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Good morning, how was your weekend? I saw Katie Gavin perform her album in Boston, which was amazing. I’ve also had the new song “Sugar in the Tank” by Julien Baker & TORRES in my head for days.
An exit interview with CDC Director Mandy Cohen
CDC Director Mandy Cohen (pictured above) is in the final days of her tenure at the federal health agency, but she still has a lot of work to do. She’s in persuasion mode, as STAT’s Helen Branswell puts it, simultaneously trying to convince the new administration of the message that the CDC has changed and calm nervous staff about what’s to come. (On deck to replace her is doctor and former Congressman Dave Weldon, who claims childhood vaccines are linked to rising autism rates.)
“People may have an idea of what CDC was in April 2020 during the [first] Trump administration. And I want people to make sure they take the time to see the progress we’ve made,” she told Helen in an interview last week. Read more.
Research shows that the average BMI will have decreased by 2023
After rising steadily for nearly a decade, the average BMI of U.S. adults reached a plateau in 2022 and declined slightly in 2023, according to a study published Friday in JAMA Health Forum. The same pattern was observed in the annual changes in the percentage of adults with obesity based on their BMI.
Researchers analyzed de-identified data from linked medical and insurance claims, as well as electronic health records for more than 16.7 million people across the country between 2013 and 2023. In 2013, the average BMI was 29.65. That rose steadily until 2021, when it was 30.23. By the end of 2023, this had fallen again to 30.21.
These are undoubtedly small changes, but researchers pointed to the proliferation of GLP-1 drugs, as well as demographic shifts (due to the number of deaths among people with higher weights) and behavioral changes due to the pandemic as possible contributing factors. And of course we must not forget that BMI is a very imperfect measure of health.
Your name in light of gene therapy treatment
Honorary naming is a staple of philanthropic fundraising – just look at a large building at a major university. But it’s a strategy that has yet to be applied to drug production. Last week, STAT’s Jason Mast wrote about a father, Terry Pirovolakis, who developed a gene therapy for his son. As more parents follow in Pirovolakis’ footsteps to help their own children with rare diseases, they’re turning to whatever fundraising maneuvers they can think of.
Amber Freed is a mom who’s tried it all: GoFundMes, lemonade stands, golf tournaments, a foundation. Now she is offering to name her son’s treatment after the highest bidding donor. She needs $1 million. Read more from Jason.
What RFK Jr. is wrong about infectious and chronic diseases
For Larry Schlesinger, a physician-scientist, the link between infection and chronic disease is not just a professional question. It’s a personal one. A few years ago, he was diagnosed with oral cancer, which his doctor traced back to an HPV infection he had decades earlier.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the next potential head of HHS, has called for government-funded research to focus on chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and cancer while he takes “a pause” on infectious disease research . In a new First Opinion essay, Schlesinger writes that this is not actually an either/or situation. Read more.
Needles are exchanged in Canadian prisons
In 2019, only 9 of Canada’s 43 federal prisons had needle exchange programs to combat hepatitis C and other blood-borne infections for those in prison. But if the country started adding more programs so that half of federal prisons offered needle exchanges by 2030, it could prevent 15% of new hepatitis C cases and 8% of injection-related infections, according to a study released today in the magazine The Guardian has been published. Journal of the Canadian Medical Association.
Of course, expansion won’t be free, but the researchers also found that every dollar invested in the current program or its expansion will save an estimated two dollars in hepatitis C and injection-related infection treatment costs. And money saved can save lives – you may remember Nick Florko’s investigative series from last year about how many US prisons blatantly refuse to test and treat people with hepatitis C.
What we read
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Kennedy’s attorney has asked the FDA to revoke approval of the polio vaccine. New York Times
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The defense bill banning trans care for minors could send some families into “survival mode.” NBC News
- Broken promises, lax research: Massachusetts’ failure to regulate Steward Health, STAT
- Texas is challenging shield laws by suing a New York doctor who prescribed abortion pills NPR
- Three Key Healthcare Policy Issues to Watch in 2025, STAT