Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'Nobody Cares About People With Sickle Cell': Opioid Crisis, Lack Of Training Leave Patients Struggling
Stat: In Excruciating Pain, Sickle Cell Patients Are Shunted Aside
The U.S. health care system is killing adults with sickle cell disease. Racism is a factor — most of the 100,000 U.S. patients with the genetic disorder are African-American – and so is inadequate training of doctors and nurses. And the care is getting worse, sickle cell patients and their doctors said, because the opioid addiction crisis has made ER doctors extremely reluctant to prescribe pain pills. STAT interviewed 12 sickle cell patients who described the care they received and didn’t receive. They were old and young, men and women, scattered from coast to coast, some with jobs or attending school and some too sick to do either. Two who wanted to tell their stories were unexpectedly hospitalized and too weak to talk to a reporter. (Begley, 9/18)
NPR: Years After A Hurricane, Most People Fare Well
Long after the floodwaters recede and the debris is cleared, the mental health impacts of disasters like hurricanes can linger. Psychologist Jean Rhodes of the University of Massachusetts-Boston has spent more than a decade studying what happens to people years after a natural disaster — in this case, Hurricane Katrina. (Chang and Jochem, 9/15)
The Washington Post: Can Antidepressants Given Prophylactically Prevent Depression?
If you were at risk for developing depression, would you take a pill to prevent it? For years, physicians have prescribed antidepressants to treat people grappling with depression. Some people can benefit from taking these medications during an acute episode. Others with a history of recurrent depression may take antidepressants to help prevent relapses. (Morris, 9/17)
NPR: Benefits Can Outweigh Risks For Pregnant Women On Anxiety Drugs Or SSRIs
Earlier this year, when Emily Chodos was about 25 weeks into her pregnancy, she woke up one night feeling horrible. "My hands were tremoring, my heart racing, " recalls Chodos, who lives near New Haven, Conn. She couldn't take a deep breath. "I'd never felt so out of control of my body." She ended up paging her obstetrician's office at 4 a.m., and one of the midwives in the practice, after listening to her symptoms, said, "It sounds like you're having a panic attack." (Aubrey, 9/18)
The New York Times: Gut Bacteria May Be Key To Weight Loss
Whether a diet works might depend on which bacteria are in your gut. Using feces samples, Danish researchers analyzed the ratio of two gut bacteria, Prevotella and Bacteroides, in 62 overweight people. For 26 weeks, they randomly assigned them to a low-fat diet high in fiber, fruits, vegetables and whole grains or a diet comparable to that of the average Dane. (Bakalar, 9/15)
WBUR: Leprosy Is Not Quite Yet A Disease Of The Past
That may be a bit surprising — leprosy seems to be a disease of the past. Indeed, in 2006, the World Health Organization issued a report on "elimination of leprosy as a public health problem," stating that the number of cases had dropped by 90 percent since 1985. (Brink, 9/16)
NPR: Teen Wants A Tattoo? Pediatricians Say Here's How To Do It Safely
Ariana Marciano is adding to her collection of about 75 tattoos at the Body Electric Tattoo and Piercing Studio on trendy Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. "I think they're so cool and I think they're visually really nice to look at," she says. There's a ram's head, an elk, a green-and peach colored praying mantis, a love bug and a moth. Today she's getting a ladybug. "I love bugs," Marciano, 23, says. "I think they're kind of overlooked." In about 20 minutes, with dots on its back and a bit of rusty orange, a small ladybug takes its place on her elbow. (Neighmond, 9/18)
The Washington Post: Children Under Fire
On average, 23 children were shot each day in the United States in 2015, according to a Post review of the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. That’s at least one bullet striking a growing body every 63 minutes. In total, an estimated 8,400 children were hit, and more died — 1,458 — than in any year since at least 2010. That death toll exceeds the entire number of U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan this decade. (Cox, 9/15)
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Survive A Shooting On Saturday, Back To School On Monday; 'My Teacher Had To Come Tell Me To Focus'
Experts in childhood trauma warn that the recent rash of violence affects not only those directly involved, but also those growing up in and around neighborhoods seared by gunfire and crisscrossed by yellow crime-scene tape. In Richmond, the number of children whose lives have been interrupted is growing, and they carry the weight of those experiences through the doors of city schools and into their classrooms. (Evans, 9/16)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Advocates: Transgender Patients Face Barriers To Healthcare
In Georgia, 33 percent of transgender patients had some kind of negative experience in medical care, up to and including being refused care. The other types of negative experiences included being assaulted, being verbally harassed, or having to educate the caregiver on transgender healthcare. (Hart, 9/15)
San Antonio Press-Express: Space Out Births For Health Of Moms And Babies
Appropriate spacing between births in a family will improve the health of mothers and infants. Parents often want to have their children 1.5 to two years apart but the World Health Organization and research studies recommend two years between the delivery of one child and the conception of the next. (Plastino, 9/17)
Boston Globe: After Patients’ Weight Loss Surgery, Her Work Really Begins
As obesity reaches epidemic proportions — more than a third of US adults are obese — more bariatric surgeries are being performed at health care centers like Emerson in Concord. What was once considered a high-risk and last-resort measure is now a common procedure that is touted as relatively safe. (Atoji Keene, 9/15)
