Curated News: JAMA

• share
• favorite_border

A new study has found that greater body fat is a risk factor for reduced cognitive function, such as processing speed, in adults. Even when the researchers took cardiovascular risk factors (such as diabetes or high blood pressure) or vascular brain injury into account, the association between body fat and lower cognitive scores remained. This suggests other not yet confirmed pathways that linked excess body fat to reduced cognitive function.

• share
• favorite_border

In a first-ever study, researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine examined the unintentional drug overdose mortality in Years of Life Lost among adolescents and young people in the United States. Study findings are published online in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

• share
• favorite_border

Children who survive critical illness and their parents commonly experience physical, emotional, and cognitive conditions as a result of the critical illness. These effects can also include prolonged absences from school and/or work. What has not been fully understood is the rate and duration of school absences among these children and work absences among their caregivers.

• share
• favorite_border

Novel trial measured simulated driving performance of persons after cannabis use, revealing sharply differentiated levels of ability and perception of skills.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai discovered that the chance a pathogenic genetic variant may actually cause a disease is relatively low - about 7 percent. They also found that some variants, such as those associated with breast cancer, are linked to a wide range of risks for disease. The results could alter the way the risks associated with these variants are reported, and one day, help guide the way physicians interpret genetic testing results.

• share
• favorite_border

Transfusions of blood plasma donated by people who have already recovered from infection with the pandemic virus may help other patients hospitalized with COVID-19, a new international study shows.

• share
• favorite_border

A cost analysis of the controversial new Alzheimer’s disease drug aducanumab shows that ancillary care services account for nearly 20% of total Medicare costs related to the drug, or $6,564 per patient per year.

• share
• favorite_border

Some of the most socioeconomically disadvantaged patients — those with Medicaid or Medicare-Medicaid dual eligibility insurance — were far less likely than those with other insurance plans to return to using outpatient services at rates approaching normal, pre-pandemic levels.

• share
• favorite_border

Thousands of schools transitioned to online learning in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which time many children with cancer and other chronic health needs, as well as those with special education needs, faced significant challenges to learning online. An opinion paper by Johns Hopkins experts, published Jan. 4 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, highlights some of the issues faced by families and offers suggestions to move forward.

• share
• favorite_border

With the pandemic, there has been a rise in the use of virtual appointments for patients seeking health care. A new study by Tufts researchers, however, suggests that for many older and chronically ill patients, telehealth appointments may be most effective when they augment in-person health-care visits rather than fully replace them.

• share
• favorite_border

Black Americans who were initially hesitant about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine were more likely than whites to warm up to the idea as the pandemic wore on and to view vaccines as necessary for protection, a new study has found. The research highlights the importance of not making assumptions about race-based viewpoints regarding health care, and illustrates the likelihood that access — not just distrust or skepticism — is a significant obstacle to higher levels of COVID-19 protection among Black Americans, the study authors said.

• share
• favorite_border

Children in sub-Saharan Africa who are hospitalized with COVID-19 are dying at a rate far greater than children in the U.S. and Europe, according to a new multicenter study published today in JAMA Pediatrics and led by a University of Pittsburgh infectious diseases epidemiologist.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study by researchers with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center shows Latino smokers on Medi-Cal are still not getting the cessation information they need to help them get treatment for tobacco addiction.

• share
• favorite_border

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in American men, second only to skin cancer. One in eight men will develop the disease in his lifetime. While nearly 250,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, research has shown that the disease is often more aggressive and more deadly for African American men.

• share
• favorite_border

Rates of cervical cancer screening have dropped in the U.S., with screening rates lowest among Asian and Hispanic women, as well as women who live in rural areas, don’t have insurance, or identify as LGBQ+, according to researchers with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston).

• share
• favorite_border

Even though clinical trials haven’t shown it works against COVID-19, doctors continue to prescribe ivermectin – and a new study suggests health insurers are heavily subsidizing the cost of those prescriptions.

• share
• favorite_border

January 15 will mark the first time in seven months that the families of more than 61 million children in the United States will not receive a monthly payment of the advance Child Tax Credit (CTC), after Congress failed to pass the Build Back Better Act, which would extend this benefit enacted last spring as part of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 relief package.

• share
• favorite_border

A new international study offers a clearer picture of the impact of COVID-19 infection and the risk of severe outcomes on young people around the world.

• share
• favorite_border

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights provides a glimpse into recently published studies in basic, translational and clinical cancer research from MD Anderson experts. Current advances include an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy to treat follicular lymphoma, targeted therapies for urothelial cancers and advanced breast cancers, understanding the tumor microenvironment and immune landscape in pancreatic cancer, a link between depression risk and androgen deprivation for prostate cancer, and the discovery of new therapeutic targets for Alzheimer’s disease, liver cancer and aggressive breast cancer.

• share
• favorite_border

How to better detect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in low- and middle-income countries is a question that has long plagued the global medical community.

• share
• favorite_border

Nearly half of people in a large U.S. study reported misusing prescription drugs between ages 18-50, which made them more likely to develop substance use disorder symptoms as adults––especially those whose misuse peaked later in life.

• share
• favorite_border

Adults with obesity who had weight-loss surgery and achieved substantial weight loss prior to contracting COVID-19 reduced their risk for developing severe outcomes from the infection by 60% compared to those who did not have surgery, according to a new Cleveland Clinic study published online today in the journal JAMA Surgery.

• share
• favorite_border

CLEVELAND: A Cleveland Clinic study shows that among patients with obesity, prior weight loss achieved with bariatric surgery was associated with a 60% lower risk of developing severe complications from COVID-19 infection. The research was published in the journal JAMA Surgery.

• share
• favorite_border

Since the introduction of electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, to the United States in 2006, intense debate has surrounded the marketing, regulation and use of these nicotine-delivery products.

• share
• favorite_border

Children in a study cohort of young patients requiring ICU care for critical illness had an average of two weeks of school absences; half of primary caregivers missed work during the same period.

• share
• favorite_border

Study identifies racial and ethnic disparities in hospital mortality for COVID and non-COVID patients alike, highlights urgent need to address systemic inequities in health care and improve care for those who are impacted the hardest by the virus, directly and indirectly.

• share
• favorite_border

Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who had a combination of high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, or other conditions associated with metabolic syndrome were at much higher risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome and death, according to an international study published in JAMA Network Open.

• share
• favorite_border

For the first time since national data have been tracked in the United States, stigma toward people with depression has dropped significantly, according to a study by Indiana University researchers. However, stigma levels for other mental illnesses remained stagnant and, in some cases, have increased.

• share
• favorite_border

Being the parent or sibling of a child with a life-threatening condition can take a mental and physical toll on other members of the family. A new study is one of the first to empirically measure the extent of this burden on families, with parents and siblings 50% to 70% more likely than their peers to receive health care for mental and physical health issues, accompanied by medication for these issues, than families of children without a life-threatening condition.

• share
• favorite_border

GLP-1 RA treats diabetes and is linked to positive outcomes for heart disease patients, yet inequities were found in its use along racial, ethnic, and economic lines

• share
• favorite_border

Oropharyngeal cancer incidence among men is continuing to rise rapidly in nearly all 50 states and among women living in states in the Midwest and Southeast regions, according to a new study by investigators at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) School of Public Health in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

With numerous recent studies demonstrating that antibiotics work as well as surgery for most uncomplicated appendicitis cases, the non-surgical approach can now be considered a routine option, according to a review article in JAMA.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center led a large international study providing what is believed to be the first evidence (albeit indirect) that a recently approved imaging technique improves risk-stratification and long-term prognostic capabilities for patients with high-risk prostate cancer whose conventional imaging showed only localized disease.

• share
• favorite_border

COVID-19 convalescent plasma showed a likely benefit for patients early in the pandemic before remdesivir and corticosteroids were in use, according to results of a landmark study published today in JAMA that included physician-scientists at (UTHealth Houston.

• share
• favorite_border

Providing individual hotel rooms with supports to people experiencing homelessness who were at high risk of severe COVID-19 led to a 2.5-fold decrease in SARS-CoV-2 rates compared to rates seen in Chicago city shelters, as well as improvements in other health measures and housing outcomes.

• share
• favorite_border

Nearly a fourth of pregnant and recently pregnant women in a new study say they’ve been unable to afford necessary health care, and three fifths report concern about paying medical bills.

• share
• favorite_border

For patients with the blood cancer multiple myeloma, vaccination against COVID-19 provides some protection against coronavirus infection but to a far lower degree than the general population of cancer survivors, a new study by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators shows.

• share
• favorite_border

A subtle smile emerged on Dr. James Leidner’s face as he envisioned telling people of the unusual contribution he made to mankind’s mission to Mars.

• share
• favorite_border

Maternal morbidity risks may continue well into the late postpartum period, especially for individuals who are Black or have depression or anxiety, new research suggests.

• share
• favorite_border

In this study of 3,000 adults with cataracts, the risk of developing dementia was lower in participants who underwent cataract removal compared with those who didn’t.

• share
• favorite_border

New Research shows that women treated for melanoma have twice the mortality rate of men when given two immunotherapies at one time.

• share
• favorite_border

Two studies based in Seattle provide evidence that public policies to reduce consumption of added sugars through taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages are effective and sustainable.

• share
• favorite_border

The rate of cervical cancer among women living in neighborhoods with the lowest socioeconomic indices is nearly two times higher than the rate among those who live in areas with the highest indices.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study led by researchers at UCLA Health has found that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT-I) prevented major depression, decreasing the likelihood of depression by over 50% as compared to sleep education therapy in adults over the age of 60 with insomnia.