Public/Global Health

The number of teen births has continued to decline in the United States, hitting a record low between 2010 and 2011.

The new figures from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) show an 8 percent drop in teen births during that period. Just over three percent of 15- to 19-year-olds gave birth in that span. The teen birthrate peaked in 1991, researchers said.

The CDC reported that U.S. women in their 20s gave birth to fewer children, like their teenage counterparts, while those in their late 30s and early 40s had more children. 

U.S. mothers are breastfeeding more and for longer periods of time, a trend federal officials called good for public health.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported Thursday that the share of mothers who began breastfeeding rose more than four points between 2000 and 2008. The number still nursing after six months jumped nearly 10 points to 45 percent.

"These numbers are strikingly good news in terms of the health of both mothers and babies in this country," said CDC Director Tom Frieden in a statement. "This increase represents over 300,000 additional babies being breastfed at six months." 

The bill would have the national nurse work alongside the surgeon general and "focus on health promotion."

The House on Monday approved two non-controversial children's healthcare bills that they had approved in the last Congress, and sent them on to the Senate.

In a 375-27 vote, members approved H.R. 225, the National Pediatric Research Network Act. This bill would create a national pediatric research network consisting of research consortia that can receive grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) will reintroduce the Preemie Reauthorization Act — a bill to make the study and prevention of premature births an explicit federal priority — this week. The bill would renew funding ordered under the original Preemie Act of 2006, and had 63 bipartisan co-sponsors in the last Congress. A Senate version passed in November.

Premature births are those that take place before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy, when infants' brains and lungs are at a critical stage of development. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists respiratory problems and intellectual disabilities among the possible side effects, and studies have shown that preterm births weigh more heavily than normal births on the federal Medicaid budget, which covers about 40 percent of all deliveries in the United States.

"Even babies born just a few weeks too soon can face serious health challenges and are at risk for lifelong disabilities, including cerebral palsy, lung problems, vision and hearing loss, and learning disabilities," Eshoo and Lance wrote in The Hill in November. "In addition to its human toll, prematurity costs our economy at least $26 billion per year."
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A group of Democratic senators introduced a bill Thursday that would close tax loopholes for tobacco companies, generating $3.6 billion in revenue over 10 years.

Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) introduced the Tobacco Tax Equity Act, S. 194, which would close tax loopholes that allow tobacco companies to avoid the federal cigarette and roll-your-own tobacco tax, by making taxes on pipe tobacco equivalent to cigarette tobacco.

Carolyn Clancy will step down as director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Health and Human Services Department said Thursday.

Clancy has been at AHRQ since 2003, where she has focused on grants and research to improve patient safety as well as the quality and efficiency of the healthcare system. She will remain on the job for the next few months during the search for her replacement.

Click here to read Healthwatch’s 2011 profile of Clancy.

ResearchAmerica, which represents medical researchers, praised Clancy for understanding the importance of solid data in improving the delivery system.

"Clancy recognizes the importance of empowering patients with information to understand their health care needs and make informed decisions, and empowering health care leaders with the evidence needed to bring the right care to the right patient at the right time," ResearchAmerica president Mary Woolley said in a statement. "Hers is an important and lasting legacy."

Football lobbying expenditures have risen dramatically in the last decade as lawmakers confront the game's labor, safety and doping disputes, according to a new analysis.

The National Football League (NFL) and the NFL Players' Association spent $1.4 million and $120,000 on lobbying in 2012 compared with about $200,000 and $40,000 in 2002.

The figures were published Tuesday in a report by Citizens for Responsibility in Washington (CREW), a watchdog group. They come days before Sunday's Super Bowl, and in the wake of a widely published interview in which President Obama said he would "have to think long and hard" about letting his son, if he had one, play football given the risk of head trauma and related neurological damage. 

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The Obama administration is moving forward with an effort to bolster warning labels on chew, dip, snuff and other forms of smokeless tobacco.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seeking comments on what — if any — changes to warning labels on smokeless tobacco products would better inform the public on the health risks associated with using them, according to a notice to be published in Tuesday’s Federal Register.

Under current law, one of the following four warnings must appear on any smokeless-tobacco package or advertisement: