Prior studies have shown veterans are particularly at risk of dying by opioid overdose and the possibility of that occurring has been rising steadily over the past two decades. From 2010-2019, there was a 61.2% increase in risk of overdose death among male veterans. Interestingly, this increased risk was not observed among female veterans, despite rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) rising more quickly among women than men in the general population. Racial disparities in opioid overdose deaths are also prominent with a significant increase in death due to opioids among all racial and ethnic minority veterans, except American Indian or Alaskan Native veterans.

 

Given increases in opioid overdose rates and policy changes expanding access to medications for OUD during the COVID-19 pandemic, BU and VA researchers sought to understand how the opioid overdose epidemic impacted veterans with opioid use disorder. In their new study, they found female veterans and veterans from racial and ethnic minority groups were at higher risk of dying from an opioid overdose than other veterans.

About The Article: This Viewpoint discusses how physicians should counsel patients on vaccine safety in the wake of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to remove COVID-19 vaccinations as a recommended vaccine for children and pregnant women. 

About The Study: In this case-control study of vaccine effectiveness, 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccines were estimated to provide additional effectiveness against medically attended COVID-19, with the highest and most sustained estimates against critical illness. These results highlight the importance of receiving recommended COVID-19 vaccination for adults 18 years or older. 

A study from the CDC's VISION Network, published in JAMA Network Open, has found that updated COVID-19 vaccines reduced the risk of ED and urgent care visits related to COVID-19 by 24 percent, hospitalizations by 29 percent and critical illness (intensive care unit admission or in-hospital death) by 48 percent during the first seven to 299 days after vaccination.

The world has made unprecedented progress in vaccinating children against life-threatening disease since WHO established the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in 1974. Despite the progress of the past 50 years, the last two decades have also been marked by stagnating childhood vaccination rates and wide variation in vaccine coverage. These challenges have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving millions of children vulnerable to preventable diseases and death, according to a major new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study Vaccine Coverage Collaborators, published in The Lancet. 

New research has revealed the trauma faced by journalists during the height of the pandemic, caused by exposure to online threats, disturbing information and disrupted work routines that exacerbated an industry already under pressure from the rise of social media and online news.

The COVID-19 pandemic yielded important advances in testing for respiratory viruses, but it also exposed important unmet needs in screening to prevent the spread of infections in high-risk settings.

 

While PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests are the gold standard for detecting viral infections, they remain a challenge for screening large numbers of people in places vulnerable to outbreak — such as health care centers and nursing homes — due to high costs and the fact that different tests are required for each virus.

 

A new Yale study, however, finds that an alternate strategy — using a nasal swab to screen for an antiviral protein produced by the body as a defense against infection — can be an effective method for ruling out respiratory infections, limiting PCR testing only to those most likely to be infected, at a fraction of the cost. 

 

The study was published online on June 20 in The Lancet eBiomedicine. 

Published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, a University of Minnesota research team demonstrated that measuring SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater continues to accurately predict COVID-19 infections in a community. 

A new lateral-flow test could one day save lives across the world through early detection of a deadly fungal disease which dramatically spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Key findings

• This study revealed that >70% of workers with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) using changed their work style to telecommuting, resulting in decreased physical activity, and commuters tended to have shorter durations and lower rates of CPAP use compared to teleworkers.

What is known and what is new?

• The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has resulted in many lifestyle changes. However, no studies have reported how these factors affect obstructive sleep apnea patients undergoing CPAP treatment.

• Our study investigated the impact of lifestyle changes on CPAP users during Japan’s first state of emergency. Over 50% of CPAP users who were employed changed their work style, leading to reduced physical activity. Commuters showed shorter durations and lower adherence to CPAP therapy compared to teleworkers.

What is the implication, and what should change now?

• We provided important data on lifestyle changes during the coronary pandemic period for CPAP users. Further randomized controlled studies are needed to confirm these findings.

New research by ESMT Berlin and Politecnico di Milano explores how non-experts assess scientific research proposals and reveals key implications for public participation in science funding. The study shows that while citizens value both social impact and scientific merit, their judgments can be shaped by personal interests, income, and education. The paper, published in Research Policy, is co-authored by Henry Sauermann (ESMT Berlin), Chiara Franzoni, and Diletta Di Marco (both of Politecnico di Milano). It involved more than 2,300 citizen evaluators who assessed four real research proposals using both a recommendation mechanism (advising a funding agency) and a crowdfunding mechanism (donating their own money). The proposals covered a diverse range of topics including COVID-19 drug discovery, Alzheimer’s, otter-human conflict in Florida, and economic preferences across demographic groups. 

Vaccinated patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who developed acute kidney injury had better outcomes than unvaccinated patients with the same condition. Vaccinated patients were less likely to stay on dialysis after discharge, and more likely to survive, than unvaccinated patients.