Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Alopecia Gets Time In Spotlight After Oscars Controversy
NBC News: Oscars Feud Was A ‘Missed Opportunity’ To Educate Public, Say Women With Alopecia
Dia DiRosa was about 6 years old when fistfuls of her hair started coming out as her mom washed it. She began waking up to clumps of hair on her pillow. Diagnosed with alopecia areata, DiRosa was the subject of stares, snickers and rumors. The medical condition results in loss of hair, which sometimes grows back and sometimes does not, left DiRosa completely bald for many years. (Chuck and Bellamy, 3/28)
The Baltimore Sun: Oscar Controversy Shines Light On Baltimore Native Jada Pinkett Smith’s Hair Loss With Alopecia
After an eventful Oscars on Sunday night, a disease that causes hair loss is dominating conversations. And the woman at the forefront of the conversation is Baltimore native Jada Pinkett Smith. Her husband, Will Smith, slapped Chris Rock on stage during the 94th Academy Awards after he made a joke about her hair loss... Pinkett Smith, who grew up in West Baltimore’s Park Heights neighborhood, recently shaved her head because she was “struggling with alopecia,” as she explained in an Instagram video in December. (Oxenden, 3/29)
AP: What Is Alopecia? Oscars Spat Centers On Hair Loss Condition
The National Alopecia Areata Foundation says the condition affects about 2% of the population, or as many as almost 7 million Americans. It can occur at any age, but most often during the teen years or young adulthood. Jada Pinkett Smith is 50.Other public figures with the condition include Ayanna Pressley, a Democratic congresswoman from Massachusetts, British actor and comedian Matt Lucas and bluegrass musician Molly Tuttle. Alopecia tends to run in families. Total hair loss affecting the entire body can happen, but is rare. The condition can also cause dents and ridges in fingernails and toenails, but affected people are otherwise healthy. (Tanner, 3/28)
In other public health news —
The Washington Post: Early Puberty Cases In Girls Are Surging In Pandemic, Doctors Say
Before the pandemic, Vaishakhi Rustagi, a Delhi-based pediatric endocrinologist, found that cases of early puberty were pretty uncommon, but not unheard of: In a typical year, she would see about 20 such patients. Then the pandemic hit, and the cases started to pile up. Since June 2020, Rustagi has seen more than 300 girls experiencing early puberty, she said. (Changoiwala, 3/28)
The New York Times: Cancer Patients Are At High Risk Of Depression And Suicide, Studies Find
One day years ago, during her training in neurology, Dr. Corinna Seliger-Behme met a man with end-stage bladder cancer. Before the diagnosis, the man had a stable family and job, and no history of mental health problems, Dr. Seliger-Behme recalled. But, soon after learning of his terminal disease, he tried to kill himself with a knife in the bathtub. He spent the last week of his life in the psychiatric ward. That patient’s situation was extreme, but the psychological distress brought on by cancer is significant for many patients. Two studies published on Monday quantify the psychological burden of cancer in fine detail, pulling from much larger data sets than previous research. The findings make a compelling case for oncologists to have more discussions with their patients about mental health struggles. (Wapner, 3/28)
The New York Times: Does Social Media Make Teens Unhappy? It May Depend On Their Age
The study found that during early adolescence, heavy use of social media predicted lower life-satisfaction ratings one year later. For girls, this sensitive period was between ages 11 and 13, whereas for boys it was 14 and 15. Dr. Amy Orben, an experimental psychologist at Cambridge University, who led the study, said that this sex difference could simply be because girls tend to hit puberty earlier than boys do. (Hughes, 3/28)
The Boston Globe: More People Need Mental Health Care. But Those Who Want To Help Them Pay Dearly
A few years ago, Yorlady Corredor-Purcifull had a job coordinating home-therapy services for young children, mostly in Latino neighborhoods. Her mission was to serve infants and toddlers, but she quickly realized that the parents needed help, too. “I saw how the families were left behind,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, there’s a need for social workers.’ ” But when Corredor-Purcifull set out to help fill that need, which is especially acute among communities of color and people with limited English proficiency, she faced an uphill climb. (Freyer, 3/28)
CNN: Prediabetes More Than Doubled Among American Kids. How To Reduce Risk
Prediabetes in America's youth is following a concerning trend: Rates among children have more than doubled in about 20 years, according to a new study. The increase was seen over almost all subpopulations of young Americans, regardless of income, ethnicity and education, said study author Junxiu Liu, assistant professor of population health science and policy at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. The study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, included children from 12 to 19 years old and looked at data in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2018. Over that time, the rate of prediabetes in adolescents went from 11.6% to 28.2%, rising fairly steadily in that time frame. (Holcombe, 3/28)
ABC News: How Meals On Wheels Serves Record Numbers Of Elderly Amid Inflation, Other Pandemic Hurdles
As many Americans resume some sense of normalcy in daily life, a large sector of the population hit hard by the pandemic requires more assistance than ever and nonprofit groups are working tirelessly to deliver essential help for the increasing number of seniors in need. Hundreds of thousands of older adults across the country struggled with hunger and isolation before COVID-19, and Meals on Wheels said it has doubled down its efforts to meet growing demand even as compounding issues of inflation, food costs and gas prices rock its channels of support and funds. (McCarthy, 3/28)
