Health Topics A-Z

HSAs and FSAs

Tax-advantaged accounts that let you set aside money for medical costs: a Health Savings Account (HSA) or a Flexible Spending Account (FSA).

Hurricane Preparedness and Emergency Kits

Planning and packing supplies before hurricanes and other disasters so your household can stay safe and healthy.

Hypoglycemia

Blood glucose falling too low, usually in people taking insulin or sulfonylureas.

Hypothermia

A dangerously low body temperature caused by losing heat faster than the body can produce it.

Immune Function

The network of cells and proteins that identifies and removes pathogens and damaged cells.

Immunosuppression and Vaccines

How vaccination changes for people whose immune systems are suppressed.

In-Network and Out-of-Network Care

The difference between doctors, hospitals and pharmacies that have a contract with your plan and those that do not.

Indoor Air and Gas Stoves

Pollutants released indoors by gas stoves and other fuel-burning appliances, including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and fine particles.

Infection Prevention at Home

Practical measures that reduce the spread of respiratory and stomach infections in a household.

Inflammatory Arthritis

Autoimmune joint inflammation such as rheumatoid arthritis, distinct from osteoarthritis.

Ingrown Toenails

A nail edge growing into the surrounding skin, causing pain and often infection.

Insect Stings

Reactions to bee, wasp and other insect stings, from local swelling to anaphylaxis.

Insomnia

Persistent difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking too early, with daytime consequences.

Iron Overload

Excess iron building up in the body, most often from inherited hemochromatosis.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

A disorder of gut-brain interaction causing abdominal pain with altered bowel habits, without structural disease.

Itching

Pruritus, with or without a visible rash.

Jaundice

Yellowing of the skin and eyes caused by a high level of bilirubin.

Jet Lag

The mismatch between your body clock and local time after crossing time zones.

Joint Replacement

Surgical replacement of a damaged hip or knee joint with an artificial one.

Kidney Infection

Infection reaching the kidney, usually spreading upward from the bladder.

Kidney Stones

Hard deposits forming in the urinary tract, causing severe cramping pain when they move.

Knowing Your Numbers

The small set of measurements that describe most modifiable health risk.

Lead in Homes and Water

Exposure to lead from old paint, dust, soil, plumbing and some imported products.

Leaving Hospital

Discharge: the point at which hospital care ends and whatever comes next has to be arranged already.

Lifting Safely

Handling loads in a way that reduces the risk of injury.

Lightning Safety

How to protect yourself from lightning during thunderstorms.

Listeria in Pregnancy

An infection caused by Listeria bacteria, which can grow in refrigerated ready-to-eat foods.

Liver Cancer Risk

Primary liver cancer, which develops mostly in livers already damaged by another condition.

Liver Function Tests

A panel of blood tests reflecting liver injury and liver function.

Liver Health

Keeping the liver working, and recognizing the signs when it is not.

Living with Multiple Conditions

Managing more than one long-term condition at once.

Living with Severe Allergy

The practical management of an allergy serious enough to require epinephrine.

Loneliness

The gap between the social connection you have and the connection you want.

Loneliness and Aging

The gap between the social connection someone has and the connection they want, in later life.

Low Back Pain

Pain in the lower back, most often with no identifiable structural cause.

Low Mood and Depression

Persistent low mood and loss of interest, lasting most of the day, nearly every day.

Low-Cost Healthy Eating

Eating the MyPlate way on a tight budget.

Lowering Prescription Costs

Practical ways to pay less for medicines, including generics, plan formularies, 90-day supplies and assistance programs.

Lung Cancer Awareness

The symptoms that should prompt a checkup, and who should be screened.

Lyme Disease and Ticks

A bacterial infection spread by the bite of infected blacklegged (deer) ticks.