Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Metabolic Disorder Is Slowly Being Renamed To Remove Stigma Of Shame
Axios: A Common Liver Disease With An Unfortunate Name Gets A Rebrand
A common liver condition — non-alcoholic fatty liver disease — is in the midst of a rebrand. The name of the condition, which affects 1 in 4 U.S. adults, was officially changed by several medical societies in the last year, and is part of a broader effort to eliminate stigmatizing language from medicine. (Reed, 5/6)
On elderly care —
The Washington Post: Senior Living Homes Won’t Pick Up Fallen Residents, Call 911 Instead
The 911 call came just before 8 a.m., and Ladder 5′s four-man crew scrambled to the truck just as their overnight shift was about to end. It was the kind of call that veteran firefighter Chad Callison said he dreaded. It was not a heart attack, or a car crash or a building fire. It was a “lift assist” at Heritage Woods, a local assisted-living facility. Lift-assist 911 calls from assisted living and other senior homes have spiked by 30 percent nationwide in recent years to nearly 42,000 calls a year, an analysis of fire department emergency call data by The Washington Post has found. That’s nearly three times faster than the increase in overall 911 call volume during the same 2019-2022 period, the data shows. (Frankel, 5/3)
KFF Health News: Stranded In The ER, Seniors Await Hospital Care And Suffer Avoidable Harm
Every day, the scene plays out in hospitals across America: Older men and women lie on gurneys in emergency room corridors moaning or suffering silently as harried medical staff attend to crises. Even when physicians determine these patients need to be admitted to the hospital, they often wait for hours — sometimes more than a day — in the ER in pain and discomfort, not getting enough food or water, not moving around, not being helped to the bathroom, and not getting the kind of care doctors deem necessary. (Graham, 5/6)
In other health and wellness news —
The New York Times: First Patient Begins Newly Approved Sickle Cell Gene Therapy
On Wednesday, Kendric Cromer, a 12-year-old boy from a suburb of Washington, became the first person in the world with sickle cell disease to begin a commercially approved gene therapy that may cure the condition. For the estimated 20,000 people with sickle cell in the United States who qualify for the treatment, the start of Kendric’s monthslong medical journey may offer hope. But it also signals the difficulties patients face as they seek a pair of new sickle cell treatments. (Kolata, 5/6)
The Mercury News: Our Brains Are Growing. Will That Help Prevent Dementia?
A new study by researchers at UC Davis Health found that the brains of people born in the 1970s had 6.6% larger volumes and almost 15% greater brain surface area than those of people born in the 1930s. “We found that brains got larger with each 10 years,” said neurologist Dr. Charles DeCarli, principal investigator of the study, published in a recent issue of the journal JAMA Neurology. It was based on an analysis of thousands of volunteers in the famed Framingham Heart Study. (Krieger, 5/3)
USA Today: Don't Pee In The Pool. It's Gross, But Also Dangerous To Your Heart And Lungs
The claim: Urinating in a pool is dangerous for your heart and lungs. “Urinating in a pool is dangerous for your heart? Urine and chlorine create dangerous chemicals when combined,” the post reads. “One of those chemicals, cyanogen chloride is classified as a chemical warfare agent and can damage your heart and lungs.” Our rating: True. Experts say urine mixes with chlorine to create toxic chemicals that can harm internal organs. However, experts said the level of risk depends on the amount of harmful chemicals in the pool. (Settles, 5/4)
Stat: Cancer Researcher Catriona Jamieson Is Sending Tumors Into Space
What happens when you catapult cancer into space? Or shoot stem cells toward the stars? Catriona Jamieson, a hematologist and director of the Sanford Stem Cell Institute at the University of California, San Diego, has done both. Through collaborations with organizations like NASA, her lab has sent tumors and stem cells aboard private spaceflights like SpaceX CRS-24 and the recent Axiom-3 mission to be studied in the International Space Station. (StFleur, 5/6)
KFF Health News: Could Better Inhalers Help Patients, And The Planet?
Miguel Divo, a lung specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, sits in an exam room across from Joel Rubinstein, who has asthma. Rubinstein, a retired psychiatrist, is about to get a checkup and hear a surprising pitch — for the planet, as well as his health. Divo explains that boot-shaped inhalers, which represent nearly 90% of the U.S. market for asthma medication, save lives but also contribute to climate change. (Bebinger, 5/6)
