Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Number Of Teens, Children Visiting ER For Suicidal Ideation Spiking: 'I Worry That We Have Not Yet Seen The Peak'
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Suicide In US: Children, Teens In ER With Suicidal Thoughts Doubles
The number of teens and children visiting emergency rooms for suicidal thoughts or attempts doubled between 2007 and 2015, according to new research published this week. ...Researchers looked at a large, nationwide sample of data from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control’s National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey for the study. They examined the number of children between ages 5 and 18 who were diagnosed with suicidal ideation or suicide attempt. (Pirani, 4/9)
The New York Times: Most Osteoporosis Drugs Don’t Build Bone. This One Does.
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved an osteoporosis drug that represents the first new treatment approach in nearly two decades — a strategy based on a rare gene mutation in people with bones so dense that they never break. About 10 million people in the United States have osteoporosis. Worldwide, about 200 million people have brittle bones; one in three women, and one in five men, will suffer a fracture because of osteoporosis, often of the hip or spine. For many, the break leads to a downward spiral of disability. (Kolata, 4/9)
The Washington Post: The Pregnancy-Tracking App Ovia Lets Women Record Their Most Sensitive Data For Themselves — And Their Boss
Like millions of women, Diana Diller was a devoted user of the pregnancy-tracking app Ovia, logging in every night to record new details on a screen asking about her bodily functions, sex drive, medications and mood. When she gave birth last spring, she used the app to chart her baby’s first online medical data — including her name, her location and whether there had been any complications — before leaving the hospital’s recovery room. But someone else was regularly checking in, too: her employer, which paid to gain access to the intimate details of its workers’ personal lives, from their trying-to-conceive months to early motherhood. (Harwell, 4/9)
The Associated Press: Gun-Maker To Ask Supreme Court To Hear Sandy Hook Appeal
Facing a newly revived wrongful death lawsuit in Connecticut over the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, gun-maker Remington is going to the U.S. Supreme Court to argue it can’t be sued because of a much-debated federal law that shields firearms manufacturers from liability in most cases. The Connecticut Supreme Court issued a 4-3 ruling last month saying the Madison, North Carolina-based company can be sued under state law for how it marketed the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle used to kill 20 first-graders and six educators at the Newtown school in 2012. (Collins, 4/9)
Kaiser Health News: Lethal Plans: When Seniors Turn To Suicide In Long-Term Care
When Larry Anders moved into the Bay at Burlington nursing home in late 2017, he wasn’t supposed to be there long. At 77, the stoic Wisconsin machinist had just endured the death of his wife of 51 years and a grim new diagnosis: throat cancer, stage 4. His son and daughter expected him to stay two weeks, tops, before going home to begin chemotherapy. From the start, they were alarmed by the lack of care at the center, where, they said, staff seemed indifferent, if not incompetent — failing to check on him promptly, handing pills to a man who couldn’t swallow. (Bailey and Aleccia, 4/9)
Modern Healthcare: PrEP Use Against HIV Linked With Increased STD Risk
Pre-exposure prophylaxis use to protect against HIV infection was associated with higher infection rates of other sexually transmitted diseases, according to a new study. An analysis in Australia found more than 2,900 sexually transmitted infections were diagnosed in nearly half of the study's participants from when they started using PrEP. Nearly 3,000 gay and bisexual men were given access to the medication. The study found infections per participant ranged from zero to 12. (Johnson, 4/9)
The New York Times: Sitting For More Than 13 Hours A Day May Sabotage The Benefits Of Exercise
Sitting for most of the day could make us resistant to the usual metabolic benefits of exercise, according to a small but worrying new study. The findings, in the Journal of Applied Physiology, suggest that inactivity may alter our bodies in ways that are not just unhealthy on their own but also blunt the healthfulness of exercise. We know, of course, that physical activity is good for us and being sedentary, for the most part, is not. (Reynolds, 4/10)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Early Preterm Births Cause Troubling Rise In Infant Mortality: Progress Report
In the first three months of this year, Cuyahoga County’s infant mortality rate showed a troubling and dramatic rise, driven largely by a jump in the number of extremely preterm infants who died, according to statistics released at a quarterly meeting of city-county infant mortality initiative First Year Cleveland.The overall infant mortality rate, defined as the number of live-born infants who die before reaching a first birthday per 1,000 live births, was 8.43 last year and rose to 10.1 the first quarter of this year. (Zeltner, 4/10)
California Healthline: How To Fight ‘Scary’ Superbugs? Cooperation — And A Special Soap
Hospitals and nursing homes in California and Illinois are testing a surprisingly simple strategy against the dangerous, antibiotic-resistant superbugs that kill thousands of people each year: washing patients with a special soap. The efforts — funded with roughly $8 million from the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — are taking place at 50 facilities in those two states. (Gorman, 4/9)
NPR: Wound Healing Might Be Improved With Staples Modeled On Porcupine Quills
At first, the idea of using porcupine quills to patch up wounds sounds torturous. But, taking inspiration from the spiky rodent, researchers have begun to work on a new type of surgical staple that may be less damaging — and less painful — than current staples. Worldwide, surgeons perform more than 4 million operations annually, usually using sutures and staples to close wounds. Yet these traditional tools designed to aid healing can create their own problems. (Cassidy and Shields, 4/9)
