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A new study suggests patients whose systolic blood pressure varies significantly over time might be at greater risk of higher multiple sclerosis disability.

Of the women in the 2017 study over age 75, 63% had a mammogram.

A man in his 50s in Washington state with underlying health conditions became the first fatality from the coronavirus in the United States, and a healthcare worker and a resident from a nursing home in the state are hospitalized, the CDC said Saturday. It is the first reported case in a healthcare worker, the CDC said.

The implementation of integrated care conferences, a daily meeting for providers to share information, can significantly reduce the length of hospital stays in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by up to 67%, according to study findings.

Barriers to better treatment start with the basic definitions of heart failure. Classifications in use for decades, such as the New York Heart Association system or the left ventricle ejection fraction measure, need an overhaul, and the field should take a precision medicine approach that brings analytics and biomarkers to the cause.

In individuals with mild to moderate Parkinson disease, Tai Chi was shown to be a potentially effective meditation technique that may slow down disease progression, according to study findings.

The Rare Genomics Institute, a nonprofit patient advocacy group, announced it will launch its new RareWear program, marking 2020’s International Rare Disease Day. The program works with patients who have rare diseases to connect them with medical device providers specializing in technology for monitoring and managing conditions. Once matched, patients will receive a device for free from medical device technology providers Bodimetrics, Biotricity, or Strados Labs.

The most popular stories of the week on AJMC®.

Screening mammography is important for reducing race- and ethnicity-associated triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) disparities among African American and white American patients. At present, there is a 40% higher mortality rate among African American women compared with white American women.

Researchers recently examined 18 diseases represented by outpatient visits to a hospital in Taiwan to determine patterns of the effect of air pollution on different organs and found evidence that concurrent occurrences of diseases show that the immune system tries to create protective defenses.

This week, top managed care stories included the United States grappling with coronavirus; oncologists warning that a new payment model represents a major shift; findings that Medicaid expansion did not always result in community investment.

Coverage of our peer-reviewed research and news reporting in the healthcare and mainstream press.

Rates of opioid poisoning in children point to a greater need for mental health services among this age group to prevent suicide; lung cancer screening rates fall below recommended levels for at-risk patient groups; not all deaths from opioid-related causes are reported as such.

Sleep duration among adolescents aged 9 to 11 was shown to influence elements of mental health, including depression, anxiety, impulsive behavior, and cognitive performance, according to study findings.

Updated results from the EASEL study show that lower risks of cardiovascular (CV) events, CV death, and CV mortality accompany initiation of canagliflozin, a sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and high CV risk compared with use of other drugs.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) released its final evidence report on acute treatments of migraine on February 25. The Institute’s last report on migraine treatment was released in 2018.

Express Scripts’ insulin coverage decisions are questioned; the United States may have its first coronavirus case of unknown origin; obesity rates are on the rise among US adults.

For patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation, higher diversity of intestinal microbiota at the time of neutrophil engraftment was linked with lower mortality, according to study findings published today.

Researchers determined 2 aspects of Epstein-Barrvirus, levels of anti–Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen-1 antibodies and history of infectious mononucleosis, act together and independently to increase risk of multiple sclerosis, according to a study published in Frontiers in Neurology.

In nonprofit hospitals within states that expanded Medicaid, significant decreases in uncompensated care was reported, with additional increases in unreimbursed Medicaid expenses indicating that Medicaid expansion had no substantial effect on community benefit spending.

While there are similarities to the Oncology Care Model, the new model has features “that could have a substantial impact on practices that choose to participate,” the authors write.

A nonprofit in Philadelphia can open a safe injection site for intravenous drug users; clinical trial sponsors could be deemed noncompliant for not posting their data; Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals agrees to pay $1.6 billion in ongoing opioid crisis lawsuit.

It’s not a question of if coronavirus becomes a worldwide pandemic, but when, the CDC said Tuesday.

In a preliminary study to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 72nd Annual Meeting, researchers found that patients with Parkinson disease who participated in a table tennis exercise program once a week for 6 months exhibited an improvement in their motor skills.

Health-related quality of life (QOL) improved in 54% of patients 18 years or older with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (R/R DLBCL) after therapy with tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah; Novartis), one of 2 FDA-approved chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. The patients’ general health, vitality, physical function, and social function improved the most.

Abbott recently announced a partnership with Insulet Corporation to integrate its glucose-sensing technology with an automated insulin delivery system for patients with diabetes. Specifically, Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre system will become compatible with Insulet’s Omnipod Horizon, in an effort to “offer personalized automated insulin delivery and care for people living with diabetes.”

Out-of-network primary care may be associated with higher per-beneficiary spending in Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs), reported a recent study published in Health Affairs.

Drugmaker Moderna Inc. sent out its first batch of a experimental coronavirus vaccine to be tested in humans; eptinezumab, sold as Vyepti and developed by Lundbeck, was approved by the FDA as a migraine prevention therapy; a US appeals court upheld a Trump administration rule on abortion referrals.