Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Ambivalence Over Motherhood Could Reshape Practices Around Family Planning
The New York Times: Do You Want To Be Pregnant? It’s Not Always A Yes Or No Answer
For decades, researchers and physicians tended to think about pregnancies as either planned or unplanned. But new data reveals that for a significant group of women, their feelings don’t neatly fit into one category or another. As many as one-fifth of women who become pregnant aren’t sure whether they want a baby. This fact may reshape how doctors and policymakers think about family planning. For women who are unsure, it doesn’t seem enough for physicians to counsel them on pregnancy prevention or prenatal care. “In the past we thought of it as binary, you want to be pregnant or not, so you need contraception or a prenatal vitamin,” said Maria Isabel Rodriguez, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Oregon Health and Science University whose research focuses on family planning and contraceptive policy. “But it’s more of a continuum.” (Sanger-Katz and Miller, 2/15)
WBUR: Why Men In Mississippi Are Still Dying Of AIDS, Despite Existing Treatments
President Trump has pledged to eliminate HIV in America by 2030. But in the South, rates of HIV/AIDS among black gay and bisexual men remain stubbornly high. (Shapiro, 2/14)
The Associated Press: Researchers Find Clues That Depression May Speed Brain Aging
Memory and thinking skills naturally slow with age but now scientists are peeking inside living brains to tell if depression might worsen that decline — and finding some worrisome clues. Depression has long been linked to certain cognitive problems, and depression late in life even may be a risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's. Yet how depression might harm cognition isn't clear. (2/14)
The New York Times: Searching Tardigrades For Lifesaving Secrets
There are many instances in medicine when it would be helpful to stop, or greatly slow down, time. Doing so could spare a limb from amputation, prevent paralysis after a stroke or save your life following a heart attack. Across the tree of life, there are many organisms that can essentially cheat time by decelerating their biology. Chief among them is the tardigrade, a creature no bigger than a speck of sand that can survive severe temperatures and pressures, outer space and all sorts of apocalyptic scenarios by entering a dormant state called anhydrobiosis. (Yin, 2/15)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Exercise Performance Is A Good Predictor Of Longevity, Cleveland Clinic Study Shows
Here’s another reason to dust off that New Year’s resolution to exercise more. A person’s physiological age, based on exercise performance, may be a better predictor of longevity than their actual age. That’s the finding from a recent Cleveland Clinic study that developed a tool to calculate a person’s physiological age based on performance during a stress test. (Washington, 2/14)
