credits, a new report shows.

During the first phase of the act, some businesses employing some 16.6 million workers will be eligible for these tax credits, according to the report released...(click link above to read more)

THURSDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Older people prefer to read negative news stories about the young, possibly because it makes them feel better about themselves, a new study suggests.

"The more time they spent with negative news about young people, the higher self-esteem they reported. They may get some self-esteem boost out of this," said study author Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick,...(click link above to read more)