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good morning. Here are some recent hot opinions for the townspeople around Boston. McDonald’s coffee may be better than Dunk. (Quick follow-up: Much better than Starbucks.)
HHS cancels autism conference amid fierce battle
The Federal Advisory Committee on Autism (known as the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, not to be confused with a new independent group with a similar name) will not convene later this month as originally scheduled. The news was first reported over the weekend and confirmed by HHS in an online post yesterday.
The cancellation comes days after an independent commission announced it would be formed and meet on the same day as the federal group. The new version was established in response to Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s move to add members to federal committees who share his debunked views on autism and vaccines. Read more from STAT’s O. Rose Broderick.
Suicidality as a predictor of drug response in epilepsy
Psychiatric disorders are common in patients with epilepsy. But a new study published yesterday in JAMA Neurology pinpoints suicidal ideation and attempts as unique predictors of a person’s response to antiepileptic drugs. Among approximately 350 participants in the Human Epilepsy Project, experiencing suicidal ideation, with or without a mood or anxiety disorder, significantly increased the risk of developing resistance to antiepileptic drugs.
Patients were screened for psychiatric disorders and suicidality upon entering the program within a few months of receiving a diagnosis of epilepsy. People without psychiatric problems had about a 16% chance of developing treatment resistance over six years of follow-up data. They found that risk increased to nearly 33% for people with anxiety disorders. Additionally, the risk jumped to 47% for those who experienced suicidal tendencies without a diagnosed disorder.
This study included a small number of participants and further research is needed. Still, the authors believe the results could be “a marker of more severe neuropathology.”
$835 million
That’s the amount behavioral health provider Universal Health Services paid to acquire virtual mental health company Talkspace, according to an announcement yesterday. Talkspace has shown consistent growth and stability in the digital health space, which has been plagued by ups and downs since the coronavirus pandemic. STAT’s Mario Aguilar has the details of the deal.
Long-awaited fixes to the kidney transplant system
Until recently, the main clinical algorithm used to measure renal function included inflation in all black patients. “It was a really heated battle to gain the authority to achieve a race-neutral equation,” said Vanessa Grubbs, a nephrologist who spent more than a decade pushing for this change. In 2022, this equation will be phased out, necessitating a program to fix the existing number of Black patients already on kidney transplant waiting lists.
According to a new study, these changes had a noticeable impact. Among black patients, the policy change resulted in an increase of 5.3 kidney transplants per 1,000 candidates. “Our study really shows at a national scale what the tangible and quantifiable impact of redress policies on the harms of race-based equations is,” study author Rohan Kazanchi told STAT’s Anil Oza. Read more about the impact of the changes and what more you can do.
deification of medicine
For physician Vishal Khetopal, the legal battle between Hims & Hers and Novo Nordisk (which was settled yesterday, by the way) is just one symptom of something bigger going on in American health care. He calls it the “hymusification” of medicine.
“The essence of Himcification is to reimagine patients as alpha-seeking consumers, competing to purchase products and practices that feel ambitious and cutting-edge,” Khetopal writes in a new First Opinion essay. “A world in which patients come to the office with desired diagnoses rather than symptoms, and shopping carts rather than concerns.” Read Ketopal’s latest column to learn how this reality differs from the traditional medical model.
“Whatever I had to do, I did it by myself, alone.”
This is part of the testimony of someone who had to travel three days to get an abortion in 2023. In a qualitative study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open, researchers spoke to 33 people at an Illinois clinic who came from outside the state to get an abortion. The speaker, who is from a state where abortion is partially banned, lamented not having enough money to take a loved one with her. It was her first time traveling with her baby for surgery.
“I can’t say anything here. I feel like I’m going to hell,” said another patient from a state where abortion is completely banned. People repeatedly expressed fear of talking to others about abortion, difficulty finding information online, and that these and other financial barriers significantly delayed access to care.
what we are reading
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The surprising way breast cancer tests reveal heart disease, The Washington Post
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The fascinating mess of the LooksMax movement, New Yorkers
- Big pharmaceutical companies are developing fewer antibiotics, analysis finds, STAT
- Human Egg Seller, NPR
