News by Subject Medicine & Health

Firsthand reports from nurses in correctional facilities detail the challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What The Study Did: Researchers examined the diversity and representation by race/ethnicity and sex in select health care occupations in the United States from 2000 to 2019.

The latest investigations into a promising new genetic test for glaucoma - the leading cause of blindness worldwide - has found it has the ability to identify 15 times more people at high risk of glaucoma than an existing genetic test. The study, just published in JAMA Ophthalmology, builds on a long-running international collaboration between Flinders University and the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and other research partners around the world to identify genetic risk factors for glaucoma.

A new study from the University of Missouri found the unanticipated transitions to virtual schooling due to COVID-19 exposed the lack of digital resources among Black families in the United States, including access to Wi-Fi and technological savviness.

With few additional targeted tests and non-invasive surveys, public health agencies can better estimate disease occurrence and trends, changes in transmission, rates of hospitalization and death and effectiveness of vaccines and other control measures.

Kumara Raja Sundar, MD, a family physician at Kaiser Permanente of Washington, uses two media synchronicity theory principles - conveyance and convergence - as a framework for choosing the right medium of care for his patients. In this essay, Sundar discusses how operating within this framework changed his own practice and decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with the use of telemedicine versus in-person clinic visits.

A survey conducted in March 2020 reports that early concern for COVID-19 outmatched concern for influenza, but respondents may have been less focused on their perceived likelihood of contracting COVID-19 and more concerned with its severe impact on their health.

Approximately 642 million people are expected to be diagnosed with diabetes by 2040, with Asians representing more than 55% of cases. Researchers conducted the first large-scale study since the implementation of medical insurance in China to evaluate the complexity and cost of drug therapy for Asian people with diabetes.

Given the aging world population, there is international interest in helping older people live longer and healthier lives. Avoiding unplanned hospital admissions is an important aspect of care for older people. Palapar et al focused on the way primary care practice characteristics influence outcomes such as unplanned hospitalizations, function and well-being.

More than 40% of physicians in the United States reported at least one symptom of burnout, which is particularly high among family physicians. This study examined a nationally-representative sample of family physicians to determine whether physician race-ethnicity was associated with burnout among a nationally-representative sample of family physicians.