Curated News: JAMA

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Atrial fibrillation is a common arrhythmia that affects an estimated 30 million people worldwide. New research shows that catheter ablation, a common cardiovascular procedure, appears no more effective than drug therapy to prevent strokes, deaths and other complications in patients with atrial fibrillation. But patients who receive catheter ablation experience much greater symptom relief and long-term improvements in quality of life. And they have fewer recurrences of their atrial fibrillation and fewer hospitalizations than those who receive only drugs. You can learn more about this new research in the March 15 issue of JAMA.

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A new study shows that an innovative communication program developed by Ariadne Labs and tested at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute resulted in more, earlier and better conversations between patients and their oncology clinicians, and led to significant reductions in emotional suffering for patients with advanced cancer.

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After one year of wearing a peanut patch as immunotherapy for their peanut allergy, 35 percent of participating children (aged 4 to 11 years) were able to tolerate a significantly higher dose of peanuts before experiencing an allergic reaction, according to results from an international Phase 3 randomized clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

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A new study from the University of Chicago Medicine shows African-American communities were the only racial/ethnic group to have consistent disparities in geographic access to trauma centers. A new Level 1 trauma center at UChicago Medicine, which opened in 2018, reduced those racial disparities in the city 7 fold.

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Dog walking is often suggested as something older adults can do to improve their health. But older adults are at increased risk of fractures.

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Between 2004 and 2017, dog-walking-related fractures in people 65-or-older more than doubled

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A minimally invasive procedure to determine whether patients with drug-resistant epilepsy are candidates for brain surgery is safer, more efficient, and leads to better outcomes than the traditional method, according to new research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

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An intervention combining behavioral weight loss treatment and problem-solving therapy with as-needed antidepressant medication for participants with co-occurring obesity and depression improved weight loss and depressive symptoms compared with routine physician care, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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A new study finds patients were taking too many antithrombotics for no reason, leading to a significant increase in bleeding events.

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Having a family member with persistent opioid use may be a risk factor for young adults continuing prescriptions long after their own surgeries, a new Michigan Medicine study suggests.

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High-risk younger siblings of children with autism are less likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), have significantly lower autism symptom severity, and higher cognitive scores if their mothers take maternal prenatal vitamins during their first month of pregnancy, UC Davis research has found.

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This study examined whether prenatal vitamin use by mothers was associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) recurrence in high-risk families.

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New research shows that fluctuation and severity of depressive symptoms are much better at predicting risk of suicidal behavior in at-risk young adults.

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Providing additional health-care services for heart failure patients to help them transition from hospital to home does not improve their outcome, according to research led by the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS). The conclusion comes from a trial that followed the health status of almost 2,500 adults hospitalized for heart failure in hospitals across Ontario, Canada.

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In a study of older people with no clinical diagnosis or signs of dementia when hospitalized to repair hip fractures, Johns Hopkins researchers say they found biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease in most of the patients’ spinal fluid samples. The researchers say results of their study add to evidence that brain alterations that lead to poor balance in older people may underpin both increased risk of hip-fracturing falls and Alzheimer’s disease, and that hip fracture itself may therefore serve as a first sign of undiagnosed disease.

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Assessment of Changes in the Geographical Distribution of Opioid-Related Mortality Across the United States by Opioid Type, 1999-2016

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A longitudinal study led by Dr. Kristine Steffen, NDSU School of Pharmacy, shows patients undergoing bariatric surgery for obesity found the positive results of such surgery on sexual function may be longer lasting than previously known. The study included more than 2,000 patients at 10 hospitals in six clinical centers in the U.S.

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A study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and manufacturers did not take action when evidence emerged that potentially lethal fentanyl products were being inappropriately prescribed to patients.

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Cancer clinical trials are an important option for patients with cancer. Yet, once a trial ends, patients still need care plans. Little is known at what point during clinical trial transitions to initiate advance planning discussions or how to educate research teams to communicate with and prepare patient-participants and their families for the next steps after they leave a cancer clinical trial.

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Children younger than 6 spend most of their screen time watching TV. That’s the finding of a new study that assessed screen time in young children in 1997 and in 2014, before and after mobile devices were widely available.