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During the 2023-24 respiratory virus season, hospitalized US COVID-19 patients were at a 35% higher risk for death from any cause than those admitted for influenza, compared with a 61% higher risk the winter before, estimates a research letter published today in JAMA. (Van Beusekom, 5/15)

A new blood test can be performed in a pregnant person’s first trimester to help assess their risk of developing preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening pregnancy complication. It’s the first and only test of its kind available in the United States that can be used between 11 and 14 weeks gestation to determine the risk of preeclampsia before 34 weeks of pregnancy, its maker, Labcorp, announced Wednesday. The first trimester is the period from 0 to 13 weeks of a pregnancy. (Howard, 5/15)

Having a female doctor could lower the risk of death or major health issues after surgery or hospitalization, studies have shown over and over. The latest evidence, published Wednesday in the British Journal of Surgery, finds that surgical teams with more women see fewer health complications among patients than male-dominated teams. (Bendix, 5/15)

Heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease are among the most common chronic illnesses in the United States — and they’re all closely connected. ... The three illnesses overlap so much that last year the American Heart Association coined the term cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome to describe patients who have two or more of these diseases, or are at risk of developing them. A new study suggests that nearly 90 percent of American adults already show some early signs of these connected conditions. (Sheikh, 5/15)

To better understand problems in the brain’s blood vessels that may lead to stroke, we need a better way to see them. Cardiovascular imaging can peer inside coronary arteries to spot clots blocking blood flow to the heart, but those tools are dangerously large for the smaller arteries inside the brain that twist and turn in tortuous ways. (Cooney, 5/15)

Neuralink's disclosure last week that tiny wires inside the brain of its first patient had pulled out of position is an issue the Elon Musk company has known about for years, according to five people familiar with the matter. The company knew from animal testing it had conducted ahead of its U.S. approval last year that the wires might retract, removing with them the sensitive electrodes that decode brain signals, three of the sources said. Neuralink deemed the risk low enough for a redesign not to be merited, the sources added. (Levy, 5/15)