Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health And Wellness Roundup: Hope For Migraine Sufferers; And What About That Numb Thumb?
The Wall Street Journal: New Migraine Drugs Offer Hope To Sufferers
Lisa DeLeonardo set a Google alert so she would know exactly when the first in a new class of migraine drugs was approved. It happened Thursday, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Amgen and Novartis ’ application for erenumab, whose brand name is Aimovig. It’s an injectable drug touted as the first treatment designed specifically to prevent migraines, and is expected to be available to patients within a week for an annual price of $6,900. Three other similar treatments are expected to hit the market within the next year. (Reddy, 5/18)
The New York Times: Me And My Numb Thumb: A Tale Of Tech, Texts And Tendons
It took me a few months to accept that I had given myself tendinosis in my phone thumb. It is a depressingly modern condition in which the tendons around the thumb inflame as a result of repetitive strain — in my case because I had, for hours a day over years of a life, tapped that right-hand digit onto the glass of my smartphone. (Bowles, 5/19)
NPR: How Dangerous Is It When A Mother Sleeps With Her Baby?
Here in the U.S., this is a growing trend among families. More moms are choosing to share a bed with their infants. Since 1993, the practice in the U.S. has grown from about 6 percent of parents to 24 percent in 2015. But the practice goes against medical advice in the U.S. The American Academy of Pediatrics is opposed to bed-sharing: It "should be avoided at all times" with a "[full-]term normal-weight infant younger than 4 months," the AAP writes in its 2016 recommendations for pediatricians. The organization says the practice puts babies at risk for sleep-related deaths, including sudden infant death syndrome, accidental suffocation and accidental strangulation. About 3,700 babies die each year in the U.S. from sleep-related causes. (Doucleff, 5/21)
The New York Times: What Barbershops Can Teach About Delivering Health Care
Heart disease is the most common killer of men in the United States, and high blood pressure is one of the greatest risk factors for heart disease. ... A recent study shows that the means of communication may be as important as the message itself, maybe even more so. Also, it suggests that health care need not take place in a doctor’s office — or be provided by a physician — to be effective. It might, as in this study, take place in a barbershop, an institution that has long played a significant social, economic and cultural role in African-American life. (Carroll, 5/21)
The New York Times: A Guide To Gynecological Exams: What Should — And Shouldn’t — Happen
The recent cases of Dr. Lawrence G. Nassar, the physician for the U.S. women's gymnastics team, and Dr. George Tyndall, the gynecologist at the University of Southern California student health center, involve allegations that they inappropriately touched young female patients, often while doing a pelvic exam. Here’s what women should know about gynecological exams, including what to expect and what is out of bounds. (Belluck and Medina, 5/18)
