Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
When Religion Harms Mental Health, These Groups Help People 'Be OK With Not Being OK'
The New York Times: When Religion Leads To Trauma
“We think of church as a place of healing and transformation, and it is,” says Michael Walrond Jr., co-pastor of the First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem. But for some, he says, “religion has been more bruising and damaging than healing and transformative. ”Pastor Mike, as he is called, leads services in a renovated art deco movie palace on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. Under his direction, the church has taken a lead in confronting an issue that few other religious institutions have tackled: what some call religious trauma syndrome. (Schiffman, 2/5)
The Washington Post: Federal Judge Orders Chemical Safety Board To Require Disclosure Of Chemical Emissions From Accidents
In a lawsuit filed after Hurricane Harvey, a federal judge has ordered the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board to force the disclosure of chemical emissions resulting from accidents. More than 1,000 industrial chemical accidents take place every year. The biggest include the explosions that killed 15 people at a fertilizer plant in West, Tex., and the explosions that took place at the Arkema chemical plant in the Houston area after unprecedented flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. (Mufson, 2/5)
The New York Times: Can You Get Too Much Exercise? What The Heart Tells Us
Many middle-aged marathon runners and other endurance athletes are familiar with concerns from their loved ones — and occasionally their physicians — that they might be exercising too much and straining or harming their hearts. For all of them, a large-scale study published recently in JAMA Cardiology should be mollifying. It finds that middle-aged men who work out often and vigorously do tend to develop worrisome plaques in their cardiac arteries. But those men also are less likely than more sedentary people to die prematurely from a heart attack or other cause. (Reynolds, 2/6)
Stat: New Voices At The Bedside: Amazon, Google, Microsoft, And Apple
At first it was a novelty: Hospitals began using voice assistants to allow patients to order lunch, check medication regimens, and get on-demand medical advice at home. But these devices, manufactured by Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and others are now making deeper inroads into patient care. Hospitals are exploring new uses in intensive care units and surgical recovery rooms, and contemplating a future in which Alexa, or another voice avatar, becomes a virtual member of the medical team — monitoring doctor-patient interactions, suggesting treatment approaches, or even alerting caregivers to voice changes that could be an early warning of a health emergency. (Ross, 2/6)
The New York Times: Screen Use At Bedtime May Impair Children’s Quality Of Life
Using screens before bedtime impairs children’s sleep and may diminish their quality of life. British researchers studied 6,616 children, average age 12, who reported their use of screens — mobile phone, tablet, e-reader, computer, portable media player, television or game console — during the hour before bedtime. They also filled out a well-validated 10-item questionnaire measuring worries and stresses, social functioning and other determinants of quality-of-life. (Bakalar, 2/5)
