Health

Trevor Thompson, University of Greenwich and Sofia Stathi, University of Greenwich White people who visit hospital emergency departments with pain are 26% more likely than Black people to be given opioid pain medications such as morphine. This was a key finding from our recent study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. We also found that Black patients were 25% more likely than white patients to be given only non-opioid painkillers such as ibuprofen, which are typically available over the counter. We examined more than 200,000 visit records of patients treated for pain, taken from a representative sample of

Lucas A. Berenbrok, University of Pittsburgh; Colleen Culley, University of Pittsburgh, and Karen Steinmetz Pater, University of Pittsburgh The ramp-up to cold and flu season is a bad time for consumers to learn that some of their most trusted go-to products don’t actually work. An advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded unanimously in September 2023 that phenylephrine – an active ingredient found in popular over-the-counter cough and cold products such as Sudafed PE, Theraflu and NyQuil Severe Cold and Flu – works no better than a placebo when taken orally. The 2023 FDA advisory panel met

Michael McQuarrie, Arizona State University The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions reached a tentative agreement with its employer on a new four-year contract on Oct. 13, 2023. They agreed following the largest documented strike of U.S. health care workers on record, which involved more than 75,000 workers in several states and the District of Columbia. A majority of the unions’ 85,000 members will need to approve the deal for it to become final. The voting began on Oct. 18. The contract’s terms will make Kaiser “able to deliver on our mission of providing high quality, affordable and accessible health care

Neil Marsh, University of Michigan Antiviral drugs are generally considered to be a 20th century invention. But recent research has uncovered an unexpected facet to your immune system: It can synthesize its own antiviral molecules in response to viral infections. My laboratory studies a protein that makes these natural antiviral molecules. Far from a modern human invention, nature evolved cells to make their own “drugs” as the earliest defense against viruses. How antivirals work Viruses have no independent life cycle – they are completely dependent on the cells they infect to supply all the chemical building blocks needed to replicate

Marlys Fassett, University of California, San Francisco Itching can be uncomfortable, but it’s a normal part of your skin’s immune response to external threats. When you’re itching from an encounter with poison ivy or mosquitoes, consider that your urge to scratch may have evolved to get you to swat away disease-carrying pests. However, for many people who suffer from chronic skin diseases like eczema, the sensation of itch can fuel a vicious cycle of scratching that interrupts sleep, reduces productivity and prevents them from enjoying daily life. This cycle is caused by sensory neurons and skin immune cells working together

Libby Richards, Purdue University As cold and flu season ramps up, health care experts are once again on high alert for the possibility of a tripledemic, or a surge brought on by the respiratory viruses that cause COVID-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. The good news is that this year, health officials have more tools at their disposal to combat them. Americans ages 6 months and older are eligible to receive the newest COVID-19 vaccine and the annual flu vaccine. In addition, this year the Food and Drug Administration approved the first vaccine against RSV for use

Simon F. Haeder, Texas A&M University The Biden administration released on Aug. 29, 2023, a list of the first 10 drugs that will be up for negotiations with pharmaceutical companies over their Medicare prices. The drugs are purchased through Medicare Part D, a prescription drug coverage program for Americans ages 65 and older. The 10 medications accounted for more than US$50.5 billion in gross costs between June 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023. Provisions authorizing these negotiations were part of the Inflation Reduction Act which Congress passed in 2022, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time. Pending

Michael McQuarrie, Arizona State University More than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers began a three-day strike in Virginia, California, Colorado, Washington state, Oregon and Washington, D.C., on Oct. 4, 2023, after company executives and eight unions representing aides, techs, support staff and other employees failed to agree on the terms of new contracts. This is the largest U.S. health care strike on record. In a statement it released when the walkout started, Kaiser asserted that it wanted to reach a deal soon with the striking workers. Although hospitals and emergency rooms are still open during the strike, and Kaiser

Adrian Hill, University of Oxford The World Health Organization has approved a new vaccine that scientists argue will be a game-changer in the fight against malaria, which kills half a million people in Africa every year. Trials have shown that the R21/Matrix vaccine, developed by Oxford University together with the Serum Institute of India, reduces malaria by up to 75%. It can be manufactured cheaply and on a mass scale. The Conversation Weekly spoke to chief investigator Adrian Hill, who is also director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, about this revolutionary vaccine. Below are edited excerpts