Early puberty in girls could indicate a heightened risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy, according to research taken from an Australian survey of more than 4000 women.

Some specialist doctors are charging more than $300 for a first appointment in Australia's private medical market - five times what some of their peers charge.

Life in an outer suburb may be making its dwellers more obese than inner city slickers, new research suggests.

In 2012, Australia took on big tobacco and won.

Jamie McIntyre embarked on an arduous journey to get pregnant, enduring multiple miscarriages, after a simple fertility test revealed she had no time to wait.

Drug companies paid doctors and other 'health professionals' at least $9.5 million in six months last year for their advice and to attend events.

Some feel religion and medicine should not mix, but the Canberra Christians in Medicine group are united in the belief their faith has a place in their work.

Les thought buying hearing aids would be a simple exercise. But he soon found out otherwise.

Exposure to chemical insecticides called pyrethroids during pregnancy may affect your child's behaviour, a study shows.

A survey of maternity patients at NSW public hospitals suggests midwife-led care is crucial to a good experience.

The body produces its own natural defence against HIV, scientists have found, and harnessing this under-used weapon could change the way we treat the virus and prevent it from spreading.

Researchers have identified genetic clues which could reveal a person's risk of going blind.

Leading drug experts have called for more money to be spent on treatment and prevention to tackle illicit drug use.

The NSW Farmers is concerned about the rise in reporting rates of a rare infection, known as Q fever and called for the vaccine to be introduced to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and better training of doctors to screen for the disease at hospitals.

All high income Australians would pay the 1 to 1.5 per cent Medicare Levy Surcharge under a budget proposal that would raise a breathtaking $4 billion per year, more than 6 times the net amount saved in the first Turnbull budget.

New treatment options for hepatitis C has given Canberra resident Kerrie McKenzie a new lease on life.

A teenage girl with autism facing deportation after eight years living in Australia has been granted permanent residency, following an eleventh-hour intervention by the Assistant Immigration Minister.

Tens of thousands of elderly Australians are hospitalised each year for fall-related injury but PhD project being undertaken at University of Canberra hopes to put prevention in the palm of people's hands. 

A 16-year-old girl with autism who has been living in Australia for eight years could be deported within weeks because she failed immigration medical assessments and the Assistant Immigration Minister has refused to intervene.

The head of Australia's peak medical body has branded a petition that claims changes to cervical screening will put women's lives at risk, as well intentioned but  "woefully misinformed and misguided".

Australian men have been knocked off the top spot for world life expectancy, a new report published on Wednesday in The Lancet, has shown.

It started as an embarrassing joke. Shane Barnbrook accidentally swallowed a chicken bone while eating dinner and he knew it would have to come out. 

Victorians struck by the Ross River virus outbreak - including a doctor who says he was infected by a mosquito in Melbourne's northeast - have described how debilitating symptoms are interfering with their lives. 

Drug trial studies that are sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry are more likely to favour a sponsor's product.

• EXCLUSIVE

Research suggest moderately overweight people with type-2 diabetes can benefit from the surgery.

When Ann Maree Mulders woke up still feeling unwell, she didn't know 11 centimetres was about to change her life.

An extra 40-minute stroll every day could mean fewer days in hospital for older Australians, new research shows.

A school breakfast program in western Sydney is not about a one-off free meal. It's about educating families that healthy eating can be easy and cheap.

The AMA says Australia's public hospitals – in every state and territory – are in a constant 'state of emergency' due to inadequate funding and over-stretched resources.