Rates of Elevated LDL-C Have Decreased, but Awareness, Treatment Still Suboptimal
November 6th 2023The prevalence of severely elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) has declined in recent decades, but 1 in 17 US adults in a recent analysis had levels of LDL-C that would warrant consideration of pharmacotherapy, and 1 in 48 had high levels of LDL-C that are indicated for medication.
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Contributor: How Patients and Caregivers Can Be a Catalyst for Rare Disease Innovation
November 5th 2023Patient input and experiences play a crucial role in advancing rare disease research and therapy development, as they help define the disease, inform clinical trial design, and influence regulators and payers' decisions, ultimately serving as catalysts for innovation in the field.
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Multiple Barriers Impact Kidney Care Disparities in LGBTQ+ Individuals
November 5th 2023Presenters at American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week 2023 highlighted the importance of understanding the barriers faced by the LGBTQ+ community that impact kidney outcomes and the need to gather better data for studying these issues.
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Wide Variation Seen in County-Level Breast Cancer Mortality Linked to SDOH
November 4th 2023Data from 2176 US counties link obesity and higher breast cancer mortality, while also showing varying degrees of association between mortality and access to healthy lifestyle options per social determinants of health (SDOH).
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EOM Shows Awareness of Issues, but Provides No Resources, Says COA’s Nicolas Ferreyros
November 4th 2023The Enhancing Oncology Model is trying to address a number of the systemic challenges oncology faces without giving practices the tools and resources they need, said Nicolas Ferreyros, managing director of policy, advocacy, and communications, Community Oncology Alliance.
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SDOH Lead to Greater Suboptimal Treatment Response in Myasthenia Gravis
November 3rd 2023A retrospective study presented at the 2023 American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnotsic Medicine meeting revealed that social determinants of health (SDOH) are linked to poorer treatment outcomes in patients who have myasthenia gravis, emphasizing the need for identifying and supporting at-risk individuals.
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Addressing Racial Disparities in Health Care Expenditures: The Impact of Racial and Economic Equity
November 3rd 2023“Our findings further reinforce that place is important and that the social, economic, and health care equity context is key to minimizing health care expenditure disparities for Black adults in the US," investigators explain.
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Many sleep experts want to permanently stay in the standard time zone; Medicare will cover mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists beginning in January; a new Minnesota law requires hospitals to check if patients are eligible for financial assistance before referring medical debt for collections.
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The American Cancer Society expanded eligibility for lung cancer screening; experts advised patients to do their research before choosing a plan from the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces; Republican-led states partnering with rideshare companies for medical appointment rides.
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Private Maternal Insurance Coverage Associated With Lower Infant Mortality vs Medicaid
October 31st 2023Insurance status is known to be associated with health care access and outcomes, and a recent study found that maternal private insurance is associated with a lower infant mortality rate compared with public Medicaid insurance in the United States.
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SPHERE Registry Data Highlight Racial, Ethnic Disparities in PAH Treatment, Outcomes
October 31st 2023Data from the SPHERE registry revealed racial and ethnic discrepancies in disease severity, comorbidities, and outcomes experienced by patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) receiving selexipag.
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Most US Adults With Hepatitis C Unaware of Infection, Study Finds
October 30th 2023Patients being unaware of their hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is preventing the World Health Organization (WHO) from accomplishing its goal of eliminating HCV and hepatitis B virus as public threats by 2030.
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Updates in Federal Legislation Addressing Digital Therapeutics, Access to Care
October 28th 2023Although all legislation is currently on hold in Congress, there are important actions under consideration for pharmacy, including digital therapeutics, access to care, and health care disparities.
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The number of suicides among US military members and their families slightly decreased in 2022; Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation that would require employers to provide paid time off following a pregnancy loss; Pfizer and BioNTech’s flu–COVID-19 vaccine generated a strong immune response against strains of the viruses in an early- to mid-stage trial.
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The Biden administration requested $1.55 billion from Congress to help address the nationwide fentanyl crisis; the US Department of Agriculture reported that millions more Americans were food insecure in 2022; the Biden administration released an updated cybersecurity toolkit to help defend the US health care infrastructure against hackers.
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Black Patients Underrepresented in Pivotal Inflammatory Arthritis Clinical Trials
October 26th 2023While Black people are consistently underrepresented, White people are consistently overrepresented in inflammatory arthritis trials for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, spondyloarthritis, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
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Senators advocate for TRICARE to stock and cover the OTC birth control pill; double the amount of health care workers experienced workplace harassment in 2022 compared with 2018; a survey found that young adults in the United States experienced depression and anxiety twice as often as teenagers.
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Darker Skin Means Different Presentations of Skin Diseases, Explains Dr James Song
October 23rd 2023Recognizing that skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, and hidradenitis suppurativa present differently in skin of color can prevent delays in diagnosis and treatment, explained James Song, MD, director of clinical research and associate chief medical officer at Frontier Dermatology.
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Confronting History and Health Inequities Together
October 20th 2023“There are things more important than our discomfort, and there are things that are more important than even our fear—inclusion is more important,” said Erica Marsh, MD, MSCI. “Our care of our patients and loved ones is more important, and our existence tomorrow has to be more important than our fears today.”
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Three US senators asked the Social Security Administration to respond to a report saying it reduced or suspended benefits for those who received COVID-19 relief payments; mifepristone, a drug taken to help manage miscarriages, remains widely unavailable to patients experiencing pregnancy loss; pharmaceutical companies are beginning trials to get weight-loss shots approved for patients with obesity 6 years and older.
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Cultural Humility, Pioneering Leadership Are Key to Address Health Disparities
October 19th 2023Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, FACOG, a distinguished infertility specialist, highlights the pivotal role of cultural humility, diversity, acknowledgment of historical injustices, and collective action in addressing disparities and fostering equitable access to health care.
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Beyond Roe: Abortion Rights, Equity, and the Path Forward
October 18th 2023In the aftermath of the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, Anita Allen, PhD, highlights the challenges to abortion rights in the United States, emphasizing disparities faced by marginalized communities, outlining threats to reproductive health care, and calling for collective action and advocacy to defend constitutional privacy and uphold the dignity of all individuals.
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