Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Doctor Tackles Internet's Most Dubious And Dangerous Medical Advice With Empathy And Snark
Stat: This Gynecologist Is Taking On Trump, Goop — And Wacky Health Trends
In posts that careen between empathy, outrage, and snark, Dr. Jennifer Gunter presses a provocative crusade to protect women’s health, preserve reproductive freedoms — and, while she’s at it, dismantle all the dubious, dangerous medical advice she comes across in the wilds of the internet. (No, she recently explained to her male readers, you should not forgo condoms in favor of taping your penis shut during sex.) Gunter, a Bay Area gynecologist, shot into the media spotlight in recent months by taking on actress Gwyneth Paltrow, whose lifestyle brand, Goop, peddles — among other gynecologically suspect “wellness” items — jade eggs that women are advised to tuck into their vaginas to improve their spiritual and sexual health. (Keshavan, 8/4)
Stat: Here's Where Seniors Are Most — And Least — Likely To Take Their Meds
For a window into these broader patterns, we turned to a 2016 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which looked at 18.5 million seniors taking medication for high blood pressure. The stakes here are high: When patients don’t take these drugs as directed, they’re at elevated risk of having a stroke or heart attack, being hospitalized, and dying early. The government researchers examined when patients filled and refilled their prescriptions, defining non-adherent patients as those who had access to their medication for fewer than 80 percent of the days after their first fill. (The seniors were all covered by Medicare’s Part D program and the data collected were from 2014.) (Robbins, 8/4)
Nashville Tennessean: Want To Prevent Back Pain? Smart Underwear Could Help, Vanderbilt Engineers Say
Back pain is an excruciating fixture in millions of lives, but Vanderbilt University engineers are developing something that might be able to prevent it: smart underwear. They are developing a device, designed to be worn under regular clothing, that would activate elastic bands to relieve stress on back muscles when people are doing physical tasks. The project is supported by funding from Vanderbilt, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, according to a statement from the university. (Tamburin, 8/3)
The New York Times: Police Say They Welcome Transgender Recruits Even If Trump Doesn’t
In the week since President Trump declared that transgender Americans would no longer be allowed in the military, some municipal officials have responded with an invitation: join our police force instead. Several cities — including Houston; Austin, Tex.; Aurora, Colo.; and Cincinnati — have encouraged transgender people to apply to their police departments. In Austin, San Diego, Seattle and other places, transgender officers already serve openly. (Astor, 8/3)
San Francisco Chronicle: Flame Retardants Linked To Lower Child IQ
Increased exposure among pregnant women to a class of flame-retardant chemicals found in older furniture and other everyday consumer products is linked to lower IQs in their children, UCSF researchers found in a study that is certain to further ignite the debate over the chemicals. Examining data from nearly 3,000 mother-child pairs from previous studies done around the world, the authors concluded that every tenfold increase in women’s exposure during pregnancy to chemicals known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, was associated with a 3.7-point decrease in their children’s IQ. (Tucker, 8/3)
