MedlinePlus Health Conditions Scraper

MedlinePlus Health Conditions Scraper

Scrape MedlinePlus health conditions by keyword, up to a million per run. Each condition comes with its title, URL, and full plain-English summary from the National Library of Medicine. No API key or registration. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

MedlinePlus is the National Library of Medicine's free consumer health encyclopedia, but its official API requires an API key and returns limited fields. This Actor reads the public condition pages directly, so you can search by any health condition or keyword and get the full patient summary in one fixed schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape MedlinePlus for
Health content writers	Pull accurate, plain-English condition summaries to base articles on.
Medical researchers	Gather a corpus of condition descriptions for text analysis.
Healthcare app developers	Populate a symptom checker or patient education module with trusted content.
SEO analysts	Collect condition titles and summaries to find content gaps.
Patient advocacy groups	Build a local resource list of condition pages for their community.

What it does

This Actor collects MedlinePlus health condition pages by keyword and returns each one as a flat row with its title, URL, and full plain-English summary.

• 🔍 Keyword search: Enter any health condition or keyword, like diabetes or asthma, and get all matching topics.
• 📄 Full summaries: Each result includes the complete plain-English patient summary, not a snippet.
• 📊 Flat output: Every condition is returned as one row, ready for CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML export.
• ⚡ No API key: Reads public pages directly, so there is no registration or rate limit from an official API.
• 🔢 Scalable: Set maxItems from 1 to 1,000,000 conditions per run.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with MedlinePlus data

📝 Build a health content library.

A health content writer searches for common conditions and exports the full summaries to create a reference database for future articles.

🔬 Analyze condition descriptions.

A medical researcher collects hundreds of condition summaries to run text mining and identify common terminology patterns.

📱 Populate a patient education app.

A developer scrapes condition pages to seed a symptom checker with trusted, plain-English explanations.

📈 Find content gaps for SEO.

An SEO analyst gathers condition titles and summaries to compare against their site's existing content and spot missing topics.

🏥 Support patient advocacy.

A patient advocacy group collects condition pages to build a curated list of resources for their community.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Trusted source	Content comes from the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the world's largest medical library.
Plain-English summaries	Each condition includes a patient-friendly summary written by medical experts.
No API key	No registration or key management, run the Actor.
Flexible export	Download results as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML for any workflow.

How it compares

This Actor focuses on full plain-English summaries by keyword, while the competitors below offer different lookup methods or additional metadata.

Feature	ParseForge	MedlinePlus Health Topics - NLM Consumer Health API	MedlinePlus Scraper
Full plain-English patient summary	Yes	Yes	Not listed
Search by health condition keyword	Yes	Yes	Yes
No API key required	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Look up by ICD-10 code	Not listed	Not listed	Yes
Look up by RxCUI drug code	Not listed	Not listed	Yes
Look up by LOINC lab code	Not listed	Not listed	Yes
Returns synonyms and MeSH terms	Not listed	Yes	Not listed

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a health condition or keyword, and set the maximum number of conditions to collect per run. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "query": "diabetes",
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "query": "diabetes",
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.021 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$2.10
1,000 results	$21.00
10,000 results	$210.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the MedlinePlus Health Conditions Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to MedlinePlus through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/medlineplus-conditions-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your query is spelled correctly and is a valid health condition or keyword. Try a broader term like 'diabetes' or 'asthma'.

Why did the run stop before reaching maxItems?

The Actor stops when there are no more matching conditions for your query. Try a different or more general keyword.

Why is the summary text truncated?

The Actor returns the full summary as it appears on the MedlinePlus page. If a summary is very long, it may be split across multiple fields in the output.

Can I get data in a language other than English?

MedlinePlus also has a Spanish version. You can search for Spanish condition names, but the Actor currently returns the English page content.

Why does the run take a long time?

The Actor reads each condition page individually. For large maxItems values, the run may take longer. Consider reducing maxItems or running in parallel.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an API key to use this Actor?	No. This Actor reads the public MedlinePlus pages directly, so there is no API key or registration required.
What data does this Actor return for each condition?	Each result includes the condition title, its URL, and the full plain-English patient summary from MedlinePlus.
Can I search for any health condition?	Yes. Enter any health condition or keyword, such as diabetes, asthma, or hypertension, and the Actor will return matching topics.
How many conditions can I collect in one run?	You can set maxItems from 1 to 1,000,000 conditions per run.
Is the content from a trusted source?	Yes. MedlinePlus is produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the world's largest medical library.
What export formats are supported?	You can export the results as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
Does this Actor return the full summary or a snippet?	It returns the full plain-English patient summary for each condition, not a snippet.
Can I use this data for commercial purposes?	MedlinePlus content is in the public domain, but you should review the NLM's terms of use for any specific requirements.
How is this different from the official MedlinePlus API?	The official API requires an API key and returns limited fields. This Actor reads the public pages directly and returns the full summary without a key.
Can I schedule this Actor to run regularly?	Yes. You can schedule runs on Apify to collect updated condition data at your preferred interval.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by U.S. National Library of Medicine. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.