Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
More Dying 'In Prime Ages Of Their Lives' Since 2010: Report
CNN: More Americans Are Dying "In The Prime Of Their Lives," New Report Finds
Younger and middle-age Americans have been dying at higher rates over the past three decades, marking what is becoming a public health crisis across the US workforce. Among the causes of death increasingly striking working-age Americans between 1990 and 2017 are drug overdose, alcohol use and suicides, according to a new report published Tuesday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (Prior, 3/2)
Stat: Substance Use, Suicide, And Cardiometabolic Conditions Drive Rise In Working-Age Mortality, Report Finds
Increasing mortality rates among working-age Americans since 2010 have been mainly driven by drug- and alcohol-related deaths, suicide, and cardiometabolic conditions like diabetes and heart disease, according to a sweeping new report. The report, released Tuesday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, examined data from 1990 to 2017, and revealed that the rise in deaths among working-age adults (those between 25 and 64) was seen across rural and metropolitan areas and racial and ethnic groups. The increase also appears to be behind the recent fall in U.S. life expectancy, which is significantly lower than in other high-income countries. (Sohn, 3/2)
In other public health news —
CIDRAP: First Fatality Noted In Listeria Outbreak Tied To Hispanic-Style Soft Cheese
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed a new case of Listeria monocytogenes in an outbreak associated with queso fresco made by El Abuelito Cheese Inc, raising the total number of cases to 11.The CDC also reported the first fatality linked to this outbreak, which was in Maryland. Ten of the case-patients sickened in this outbreak have been hospitalized in four states reporting cases: New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia. (3/2)
The Washington Post: The Flu Killed Nearly 200 Children Last Season. This Time, 1 Has Died.
In the shadow of the past year’s coronavirus surge came a less noticeable, but more positive infectious-disease trend: Influenza and other common viruses have nearly disappeared. The flu is circulating at such low levels that officials know of only one child in the United States who has died of it this flu season, a striking deviation from the dozens of pediatric deaths in other recent years. (Iati, 3/2)
CBS News: Experts Sound The Alarm On Declining Birth Rates Among Younger Generations: "It's A Crisis"
New data is confirming a baby boom that some doctors expected was actually a "baby bust." Health departments in more than two dozen states provided records to CBS News, showing a 7% drop in births in December — nine months after the first lockdowns began. Researchers say it continues a much bigger plunge in fertility in recent decades. The number of babies the average woman in the U.S. is expected to deliver has dropped from nearly four in the 1950s to less than two today. (3/2)
Fox News: Hearing Loss Will Affect 1 In 4 People By 2050, WHO Estimates
Billions of people are expected to suffer from some degree of hearing loss by 2050, according to a report from the World Health Organization (WHO), said to be the first-ever global report on hearing. Some 2.5 billion people around the world — about 1 in 4 — "will be living with some degree of hearing loss by 2050," the organization said when calling for better access to prevention and treatment methods worldwide. (Farber, 3/2)
Also —
The Washington Post: Cancer Charity Founder Whose Son Had Memorable TD Run At Nebraska Dies Of Brain Cancer
Andy Hoffman, whose young son, Jack, scored a stirring touchdown during a Nebraska spring game while battling brain cancer, died Monday of a different form of brain cancer. Hoffman, a 42-year-old lawyer who had devoted his time to the Team Jack Foundation to raise money for pediatric brain cancer research after his son’s 2011 diagnosis, received a diagnosis of glioblastoma, an especially aggressive form of brain cancer, after becoming ill while running in July. He understood that his time was finite and told The Washington Post in October that “it’s about maximizing time with your family.” (Boren, 3/2)
NBC News: Dr. Oz Springs Into Physician Mode To Help Save Man Who Collapsed At Airport
Dr. Oz demonstrated he's not just a TV doctor when he rushed to help save a man who had collapsed at a New York City-area airport Monday night. Dr. Mehmet Oz and police performed CPR on a 60-year-old man at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey just after 11 p.m., the Port Authority Police Department said. The man, who collapsed near a baggage claim, did not have a pulse and wasn't breathing, police said. (Helsel, 3/3)
