Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pre-Diabetes A Likely Condition For Nearly Half Of All 45-Year-Olds, Study Says
Almost half of 45-year-olds will develop pre-diabetes, an elevated blood-sugar level that often precedes diabetes, according to a large Dutch study using population estimates. Sometimes called impaired glucose metabolism, pre-diabetes has no clear symptoms, but people with higher than normal blood sugar based on a blood test should be tested for diabetes every one or two years, according to the American Diabetes Association. (Doyle, 11/23)
Inaccurate and unreliable medical tests are prompting abortions, promoting unnecessary surgeries, putting tens of thousands of people on unneeded drugs and raising medical costs, the Food and Drug Administration has concluded. Life-threatening diseases go undetected in some cases. In others, patients are treated for conditions they do not have. ... The findings come at a time when the use of laboratory-developed tests is booming, the Obama administration is seeking new regulatory powers and even Republicans in Congress are working on legislation to set stricter standards. (Pear, 11/23)
His serious public health agenda for the U.S. includes addressing the state of substance addiction and gun control as a health policy and ending stigma for mental health. But Vivek Murthy, one of the youngest surgeon generals to ever serve in the role, is also emphasizing happiness as one of the main ways to prevent disease and live a long healthy life. (Almendrala, 11/23)
Other public health headlines include reports about access to dental care in rural areas and Coke's involvement in an anti-obesity group -
Rural communities face serious challenges to oral health, resulting in a high incidence of cavities and other dental problems. Compared to people in urban settings, rural residents are poorer and less likely to have dental insurance. Their communities are less likely to have fluoridated water, and they often have to travel long distances to find a dentist. Many rural communities are considered dental shortage areas: 60 percent of the 4,438 total designated dental health professional shortage areas nationally were located in non-metropolitan areas in 2012. In fact, every state is expected to face a dental shortage over the next 10 years, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Stitzel and Cohen, 11/20)
A nonprofit founded to combat obesity says the $1.5 million it received from Coke has no influence on its work. But emails obtained by The Associated Press show the world's largest beverage maker was instrumental in shaping the Global Energy Balance Network, which is led by a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Coke helped pick the group's leaders, edited its mission statement and suggested articles and videos for its website. ... When contacted by the AP about the emails, Coca-Cola Co. CEO Muhtar Kent said in a statement that "it has become clear to us that there was not a sufficient level of transparency with regard to the company's involvement with the Global Energy Balance Network." (Choi, 11/24)
Meanwhile, NPR reports on the "social" egg-freezing business -
If egg freezing once sounded like science fiction, those days are over. Women now hear about it from their friends, their doctors and informational events like Wine and Freeze. ... In 2012, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine decided egg freezing was no longer an experimental procedure. That opened the door for clinics like Shady Grove [Fertility Center] to market it to women who don't have a medical reason to do it but are simply worried about their declining fertility — what's being dubbed as "social" egg freezing. (Barclay, 11/24)
