Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
This Year's Flu Is Hitting Children Especially Hard, And Experts Stay It's Still Not Too Late To Get Vaccine
The Wall Street Journal: The Flu Is Hitting Children Especially Hard This Season
Every day for the past few months, children have appeared in Ari Brown’s pediatric office in Austin, Texas, and tested positive for influenza. “About 10% of the patients we’re seeing every day have the flu,” says Dr. Brown. “We’ve had five this morning.” Public attention is fixated on the coronavirus. But the far more widespread flu virus is infecting people across the country—and hitting children particularly hard. (Reddy, 2/3)
The Associated Press: Some Hospitals Wary As New Liver Transplant Rules Begin
Long-delayed rules that will more broadly share scarce donated livers go into effect Tuesday, to the dismay of some hospitals in Tennessee, Kansas and other states that fear their patients may lose out. Where you live makes a difference in how sick you have to be to get an organ transplant, and wealthier patients sometimes travel to other states to get on shorter waiting lists. The new rules are an attempt to ease that geographic disparity by giving the sickest patients first chance at a donated liver even if it has to be flown about 500 miles to reach them. (2/3)
Stat: Brain 'Hot Spot' May Explain Why African Americans Feel Greater Pain
Despite the persistence of the slavery-era myth that African Americans are less sensitive to pain than people of other backgrounds (as a large fraction of white laypeople, medical students, and hospital residents in a 2016 study believed), the science is unambiguous. African Americans, and in some studies Latinxs, report more pain from the identical stimulus (being touched with something very hot, for instance) than non-Hispanic white people. Yet somewhat surprisingly, when it seems that every mental and emotional experience has been analyzed with brain imaging, the neurobiological mechanisms for that heightened pain sensitivity have been unclear. (Begley, 2/3)
NPR: Study Links Autism To 'Insulation' That Coats Brain Cells And Speeds Signals
Scientists have found a clue to how autism spectrum disorder disrupts the brain's information highways. The problem involves cells that help keep the traffic of signals moving smoothly through brain circuits, a team reported Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The team found that in both mouse and human brains affected by autism, there's an abnormality in cells that produce a substance called myelin. (Hamilton, 2/3)
NPR: U.S. Sees Sharp Drop In Visit To Primary Care Providers, As Costs Rise
Efforts across the U.S. in recent years to encourage medical students, nurse practitioners and others to go into primary care, especially in underserved areas, are built on a consensus in research: Primary care is good for patients. "It's the foundation of the health care system," says Dr. Ishani Ganguli, Harvard assistant professor of medicine and physician in general internal medicine and primary care at Brigham and Women's Hospital. (Renken, 2/3)
The New York Times: Why Fruits And Vegetables May Lower Alzheimer’s Risk
Flavonols, a large class of compounds found in most fruits and vegetables, may be associated with a reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Flavonols are known to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, and animal studies have suggested they may improve memory and learning. A study in Neurology involved 921 men and women, average age 81 and free of dementia, who reported their diet using well-validated food questionnaires. During an average follow-up of six years, 220 developed Alzheimer’s disease. (Bakalar, 2/4)
Kaiser Health News: Beyond Burnout: Docs Decry ‘Moral Injury’ From Financial Pressures Of Health Care
Dr. Keith Corl was working in a Las Vegas emergency room when a patient arrived with chest pain. The patient, wearing his street clothes, had a two-minute exam in the triage area with a doctor, who ordered an X-ray and several other tests. But later, in the treatment area, when Corl met the man and lifted his shirt, it was clear the patient had shingles. Corl didn’t need any tests to diagnose the viral infection that causes a rash and searing pain. All those tests? They turned out to be unnecessary and left the patient with over $1,000 in extra charges. (Bailey, 2/4)
