Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Research Roundup: Drug Safety; Tackle Football; And Breastfeeding
JAMA Internal Medicine: Comparative Analysis Of Medicines Safety Advisories Released By Australia, Canada, The United States, And The United Kingdom.
National regulatory agencies’ decisions to approve new drugs are based on limited safety evidence collected during clinical development. Often, only when a drug enters general use do rarer or longer-term adverse events become known or better understood, prompting regulators to issue safety advisories. We examined how often medicines regulators in 4 countries with similar medical traditions, population health, and demographics—Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States—were concordant in their decisions to issue safety advisories on approved prescription medicines. (Perry et al, 4/29)
Pediatrics: Parents’ Perspectives Regarding Age Restrictions For Tackling In Youth Football
A majority of US parents across sexes would support age restrictions for tackling in football. This information should inform discussions when guidelines about tackling in youth football are revisited. (Chrisman, 5/1)
Pediatrics: Breastfeeding In Infancy And Lipid Profile In Adolescence
Breast milk has higher cholesterol than formula. Infants who are breastfed have different cholesterol synthesis and metabolism in infancy than infants who are formula fed. Little is known as to whether breastfeeding is associated with subsequent lipid profile, independent of adiposity. We assessed the association of breastfeeding in early infancy with lipid profile and adiposity at ∼17.5 years in a setting where exclusive breastfeeding is not associated with higher socioeconomic position. (Hui et al, 5/1)
JAMA Psychiatry: Association Of Maternal Neurodevelopmental Risk Alleles With Early-Life Exposures.
Early-life exposures, such as prenatal maternal lifestyle, illnesses, nutritional deficiencies, toxin levels, and adverse birth events, have long been considered potential risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring. However, maternal genetic factors could be confounding the association between early-life exposures and neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring, which makes inferring a causal relationship problematic. (Leppert et al, 5/1)
