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good morning. Today we have a very interesting story from STAT’s Jason Mast. Pour your coffee and scroll down.
Racial disparities remain in PMOS
Endometriosis, polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, and uterine fibroids are common but painful gynecological conditions that often go undiagnosed, especially in women of color. New data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics underscores this. Among women between the ages of 20 and 49, 6.2% were diagnosed with endometriosis, 8.7% with PMOS, and 7.8% with uterine fibroids. (All three numbers are lower than what experts estimate the prevalence is.) The data, based on a 2022-2023 survey of about 5,000 women, also showed that PMOS diagnoses were lowest among black women (4.4%).
Federal reports previously referred to the disease as PCOS, but it was updated to PMOS in May. Experts and advocates hope the new name will help raise new awareness of the disease among Black and Latina women, who are more likely to suffer from more severe symptoms and experience delayed diagnosis, barriers to treatment, and lower insurance coverage. STAT contributor Anissa Durham writes about these challenges in a new article published today. read more.
Anthony Fauci’s diary
Last weekend, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) released a series of pandemic-era diary entries by former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, who is scheduled to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee tomorrow morning. Paul wants to pressure Fauci over what he believes is a “cover-up” about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. (In his memoir, Fauci reflected on how he would have acted differently regarding the virus if given another chance.)
“This is all a huge waste of time for the far right to try to link the coronavirus pandemic to NIAID-supported research (sic) as a side award to the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Fauci wrote in his diary on July 14, 2021, after finishing preparations for a Senate Health Committee hearing. It seems reasonable to assume that he is thinking the same way about tomorrow’s hearing.
In early 2021, he lamented that right-wing writers and commentators “spend so much time trying to make me the world’s worst villain and discredit me.” X’s post criticizing Fauci for personally documenting his experience with fame seems to support this view.
Why experts are concerned about an HIV resurgence
International funding to fight HIV suffered a “severe shock” last year, according to a new report from UNAIDS, the United Nations’ initiative to fight the virus. Spending by donor governments to low- and middle-income countries fell by 25% from 2024 to 2025, according to the report. Overall funding for the HIV response fell by 18% to $6.2 billion.
“We are very concerned,” said UNAIDS’ Angeli Aschrekar. “Progress so far has stalled.” As STAT’s Ed Silverman reports, much of the blame is directed at the United States. A separate KFF report, also released yesterday, details the sharp decline in U.S. funding last year. Read more about what you can learn from numbers.
How a disease went from a “lost cause” to a gold rush
It is estimated that more than 200,000 people in North America and Europe have alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a rare liver disease that may have been spread by the Viking conquest. A single genetic spelling error (an “A” where there should be a “G”) causes the liver to produce a mutated version of a protein that normally works to protect the lungs, putting both organs at risk.
Most people have never heard of this disease, but over the past five years, executives at more than a half-dozen biotech companies have realized that the condition is perfect for new technologies that can alter individual letters in DNA or RNA. It also means that companies stand to make a lot of money if they can bring their treatments to market. STAT’s Jason Mast reported on a contentious competition between companies marked by patent wars, broken partnerships, and, of course, growing anxiety over the rise of Chinese biotech. read more.
New data on substance use in America
Yesterday, SAMHSA released the results of the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Below are some highlights.
- More than half (56%) of people aged 12 and older used tobacco, nicotine, alcohol, or illicit drugs in the past month. Most of those people were drinking alcohol.
- Among current drinkers, 44% had binge-drinked over the course of the year. 19.5% of people reported binge eating in the past month, down from about 22% in 2021.
- The proportion of people who used nicotine products remained largely unchanged from 2022, the earliest year for comparison. However, among nicotine products, the proportion of people who smoked cigarettes decreased across age groups, while the proportion of people who smoked e-cigarettes mainly increased.
- Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, used by 21% of people in 2025. In comparison, only 3% used psychedelics and 2% misused prescription opioids. The study found no change in the number of people intentionally using illicit fentanyl at 0.3%.
- Last year, 44 million people had a substance use disorder. Among adults aged 18 and older, 54.6 million (almost 21%) had some form of mental illness.
There’s more data. You can check out the institute’s highlights here.
AAIC: Brain as Infrastructure, Brain as Business
This summer, neurologist and STAT contributor Jason Karawish attended the Alzheimer’s Association’s annual international conference for the first time in nine years. In his latest column, he writes that the way we think about brain aging has changed significantly since his last visit to London.
Until recently, he writes, “the aging brain was a mysterious and largely incomprehensible organ.” “AAIC2026 showed how suddenly and now this is changing.” Organs are like buildings and public transportation. But perhaps most importantly, there is finally a business model to help maintain and improve brain health. Read more about Mr. Karlawish’s experience and the situation on the ground.
what we are reading
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Problematic patterns emerge when using spit hoods on children, Seattle Times
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RI fugitive who spent decades on the run appears in court for the first time since being captured on sailboat Boston Globe
- Scary stories from the summer camp infirmary, The Cut
- Trump administration requires hospitals to share emergency room records, KFF Health News
