Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. More U.S. mothers diagnosed with depression at childbirth

Growing numbers of new mothers are being diagnosed with depression before they leave the hospital with their newborns, according to a U.S. study that suggests screening women at childbirth could help get treatment for those who need it. From 2000 to 2015, the rate of depression diagnoses among women hospitalized for the delivery of a child rose seven-fold, from 4.1 cases per 1,000 patients to 28.7 per 1,000, the study found. Too much screen time tied to school problems even in little kids

Kindergarteners who get more than two hours of screen time a day may be more likely to have behavior and attention problems in school than their classmates who spend less time in front of televisions, smartphones and tablets, a Canadian study suggests. Doctors urge parents of young kids to limit screen time or avoid it altogether because all of those hours watching videos or gaming have been linked to slowed development of speech and language, fine and gross motor skills, and social and behavioral skills. After all, time spent in front of screens means less time for scribbling with crayons or playing games that help kids learn how to kick a ball or take turns. Alabama boycott builds as states retaliate against abortion law

A movement to boycott Alabama over its near-ban on abortion gained momentum Thursday as officials in Maryland and Colorado called for economic retaliation and online flyers urged people not to buy anything in, or from Alabama. A day after the southern state passed the country's most restrictive abortion law, Maryland's Democratic Comptroller Peter Franchot said he would advise his state's $52 billion pension fund to divest from Alabama, and urged other states to follow suit. Missouri follows Alabama by passing restrictive abortion bill

Missouri lawmakers passed a bill on Friday that prohibits women from seeking an abortion after the eighth week of pregnancy, days after Alabama enacted the most restrictive abortion law in the United States. The legislation allows for an abortion after the eighth week only in the case of medical emergencies. On Wednesday, Alabama banned abortions at any time, with the same exception. GSK and Novartis liniment marketing misled Australian consumers: court

The Australian subsidiaries of British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline and Swiss drugmaker Novartis misled customers and broke the law by promoting identical liniments as though they could treat specific ills, an Australian court found on Friday. The court said the companies admitted marketing Voltaren Osteo Gel as a treatment for osteoarthritis-related pain when its ingredients were the same as a cheaper Voltaren product, Emulgel. Smokers have higher risk for multiple strokes

Smokers who have a stroke are much more likely to have another one if they don't quit or at least cut back, a Chinese study suggests. Smoking has long been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and serious cardiac events like heart attacks and strokes. But the new study sheds light on how smoking influences the risk of a second stroke in patients who already had one. Sunday is 'Hepatitis Testing Day'

Millions of people in the U.S. have chronic viral hepatitis, most without knowing it, so the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other groups have designated May as Hepatitis Awareness Month and May 19 as Hepatitis Testing Day. "Hepatitis is a silent killer. When you get infected, you often don't have severe symptoms that make you go to the doctor," said Dr. John Ward, director of the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination at the Task Force for Global Health in Decatur, Georgia. AbbVie halts enrollment after brain cancer trial misses goal, shares fall

AbbVie Inc said on Friday it has halted enrollment of patients in all ongoing studies testing its brain cancer treatment after the drug failed to meet the main goal in a late-stage trial. The company's shares fell 1.8 percent to $78.10 before the bell. Five more U.S. states sue OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma over opioid epidemic

Five U.S. states on Thursday filed lawsuits accusing Purdue Pharma LP of illegally marketing and selling opioids, escalating the wave of litigation over a nationwide abuse epidemic. Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, West Virginia and Wisconsin joined 39 states to file lawsuits targeting Purdue Pharma and its leaders, including former president Richard Sackler and his family. U.S. FDA labels J&J surgical staplers' recall as severest

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned of risks of serious injury or death from surgical staplers made by Johnson & Johnson's Ethicon unit, labeling a recent recall of the device as its most serious. The recall, initiated early April by Ethicon, covers 92,496 surgical staplers and is now labeled as "Class-1" - the strictest form of recall issued by FDA, where use of faulty devices may cause serious injury or death.