WHO and CDC Report 'Astounding' Surge in Measles Cases During the Previous Year, According to Reuters
There was a “staggering” annual rise in measles cases and deaths in 2022, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Cases jumped by 18% to an estimated 9 million, and deaths to 136,000, mostly among children, the health agencies said in a joint statement on Thursday. There were large or disruptive outbreaks in 37 countries last year, the majority in Africa, compared to 22 in 2021. (Rigby, 11/16)
CDC Reports a 24% Decline in Child and Teen Cancer Deaths Over the Past Two Decades, According to NBC News
The rate of child and teen cancer deaths in the U.S. fell 24% from 2001 to 2021, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report looked at death rates for Black, Hispanic and non-Hispanic white youths up to 19 years old. Those three groups comprised 92% of all youth cancer deaths in 2021, the report noted. Death rates among children of all ages in those groups dropped between 2001 and 2011. But after 2011, only children 9 and younger saw "significant" declines. (Mogg, 11/16)
Attempting to Prevent Infant Deaths from Syphilis, One Woman's Mission, as Covered by the Los Angeles Times
This L.A. County investigator is working to track down a crucial set of patients who have slipped away from the health system: Women of childbearing age who have tested positive for syphilis. (Reyes, 11/16)
Report Indicates Global Rise in Measles Cases and Deaths, According to Stat
The problem is mounting, with year-to-date numbers for 2023 on track to potentially double the 2022 figures, Natasha Crowcroft, the WHO’s global lead for measles and rubella, told STAT in an interview. “If this carries on the direction it’s going in, this is going to be a disaster for children in the most vulnerable settings,” Crowcroft said. (Branswell, 11/16)
US Officials Release Additional Shots for Newborns as RSV Strains Some Hospitals, According to AP
RSV infections are rising sharply in some parts of the country, nearly filling hospital emergency departments in Georgia, Texas and some other states. At Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, Dr. Laura Romano said kids and parents are spending 10 or more hours in the emergency department’s waiting room. Kids are presenting sicker than they have in previous years, with more in need of oxygen, Romano said. ... In Georgia, the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta hospital system is in “surge” mode because of RSV, with a high volume of patients straining staff, said Dr. Jim Fortenberry, the system’s chief medical officer.(Stobbe and Hunter, 11/16)
Senators Request Meta to Provide Documents on Harm to Children Caused by Social Media, According to Reuters
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators has written to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding documents about its research into the harm to children from its social media platforms. A whistleblower's release of documents in 2021 showed Meta knew Instagram, which began as a photo-sharing app, was addictive and worsened body image issues for some teen girls. (11/15)
Report Indicates Lack of Progress in Childhood Cancer for Blacks and Hispanics, According to AP
Advances in childhood cancer are a success story in modern medicine. But in the past decade, those strides have stalled for Black and Hispanic youth, opening a gap in death rates, according to a new report published Thursday. Childhood cancers are rare and treatments have improved drastically in recent decades, saving lives. Death rates were about the same for Black, Hispanic and white children in 2001, and all went lower during the next decade. But over the next 10 years, only the rate for white children dipped a little lower. (Johnson, 11/16)
The Hill: Recent Research on Hunter-Gatherer Mothers Highlights Significant Issues in Western Child Care
Stressed out American parents who suspect that child-rearing used to be easier may be right. The average mother among one Congolese foraging people has at least 10 people to help hold her baby — and sometimes as many as 20, a paper published Monday has found. That high level of support means that mothers among the Mbendjele BaYaka people have someone else holding their baby at least half the time, according to research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That is a level of care “a world away,” unheard of in wealthy industrialized countries — but one that may have been normal across most of human history, the researchers reported. (Elbein, 11/13)
The Washington Post: Regular Reading Linked to Improved Performance on Subsequent Cognitive Tests in Children
Young children who spend about 12 hours a week reading for pleasure tend to do better on cognitive tests and have better mental health when they are adolescents than those who have not developed this reading habit, according to research published in the journal Psychological Medicine. (Searing, 11/13)
CIDRAP: Research Reveals Prenatal Vaccination Shields Infants from COVID
Infants as old as 6 months were protected from COVID-19 infections only when mothers were vaccinated prenatally, and not before pregnancy, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open. The study is one of the largest to compare outcomes among infants whose mothers were vaccinated before pregnancy, during pregnancy, or were unvaccinated at the time of birth. (Soucheray, 11/10)
CIDRAP: Rise in Vaccine Exemptions Among U.S. Kindergarteners After the Pandemic
The number of kindergarteners with vaccine exemptions increased 0.4 percentage points to 3.0% during the 2022–23 school year compared with the 2019-2020 school year, according to a new study in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Soucheray, 11/10)
USA Today: New Report Gives U.S. Another Failing Grade on Preterm Labor
The U.S. has landed another poor grade when it comes to preterm births, with festering disparities in outcomes for Black and Native women that are life-threatening, according to a new annual report. Preterm birth, when babies are born before 37 weeks gestation, is among the leading causes of infant death in the U.S., according to the March of Dimes. Outcomes across the country improved only slightly this year. ...The March of Dimes gave the U.S. a D+ grade in its “State of Maternal and Infant Health for American Families” report card published Thursday. (Cuevas, 11/16)
The Washington Post: UCLA Files Lawsuit Against Toymaker Mattel, Accusing Them of Backtracking on $49M Donation
As the toymaker behind the Barbie DreamHouse, Mattel knows a thing or two about grand designs. In 2017, the company pledged to bring one such vision to life with a $49 million gift to the University of California at Los Angeles’s health system to expand bed capacity through a new hospital tower. As part of the donation, UCLA agreed to integrate Mattel’s logo into all of its signage and publications. But the toy company never fulfilled its pledge, offering only a fraction of the cash, UCLA alleged last week in a new breach-of-contract lawsuit. (Rosenzweig-Ziff and Bellware, 11/16)
Stat: CVS and Rite Aid Shutdowns Pose a Risk of Aggravating Pharmacy Deserts
Pharmacies were once abundant in the South Side of Chicago. Now, residents living in the majority Black neighborhood often find themselves with few options when it’s time to get a prescription refilled or stock up on cold medicine. (Nayak, 11/10)
KFF Health News: Addressing the Primary Care Shortage Requires a Focus on Compensation
Money talks. The United States faces a serious shortage of primary care physicians for many reasons, but one, in particular, is inescapable: compensation. Substantial disparities between what primary care physicians earn relative to specialists like orthopedists and cardiologists can weigh into medical students’ decisions about which field to choose. Plus, the system that Medicare and other health plans use to pay doctors generally places more value on doing procedures like replacing a knee or inserting a stent than on delivering the whole-person, long-term health care management that primary care physicians provide. (Andrews, 11/16)
Stateline: The 'Doctor of Nursing Practice' is Ready to Attend to You
When Vernon Langford sees patients, he typically wears a white lab coat with his title — “Dr.” — and his credentials as a nurse practitioner stitched on the front. ... A Florida bill lawmakers considered this year would have barred Langford and others with similar credentials from using the “Dr.” title in clinical settings. The bill was amended to exclude nurse practitioners before it reached the desk of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who vetoed it without explanation. But Langford, who is president of the Florida Association of Nurse Practitioners, expects the legislation to reemerge. (Claire Vollers, 11/15)
CalMatters: Over 40 California Hospitals Shut Down Maternity Wards in the Past Decade. Is Yours Among Them?
Few regions in California have escaped the impact of maternity ward closures in the past decade. At least 46 hospitals have permanently closed or suspended labor and delivery since 2012, a CalMatters analysis of hospital records found. About 60% of the closures have taken place in just the last three years. (Hwang, Ibarra and Yee, 11/15)
Los Angeles Times: Mattel Faces Lawsuit from UCLA, Accused of Backtracking on $49 Million Children's Hospital Donation
Mattel, the company behind Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price and Barbie, pledged in 2017 to donate $49 million to UCLA to support its children’s hospital. But now the hospital says Mattel never came through with the money. According to a new lawsuit, the El Segundo toy company made “the inexplicable decision a few short years later to renege on that pledge” and is now trying to offer the pediatric hospital just a few million dollars, plus a bunch of Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels cars and other in-kind donations. (Dean, 11/14)
KFF Health News: Catholic Health System Utilizes Unconventional Approach in Implementing Abortion Protest Law
A Catholic hospital system is suing several California patients and their advocates because the patients allegedly refused to be discharged. The suits invoke a novel legal approach: accusing them of trespassing under a California law intended to stop anti-abortion protesters from blocking access to health facilities. Dignity Health has filed three lawsuits in Sacramento County accusing patients of “commercial blockade” for refusing to vacate hospital beds even though the health care provider had deemed them medically and legally eligible to either go home or go to another facility. Dignity alleges the patients “unreasonably and unlawfully” refused discharge, disrupting its ability to serve others at a time when health facilities were overwhelmed by covid-19. (Lin, 11/15)
Cost of New Minimum Wage Increase in Healthcare Expected to Reach Billions: More than half a million California health care workers are expected to see a pay increase in January thanks to a law raising the minimum wage for their industry. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law without a clear estimate about how much it would cost the state. Read more from CalMatters.
KFF Health News: The Challenge of Minimizing Unnecessary Medical Care
The U.S. spends huge amounts of money on health care that does little or nothing to help patients, and may even harm them. In Colorado, a new analysis shows that the number of tests and treatments conducted for which the risks and costs exceed the benefits has barely budged despite a decade-long attempt to tamp down on such care. The state — including the government, insurers, and patients themselves — spent $134 million last year on what is called low-value care, according to the report by the Center for Improving Value in Health Care, a Denver nonprofit that collects billing data from health plans across Colorado. The top low-value items in terms of spending in each of the past three years were prescriptions for opiates, prescriptions for multiple antipsychotics, and screenings for vitamin D deficiency, according to the analysis. (Hawryluk, 11/13)
The Washington Post: Federal Program Ineffective in Alleviating Overall Physician Shortages
A decades-old federal program that offers doctors incentives to practice in disadvantaged communities has had little effect on physician density or patient mortality, a recent analysis concludes. Publishing in the journal Health Affairs, researchers looked at data from the Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) program, zeroing in on physician density and mortality. Introduced in 1965, the HPSA program designates areas in need of more physicians and offers bonuses, loan repayment, visa waivers, higher reimbursements and other benefits to doctors who choose to practice and serve Medicare patients in specific communities. (Blakemore, 11/12)
KFF Health News and MTPR: Locating Long-Term Residential Behavioral Health Treatment for Children Becomes Increasingly Challenging
Connie MacDonald works for the State Department at the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It’s a dream job, and she loved living abroad with her two sons. But earlier this year, MacDonald said, her 8-year-old son started to become aggressive. At first the family thought it was ADHD. Her son was indeed eventually diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder — as well as disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, which makes it difficult for her son to control his emotions, particularly anger. (Bolton, 11/16)
CNN: CDC Report Reveals Highest Suicide Rates Among Elderly Men in the U.S., Primarily Involving Firearms
The suicide rate in the United States spiked in 2021, reversing two years of decline, and rates among older men were especially high, a new report says. There were about 30 suicide deaths for every 100,000 men ages 55 and older in 2021, according to a report published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – more than double the overall age-adjusted rate of about 14 suicide deaths for every 100,000 people that year. Men 85 and older were the most at risk, with nearly 56 suicide deaths for every 100,000 people in that group, higher than any other age group. (McPhillips, 11/15)
Axios: The Pandemic Shifted the Age Range of Eating Disorders Toward Younger Individuals
The demographics of eating disorders are shifting younger, now most commonly affecting teens between 14 and 18 years old, according to a new analysis. The data, based on a FAIR Health repository of 43 billion private health insurance claims, sheds new light on an uptick in eating disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among teens. (Reed, 11/15)
States Take Action in Addressing the Crisis in Youth Behavioral Health
As the nation’s largest health insurer for children and adolescents, Medicaid has a critical role to play in ensuring young people get the care they need. On To the Point, Manatt Health’s Jocelyn Guyer and colleagues review what is and isn’t working for young people living with complex behavioral health conditions. Some of the most effective strategies, they say, center on establishing a foundation of stable coverage and benefits; taking advantage of federal options to reach young people involved child welfare and the juvenile justice; and promoting mental health screening through Medicaid.
NBC News: Common Pesticides Linked to a Worldwide Drop in Sperm Concentrations
A prolonged decline in male fertility in the form of sperm concentrations appears to be connected to the use of pesticides, according to a study published Wednesday. “No matter how we looked at the analysis and results, we saw a persistent association between increasing levels of insecticide and decreases in sperm concentration,” said study author Melissa Perry, who is an environmental epidemiologist and the dean of the College of Public Health at George Mason University. (Bush, 11/15
The New York Times: Men Experience an 'Unsettling' Decline in Life Expectancy
The gap in life expectancy between men and women in the United States grew to its widest in nearly 30 years, driven mainly by more men dying of Covid and drug overdoses, according to a new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association. In 2021, women had a life expectancy of 79.3 years, compared with 73.5 years for men, the study found. (Ghorayshi, 11/13)
Stat: Men's Life Expectancy in the U.S. Drops to 73 Years, Six Years Below That of Women
The life expectancy of men in the U.S. is nearly six years shorter than that of women, according to new research published on Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. At least partially as a consequence of over 1 million Covid-19 deaths, life expectancy in the U.S. has declined significantly over the past few years, falling from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77 in 2020 and 76.1 in 2022 — undoing over two decades of progress. This puts the country far behind its wealthy peers: Countries such as Japan, Korea, Portugal, the U.K., and Italy all enjoy a life expectancy of 80 years or more. Countries such as Turkey (78.6) and China (78.2) also fare better. (Merelli, 11/13)
Fresno Bee: New Education Law Mandates Recess for California Students
California students will soon have a mandatory 30-minute recess, thanks to a new state law. Senate Bill 291 was introduced by California state Sen. Josh Newman, chair of the Senate Committee on Education, in February. (Pinedo, 11/14)
Los Angeles Daily News: CSUN Serves as a Center for WIC, 'Women, Infants and Children,' with a Mission to Preserve Lives
Supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, WIC has for nearly 50 years aimed to reduce disparities that impact the health of women and their children. (Love, 11/13)
Los Angeles Daily News: LA County's Newly Established Office of Food Equity Targets Increasing Hunger and Food Insecurity Rates
During the pandemic, Los Angeles County and its nonprofit partners supplied food and meals to an expanding number of residents who couldn’t afford groceries, often went without food or were anxious about how they’d feed their families. (Scauzillo, 11/11)
CNN: Looming Controversy Surrounds WIC Benefits for Pregnant Women and Young Children
Without a little aid from the federal government, Whitley Hasty would have a tougher time buying the fresh broccoli her toddler son loves to eat with ranch dressing. Hasty receives WIC, the food assistance program for low-income women, infants and young children. It has helped her purchase milk, cheese, juice, eggs, fruits, vegetables and other staples for 3-year-old Leni – a benefit that has been even more vital in recent years as the price of groceries and other necessities has soared. (Luhby, 11/12)
AP: Advocates Say Biden Administration Delays Action as Millions Lose Medicaid Coverage
Up to 30 million of the poorest Americans could be purged from the Medicaid program, many the result of error-ridden state reviews that poverty experts say the Biden administration is not doing enough to stop. The projections from the health consulting firm Avalere come as states undertake a sweeping re-evaluation of the 94 million people enrolled in Medicaid, government’s health insurance for the neediest Americans. A host of problems have surfaced across the country, including hours-long phone wait times in Florida, confusing government forms in Arkansas, and children wrongly dropped from coverage in Texas. (Seitz and Hunter, 11/14)