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good morning. The season finale of “First Opinion Podcast” airs today. Sarah Mpo, STAT’s director of editorial operations and head of style guide, also joined Tory Bosch to discuss the decision to keep the two words “healthcare.” Please listen.
US infant mortality rate will decline in 2025
Infant mortality rates hit record lows last year, according to preliminary data from the CDC. It seems small. The number of infant deaths per 1,000 people in 2022 and 2023 was slightly lower than 5.6, 5.5 in 2024, and 5.4 in 2025. Still, experts say the results are statistically significant and would reduce the number of deaths by hundreds per year. Read more from AP.
Trump administration plans to provide special edition to HHS
As part of the Trump administration’s continued efforts to shut down the Department of Education, special education oversight will now fall under the purview of HHS, officials announced yesterday.
Project 2025, the administration’s policy blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation, called for abolishing the Department of Education and for HHS to assume responsibility for administering grants related to disability education.
People with disabilities anticipated this decision with fear, as it placed responsibility for administering disability education in the hands of Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He has called autism an “epidemic” and has historically made false connections between autism and vaccines.
FDA approves another OTC nasal naloxone
The FDA yesterday approved Rextovy, a 4-milligram naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray for use in emergency overdose cases. The move, touted by the agency as part of the president’s Great American Recovery Initiative, comes nearly three years after the FDA first approved over-the-counter versions of nasal naloxone.
An FDA press release states that increasing over-the-counter options “will expand access and market availability, foster competition that reduces costs, and provide alternative sourcing options.” But as STAT’s Lev Fascher reported in 2023, over-the-counter status doesn’t automatically mean easier access. Research shows that in the first year of such availability, over-the-counter sales were limited.
“I have never been so concerned about the incidence of congenital syphilis.”
Jeffrey Klausner, an infectious disease doctor and former public health official, wrote about his concerns in a new first opinion essay. He explains how we got here, starting with the Great Recession and the defunding of local public health programs. He also recommends a way forward: increasing commitment to already proven methods.
Read more from Klausner. If you missed it, read Eric Budman’s story again on Monday. This article serves as a case study that even emergency measures to protect babies from congenital syphilis can fail.
Does alcohol cause pancreatic cancer?
The more you drink, the higher your risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a review of 37 cohort studies published yesterday in the International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research. When a person consumes more than 24 grams of alcohol per day, there is a tipping point where the risk increases significantly. This is less than 2 cups by US standards.
“This analysis contributes significantly to the growing body of evidence pointing to alcohol consumption as a cause of pancreatic cancer,” Tim Naimi, one of the study’s authors, said in a press release. (Read more about STAT’s alcohol series “The Deadliest Drug.”)
what we are reading
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More sanitation workers are being stabbed with used needles
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Dutch children are unusually happy and healthy. Is it because of this walking ritual? guardian
- Prominent VC explains why he opposes restrictions on US investment in China’s pharmaceutical industry, STAT
- Colorado Sun: Doctors at children’s hospital refuse to provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth due to fear of criminal charges
- Opinion: The quiet joys of being a medical oncologist, STAT
