Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Are Cancer Tests Worth The Cost?; Worries Over Concussions In Youngest Football Players
Bloomberg: How Much Does Cancer Screening Cost? New Tests Raise Questions
Patients and their doctors count on cancer screening tests to save lives, and yet a number of large, controlled studies are showing disappointing results for mammography and other mass screening tests. (Faye Flam, 10/24)
The Washington Post: Concussions Are A Bigger Problem For Youth Football Than The NFL
During a child’s early years, the brain is developing and is most vulnerable to trauma. Deferring contact football shortens the time that children are taking hits to the head and lessens their lifetime risk of CTE. (Leana S. Wen, 10/24)
Stat: Concussion Guidelines Need To Protect All Athletes’ Brains
Imagine that you are the parent of an 11-year-old soccer player who dreams of competing in the Women’s World Cup one day. You want to support her love for the sport while keeping her safe from harm. You are particularly concerned about brain injuries in youth sports, so you look up information about concussion protocols online. (Kathleen Bachynski, 10/25)
Chicago Tribune: Understanding Immunity Will Help Us Understand COVID-19
What protects better from future COVID-19 infection, previous infection or vaccination? (Cory Franklin, 10/24)
San Francisco Chronicle: I Was Young And Healthy. A Mild COVID Infection Changed Everything
In March 2020 I contracted a mild COVID infection. I had just turned 30, was in perfect health and living “my best life.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told me it would take two weeks to bounce back. But it’s been 2½ years, and I’ve spent my entire 30s disabled by a post-infection illness — housebound and barely holding onto what little I can of my former life. I truly cannot relay the misery. (Charlie McCone, 10/24)
Stat: Don't Be Fooled: Covid-19 Is Not A Racial Equity Success Story
As MacArthur Foundation fellow Jennifer Richeson noted in The Atlantic in 2020, Americans love to perpetuate narratives of racial progress, regardless of whether that narrative is aligned with reality. We saw this in a recent New York Times essay that claimed the change in Covid-19 death rates is a laudable example of the U.S. overcoming racial injustice. (Marina Del Rios, Nathan T. Chomilo and Neil A. Lewis, Jr., 10/25)
Stat: Better Access To PET Scans Can Help Reduce Racial Inequities In Alzheimer's Disease
While many Americans are familiar with the devastating impact of Alzheimer’s disease, few understand the cruel disparity with which it strikes. Black Americans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with this mind-robbing disease and bear the greatest costs of caring for loved ones suffering with it. (Linda Goler Blount, 10/24)
San Diego Union-Tribune: As A Senior With A Family History Of Alzheimer's, I Think Video Games Help Me Stay Healthy
Now I’m almost 77 years old, and since losing my mother and older brother to Alzheimer’s disease, I have been on the lookout for small clues that might make me the next victim. (Mike Lindsay, 10/21)
