Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
10 Days In Lockdown Equals A Half-Pound Weight Gain, Says New Study
The Hill: Study Suggests Adults Under Stay-At-Home Orders Gained Nearly Two Pounds A Month
American adults gained half a pound on average for every 10 days spent under stay-at-home orders, a new study finds. In a study posted online by the JAMA Network health journal, researchers from University of California San Francisco (UCSF) found that participants under stay-at-home orders gained on average 0.59 pounds every 10 days spent under lockdown — a finding that could indicate as many as 20 pounds gained over the course of 2020 and early 2021 for some newly-remote workers. (Bowden, 3/22)
CIDRAP: Vitamin D May Prevent COVID, Especially In Black Patients
In the first, a large single-center observational study published late last week in JAMA Network Open, University of Chicago researchers retrospectively assessed electronic health records of patients who had a vitamin D test in the year before testing for COVID-19 from Mar 3 to Apr 10, 2020. Those checked or treated for low vitamin D levels in the 2 weeks before coronavirus testing were excluded. Of the 4,638 patients, the risk of a positive coronavirus test result in Black patients was 2.64 times greater if they had a vitamin D level of 30 to 39.9 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) than if they had concentrations of at least 40 ng/mL. And the odds of infection dropped by 5% for every 1 ng/mL increase in patients with a vitamin D level of at least 30 ng/mL, the concentration generally considered sufficient. Similar associations were not found for White patients. (Van Beusekom, 3/22)
Axios: A Lockdown Silver Lining For Workers With Disabilities
The pandemic normalized working from home, and that could open doors for America’s workers with disabilities. All sorts of hurdles — like getting to work if you’re in a wheelchair or adjusting to office environments if you’re a person with autism — are eliminated by remote work. This new future could be a more inclusive one for all Americans. (Pandey, 3/23)
The New York Times: How People Are Dealing With Distorted Smell
“I stopped going places, even to my mom’s house or to dinner with friends, because anything from food to candles smelled so terrible,” Ms. LaLiberte, 35, said. “My relationships are strained.” She is dealing with parosmia, a distortion of smell such that previously enjoyable aromas — like that of fresh coffee or a romantic partner — may become unpleasant and even intolerable. Along with anosmia, or diminished sense of smell, it is a symptom that has lingered with some people who have recovered from Covid-19. (Krueger, 3/22)
Stat: What We Know And Don’t Know About Long Covid
It doesn’t have a formal name or a definition. No one can predict who will develop it, but whether you call it long Covid or post-acute Covid-19 or just identify yourself as a long-hauler, the constellation of prolonged symptoms after Covid-19 infection has become all too familiar. (Cooney, 3/23)
AP: Tourism Groups Push US To Eliminate Travel Restrictions
Airlines and other tourism-related businesses are pushing the White House to draw up a plan in the next five weeks to boost international travel and eliminate restrictions that were imposed early in the pandemic. More than two dozen groups made their request in a letter to the White House on Monday. They want people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to be exempt from testing requirements before entering the United States. They also want the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to say that vaccinated people can travel safely. (Koenig, 3/23)
In other public health news —
The Washington Post: The Big Number: Eating Breakfast Before 8:30 A.M. May Reduce Diabetes Risk
Eating breakfast earlier in the day — specifically, starting before 8:30 a.m. — appears to lower the risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, according to a report presented recently at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting. Looking at eight years of national data on 10,575 adults, researchers found that people who began eating earlier than 8:30 a.m. tended to have lower blood sugar levels and less insulin resistance than people whose daily food intake started later. (Searing, 3/22)
Stat: Wildfire Smoke Is Particularly Harmful To Kids’ Respiratory Health, Study Finds
Wildfire smoke was associated with a far greater number of pediatric respiratory care visits than other sources of airborne fine particles, according to a new study, even when wildfires were less severe. The study, published Tuesday in Pediatrics, examined more than 170,000 emergency and urgent care visits for respiratory concerns from 2011 to 2017 in the Rady Children’s Hospital Network, which cares for around 90% of hospitalized children in San Diego County. (Sohn, 3/23)
The New York Times: Lighting Up Later In Life
Last spring, an analysis based on the National Survey of Drug Use and Health found that marijuana use in the prior year among people over 65 had jumped 75 percent from 2015 to 2018, from 2.4 percent of that group to 4.2 percent. By 2019, use had reached 5 percent. “I would expect it to continue to increase sharply,” said Dr. Benjamin H. Han, the lead author of the analysis. The data showed use rising particularly among women and among people with higher education and income. A team using a different national data set documented a similar trend last fall. From 2016 to 2018, the proportion of men ages 65 to 69 who reported using marijuana or hashish within the past month had climbed to 8.2 percent from 4.3 percent. Among women, it grew to 3.8 percent from 2.1 percent. (Span, 3/20)
