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What We’re Reading: Drugs Touted to Fight Childhood Obesity; NYC Nurses Strike; XBB.1.15 Variant Deemed “Most Transmissible”
Pediatricians push for early action against childhood obesity, including prescription weight-loss medications and bariatric surgery; 7000 nurses go on strike in New York City; a new SARS-CoV-2 variant is more contagious but not necessarily more dangerous.
Weight-Loss Drugs for Children Prescribed As Initial Treatment
Pediatric health experts are pushing for the use of weight-loss drugs in children as part of an early, aggressive attempt to treat childhood obesity, reported The Wall Street Journal. New guidelines specify that children aged 12 years or older receive treatment options including medication and lifestyle and behavioral counseling, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Children who are 13 years or older with extreme obesity should be referred to a surgeon to determine eligibility for bariatric surgery. Childhood obesity has increased in the United States to affect a fifth of the child population.
Nurses Strike at 2 New York City Hospitals
Over 7000 nurses from Mount Sinai Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center in New York City have gone on strike, reported The New York Times, protesting working conditions, pay raises, and staffing policies. The strike caused hospitals to quickly implement temporary staff and even went so far as to ask doctors to fill in for nurses. The strike follows a Sunday night attempted negotiation that ended early Monday morning. Mount Sinai transported delicate patients, such as infants in neonatal intensive care units, to other hospitals and assisted patients fighting cancer in finding other health care locations. Montefiore required nurses planning to strike to complete shifts and “not abandon patients.”
Latest COVID-19 Variant, XBB.1.5, Reportedly Most Transmissible Yet
The Washington Post reported that a combination of mutations present in the new SARS-CoV-2 variant, XBB.1.5, allows it to reach a wider range of people, including people who have already been infected or vaccinated. The World Health Organization calls it “the most transmissible” thus far of the omicron variant. Out of all COVID-19 cases in the Northeast, over 70% are thought to be attributed to XBB1.5. The daily number of hospitalized patients has increased by about 20,000 since Thanksgiving. Experts report that that while it is dominating infection rates currently, COVID-19 symptoms may not necessarily be worse, but booster vaccination is still strongly encouraged.
Refining Precision Prevention for Benign Breast Disease
December 7th 2023Many questions remain surrounding accurately classifying the risk of developing invasive breast cancer associated with the benign breast disease diagnoses of nonproliferative lesions and proliferative changes without atypia.
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Oncology Onward: A Conversation With Thyme Care CEO and Cofounder Robin Shah
October 2nd 2023Robin Shah, CEO of Thyme Care, which he founded in 2020 with Bobby Green, MD, president and chief medical officer, joins hosts Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, and Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, to discuss his evolution as an entrepreneur in oncology care innovation and his goal of positively changing how patients experience the cancer system.
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Prediction Model Identified Risk Factors for ED Visits in Patients With Lung Cancer
December 7th 2023A risk prediction model that was based on machine learning could help to make resource utilization more efficient by correctly predicting emergency department (ED) visits in patients with lung cancer.
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Insufficient Data, Disparities Plague Lung Cancer Risk Factor Documentation
September 24th 2023On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the senior author of a study published in the September 2023 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® on the importance of adequate and effective lung cancer risk factor documentation to determine a patient's eligibility for screening.
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ASH 2023 to Highlight Options in Care for Blood Diseases—for Those Who Have Access
December 7th 2023The 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, which runs Friday through Tuesday in the San Diego Convention Center, will showcase the growing number of treatment choices in blood cancers and disorders.
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