NIH Health Matters

Hear throughout the day, 60-second Health Matters spots, unique health reports on a variety of issues brought to you by the National Institutes of Health. Each month new reports will be added.

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , is the nation’s medical research agency—making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.

Thanks in large part to NIH-funded medical research, Americans today are living longer and healthier. Life expectancy in the United States has jumped from 47 years in 1900 to 78 years as reported in 2009, and disability in people over age 65 has dropped dramatically in the past 3 decades. In recent years, nationwide rates of new diagnoses and deaths from all cancers combined have fallen significantly.