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New research presented at the 2018 American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals Annual Meeting, in Chicago, Illinois, reported on progress over the past 20 years in the care of pregnant women with systemic lupus erythepatosus (SLE) that has led to a decline in maternal mortality and intrauterine fetal death among patients with SLE.

Here are 5 interesting findings from the October 2018 issue of AJMC®.

Over the past several decades, the number of patients who survive head and neck cancer (HNC) has increased; among the more than 15 million cancer survivors in the United States, approximately 430,000 (3%) are survivors of HNC. These survivors may face persistent and late effects of their diagnosis and treatment that increase psychological morbidity, including suicidal ideation.

Here are the top 5 articles for the month of October.

The analysis comes amid a debate set off when CVS Caremark announced that it would allow self-funded insurers to exclude drugs that entered the market above $100,000 per quality-adjusted life year.

Enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans is unlikely to increase in 2019; the outgoing Republican governor of Idaho has announced his support for expanding Medicaid; a new state audit has found that California spent $4 billion on people who were ineligible for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.

Oregon has approved new policies to continue the transformation of its Medicaid program with a focus on behavioral health, value, and social determinants of health in the state's coordinated care organizations.

Among women with HIV, there is an increased risk of neutropenia during chemoradiotherapy treatment for cervical cancer and they are less likely to complete chemotherapy with cisplatin.

A new report on the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) shows that there is wide variability across and within states, with West Virginia carrying the highest burden of morbidity and mortality.

Building on positive 48-week data, Janssen released 96-week data demonstrating high rates of virogolic suppression and tolerability among antiretroviral therapy-naïve adults with HIV-1.

As with other kinds of surgery, patients undergoing operations for breast cancer can experience persistent postsurgical pain, which can negatively affect quality of life. Researchers in Tokyo conducted a study to see if they could determine the predictive value and accuracy of an acute pain trajectory, measured by pain intensity at 1 day after the surgery and pain prevalence at 6 months later.

A recent study from Taiwan found that having cataracts was independently associated with increased risks of osteoporosis and fracture, and there also might be an association between cataract surgery and lower risks of osteoporosis and fracture.

The National Institutes of Health is suspending human testing of an experimental, taxpayer-funded, stem cell trial for heart failure in light of emerging questions about the scientific foundation for the treatment; Republicans are working to shift the national healthcare conversation by telling seniors their Medicare coverage may be in danger; the drive to tighten immigration rules is stirring concerns in the medical profession about how it will affect the future supply of doctors in the United States.

In the last decade, testing for and treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) had undergone substantial changes with new testing that can personalize therapy and new agents that provide more clinical benefit.

There are 2 policy forces at work that will likely have the most impact on sign-ups for health insurance available on the individual marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to a Health Affairs blog post.

Lalan Wilfong, MD, moderated a conversation between Robert E. Baird, MD, CEO of Dayton Physicians Network, and Sarah Cevallos, chief revenue cycle officer for Florida Cancer Specialists and Research Institute, about current and future strategies for Oncology Care Model (OCM) participation, as well as key lessons from the OCM and how they can be applied in other reform models.

A new study suggests that patients undergoing thyroid and parathyroid surgery need little opioid treatment postoperatively if they receive preoperative patient education.

Guidelines indicate that high-risk patients with polycythemia vera (PV) should be treated with phlebotomy and cytoreductive therapy—such as hydroxyurea or interferon-alfa—to reduce the risk of thrombosis, the major cause of death among patients with PV. To assess the effectiveness of these treatment modalities among older US adults with PV, the authors of a newly published paper evaluated a large cohort of patients with PV in the real-world setting.

A small biotech company is moving toward FDA approval with a pill it believes can lower bad cholesterol at a discount to other medicines; most of the nation’s hospitals have so far avoided offering any form of addiction medicine to patients in the emergency department, but in Maryland, that is starting to change; since 2010, nearly 90 rural hospitals have shut their doors, and there are consequences for residents and different reasons why this is happening.

Cardiovascular outcomes trials have changed type 2 diabetes drug development and added to the knowledge base, but some think these giant studies make therapies too costly and discourage innovation.

Researchers reviewed the most updated concepts of the pulmonary vascular changes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and concluded that certain subgroups of COPD patients with pulmonary vascular phenotypes may profit from targeted pulmonary arterial hypertension therapy.

Researchers looked to evaluate predictors of mortality in patients with COPD after 9 years.

A study published in JAMA Opthalmology has confirmed that PD-1 inhibitors, and nivolumab in particular, are effective in the treatment of metastatic conjunctival melanoma.

The field of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) has witnessed a slow and steady progress over the past few years. Here are a few recent developments with utilizing and measuring PROs.

Acupuncture represents a nonopioid alternative for treatment pain, but many institutions, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, are resistant to using the treatment.

Patients with insomnia had an increased risk of migraine and nonmigraine headache compared to those without insomnia.

Following more than 1000 people living with HIV who were recently incarcerated, researchers observed that retention in care diminished significantly over time, but it was associated with HIV care during incarceration, health insurance, case management services, and early linkage to care post release.

Electronic cigarettes can cause detrimental effects to human health and should be reconsidered as a smoking cessation tool, based on results from a recent study.