Signs of Depression

A very high proportion of children who are having surgery are overweight or obese, and because of the excess weight have a greater chance of experiencing problems linked to the surgery, as per a new study from the University of Michigan Health System. Scientists looked at a database of all 6,017 pediatric surgeries at the U-M Hospital from 2000 to 2004, and they observed that nearly a third of the patients - 31.5 percent - were overweight or obese. More than half of those children qualified as obese, as per the study, which appears in the new issue of the Journal of the National Medical Association........

LONDON (Reuters) - Endurance sports may cause changes in the hearts of some athletes that can lead to a rare but life-threatening condition which causes an abnormal heart rate and rhythm, Belgium researchers said on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merck & Co. said on Monday a plaintiff, who alleged the drugmaker's Vioxx painkiller caused her husband's heart attack and death, dropped her lawsuit five weeks before the trial was to start.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Too few Americans are getting preventive health services that could lower their risk of a range of serious health problems, according to two new government reports.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A major U.S. AIDS treatment group plans to file a lawsuit on Monday that accuses drug giant Pfizer Inc. of illegally promoting recreational use of its blockbuster impotence pill Viagra.