Video Laryngoscopy Wins for Tracheal Intubation on the First Try
Use of video rather than direct laryngoscope led to better rates of successful tracheal intubation on the first attempt for critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) or emergency department, the randomized DEVICE trial found. In the unblinded multicenter study, which was stopped early for efficacy at an interim analysis, the rate of […]
Childhood Cancer Survivors Have Increased Rates of Late, Major Surgeries
Childhood cancer survivors have increased rates of undergoing late, major surgical procedures 5 or more years after diagnosis, according to data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. Among more than 25,000 survivors diagnosed with cancer from 1970 to 1999 when they were under age 21, the likelihood of having subsequent major surgery was 80% higher […]
Medicaid Expansion Seen Lifting Colon Cancer Screening for Low-Income People
CHICAGO — Colorectal cancer screening rates at so-called Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in 2021 were higher in states that had accepted funding from the federal government to expand access to Medicaid compared with those that had not, a researcher said here. But the data also suggested that Medicaid expansion didn’t eliminate all financial barriers […]
CDC: Fentanyl Overdose Deaths Increased 279% Over Recent Years
Drug overdose death rates involving fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine increased from 2016 through 2021, CDC researchers said. The age-adjusted overdose death rate involving fentanyl rose by 279%, from 5.7 per 100,000 standard population in 2016 to 21.6 per 100,000 in 2021, reported Merianne Rose Spencer, MPH, an epidemiologist in the Division of Analysis and Epidemiology […]
CDC: ‘Alarming’ Rise in Violence, Hopelessness Among Teen Girls
The CDC is reporting alarming increases in the rates of sadness, hopelessness, violence, and suicidal ideation among teen girls. Nearly three in five (57%) said they felt “persistently sad or hopeless” in 2021, a rate that doubled boys and represented a large jump from the 36% reporting that in 2011, according to findings from the […]
Higher Rates of Staph Infection for Hispanics on Dialysis, CDC Says
Hispanic dialysis patients have significantly higher rates of Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections compared with white dialysis patients, according to a CDC study. In 2020, rates of S. aureus bloodstream infections in hemodialysis patients were 40% higher among Hispanic patients versus non-Hispanic whites (adjusted rate ratio [aRR] 1.4, 95% CI 1.2-1.7, P<0.001), reported Shannon Novosad, MD, […]
More Antipsychotics Given for Dementia During Pandemic
Antipsychotic drug prescribing rates among people with dementia increased markedly during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a multinational database study showed. Notably, those rates did not return to prepandemic levels after the acute phase of the pandemic had ended, Kenneth K.C. Man, PhD, of University College London School of Pharmacy, and colleagues reported […]
Lung Cancer Declining in People With HIV, but Still High
Lung cancer rates declined for people living with HIV but remained higher than the general population and, in older individuals, even higher than other cancers normally considered to be associated with HIV/AIDS, a population-based registry linkage study showed. The overall outlook for lung cancer improved for HIV-positive people during the study period from 2001-2016, decreasing […]
Suicide Rose in 2021 After Curious Decline in 2020
Suicide rates inched up slightly from 2020 to 2021, driven primarily by a higher rate of male suicides, according to provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. The 4% increase reflected 45,979 deaths by suicide in 2020 compared with 47,646 in 2021, for age-adjusted rates of 13.5 and 14.0 per 100,000, respectively, […]
Battery-Related ED Visits in Kids ‘Remain Too Frequent,’ Study Suggests
Rates of pediatric battery-related emergency department (ED) visits increased significantly from 2010 to 2017, with children ages 5 and younger making up the majority of cases, an observational study showed. Among a nationally representative sample, an estimated 70,322 (95% CI 51,275-89,369) battery-related ED visits occurred during the study period (9.5 visits per 100,000 children annually), […]