More pregnant people are turning away from hospital births and instead choosing their homes, according to research presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2025 National Conference & Exhibition at the Colorado Convention Center Sept. 26-30. Cincinnati Children’s researchers tracked out-of-hospital births and found that the numbers doubled in the region from April 1, 2020 - December 31, 2023, compared to births from January 1, 2018 - February 29, 2020. The trend was seen most in young, highly educated mothers who were also more likely to have higher body mass index and fewer prenatal visits, according to a study abstract, “The Changing Landscape of Planned Out-of-Hospital Births.”

Why this matters:

 

Emergency departments, or EDs, are becoming an initial contact for patients to get hospice and palliative care referrals and consultations when presenting to the hospital for care.

In the five years since COVID-19, hospice and palliative care consultations in hospital emergency departments have increased over 170%, although this trend has been growing since 2000.

Increasing access to hospice and palliative care from the ED can enhance quality of life for both patients and their families.

People who suspect that their sense of smell has been dulled after a bout of COVID-19 are likely correct, a new study using an objective, 40-odor test shows. Even those who do not notice any olfactory issues may be impaired.

About The Study: This cohort study examines the presence, severity, and patterns of olfactory dysfunction in U.S. adults with and without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.

About The Study: An estimated 3 of 4 U.S. children relied on publicly subsidized insurance (Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program [CHIP], or Marketplace) or experienced a period without any insurance by their 18th birthday in the post-Affordable Care Act (ACA), pre-pandemic policy environment. Substantial state heterogeneity in childhood un-insurance underscores the critical role of Medicaid policies.

A Swansea University study has uncovered the intense emotional and operational strain experienced by emergency ambulance staff across the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Objective

Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a protein involved in the acute phase of inflammation. SAA expression is upregulated in humans during the acute phase of various viral infections; in addition, SAA can be a useful biomarker to predict the severity and prognosis of COVID-19 patients. This study aimed to evaluate a new chemiluminescence test for SAA detection.

Methods

All serum samples were measured for SAA on a Maglumi 800 (Snibe, Shenzhen, China) and compared with a BN ProSpec (Siemens, Munich, Germany) in the routine of the clinical laboratory of the University Hospital of the Tor Vergata University of Rome (Rome, Italy). Analytical precision, the correlation coefficient, and linearity were assessed. Statistical analyses were performed.

Results

The linearity test was performed via serial dilutions and revealed a correlation coefficient equivalent to 0.9998. The results of the Snibe SAA test correlated well with those obtained by the SAA Siemens test, with a correlation coefficient of 0.974 (P ​< ​0.001). The intra- and interrun precision, as well as carryover, were assessed.

Conclusions

The results obtained from this study demonstrated that the new Snibe SAA test has reliable analytical performance and good accuracy and could represent a valid tool for routine hospital laboratory analysis.

A new study published in the journal Preventive Medicine explores food insufficiency and financial challenges among families after multiple states stopped providing emergency allotments of SNAP benefits provided during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. SNAP benefit reductions were associated with increased difficulty affording both food and household expenses among SNAP-participant families, particularly among those with children. The risk of food insufficiency—a narrow measure that indicates that a household has not had enough food to eat within the past seven days—increased by five percentage points after several states ended their emergency allotments in 2021, compared to states that ended this assistance later. Similarly, the risk of difficulty affording household expenses increased by eight percentage points after the emergency allotments ended.

Despite the expansion of virtual care in Ontario prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, specialist physicians did not expand reach to patients living at great distances from where they provided care, found new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.250166

A new study from the University of Oklahoma reveals how a little-understood protein, CD82, contributes to blood vessel leakage, a process that initiates inflammation but becomes dangerous when it occurs during severe inflammatory diseases such as sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome and COVID-19. The findings, published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, could open the door to new therapies aimed at protecting patients from multi-organ failure and death in severe and systemic inflammation.

About The Study: In this decision analytical modeling study of COVID-19 burden in the U.S. in 2024 to 2025, ensemble projections suggested that although vaccinating high-risk groups had substantial benefits in reducing disease burden, maintaining the vaccine recommendation for all individuals had the potential to save thousands more lives. Despite divergence of projections from observed disease trends in 2024 to 2025—possibly driven by variant emergence patterns and immune escape—averted COVID-19 burden due to vaccination was robust across immune escape scenarios, emphasizing the substantial benefit of broader vaccine availability for all individuals.