Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Study: Primary Care Opioid Addiction Treatment Can Lower Overdoses
Philadelphia Inquirer: Primary Care Opioid Addiction Treatment Has Potential To Reduce Overdoses, Pitt Study Finds
Primary care physicians who care for people with addiction can prevent more people from dying of an overdose, according to a new study from the University of Pittsburgh. People with opioid addiction are often referred to specialty treatment clinics — even if they seek help from their primary care doctor. But offering overdose-reversing drugs and addiction treatment medication through routine primary care visits could help people with addiction lower their overdose risk and live longer than if they got treatment elsewhere, according to a new study published in JAMA Open Network. (Whelan, 4/24)
Lowell Sun: How Dangerous Is Fentanyl Exposure To First Responders, If At All?
Dr. Balram Sharma, who is the director of acute pain service and regional anesthesia at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, part of Beth Israel Health, referenced a 2017 joint statement from the American College of Medical Toxicology and American Academy of Clinical Toxicology that states, though fentanyl is potent, “the risk of clinically significant exposure to emergency responders is extremely low.” (Curtis, 4/24)
In other health and wellness news —
CNN: Lack Of Sick Days, Inflexible Schedule Among Tough Job Conditions That Can Seriously Affect Mental Health, Report Shows
Certain work conditions – including inflexible or late-night schedules and lack of paid sick leave – can have a significant effect on mental health, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (McPhillips, 4/25)
Fox News: As Suicide Rates Spike, New AI Platform Could ‘Fill The Gap’ In Mental Health Care, Say Boston Researchers
After a two-year decline, U.S. suicide rates spiked again in 2021, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Suicide is now the 11th leading cause of death in the country — and the second among people between 10 and 35 years of age and fifth among those aged 35 to 54, per the report. (Rudy, 4/25)
Philadelphia Inquirer: Medically Tailored Meals Have Proven To Be Effective. Now Health Insurers Are Paying Attention
About 2,400 years after Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, declared food was medicine, we are finally getting his point. A poor diet contributes to the death of one in five people globally, according to the BMJ, the British Medical Journal. (Hazelton, 4/24)
KFF Health News: Depressed? Anxious? Air Pollution May Be A Factor
In the 1990s, residents of Mexico City noticed their dogs acting strangely — some didn’t recognize their owners, and the animals’ sleep patterns had changed. At the time, the sprawling, mountain-ringed city of more than 15 million people was known as the most polluted in the world, with a thick, constant haze of fossil fuel pollution trapped by thermal inversions. (Robbins, 4/25)
In celebrity news —
AP: Comedian Richard Lewis Reveals He Has Parkinson’s Disease
Comedian Richard Lewis is retiring from stand-up following four surgeries and a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. The 75-year-old “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star, who is known for wearing all-black and exploring his neuroses onstage, posted a video Monday to Twitter explaining his various health issues. (4/24)
Self: ‘You Must Get Tested For MS’: How Selma Blair Helped Christina Applegate Get A Diagnosis
Selma Blair was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 10:30 p.m. on August 16, 2018, but, as she revealed in a new interview with British Vogue, the symptoms of her condition were misdiagnosed or ignored for more than 40 years since her first health struggles as a child. “If you’re a boy with those symptoms, you get an MRI,” she said of being a seven-year-old who had lost the use of her right eye and left leg, as well as bladder control. She’d wake up in the middle of the night laughing uncontrollably. It was undiagnosed juvenile MS, she now knows, but doctors and family wrote her off as an attention-seeker after ruling out conditions like cancer. “If you’re a girl, you’re called ‘crazy.” (Wickman, 4/24)
