Older adults prescribed gabapentinoids may not experience increased long-term fracture risk during treatment, according to results published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity.
“We are not claiming that gabapentinoids are free from the risks,” Kenneth K. C. Man, PhD, CStat, FHEA, FRSM, FRSPH, the senior author of the study and a pharmacoepidemiologist and medical statistician at University College London, told Healio. “Even when [patients] started the treatment on gabapentinoids, it had a 30% higher [fracture] risk compared with nontreatment periods. The more crucial one is when coprescribed with

Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, long-term follow-up of people exposed to the disaster offers important lessons for managing chronic disease in disaster-exposed populations, according to a review published in JAMA.
The review is based on data from the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program, which was launched in 2011 to evaluate the health outcomes of those affected.
“The WTC Health Program has evolved into a national model for longitudinal care and surveillance of disaster-exposed populations," John Howard, MD, director of CDC's National Institute for Occupational

Newly proposed regulations for Head Start programs are intended to reduce costs, increase access, and enable more state and local decision-making, according to a press release from HHS.
The proposal would rescind the current Head Start Program Performance Standards and replace them with “streamlined” regulations that reduce “federal burden and overreach,” according to the notice of proposed rulemaking, which described it as a “sweeping reform.”
“We are removing unnecessary bureaucracy, strengthening nutrition and physical health, trusting parents and local communities, and opening Head Start to

U.S. cancer centers continue to experience persistent shortages of medications that are foundational components of oncology care, according to survey results.
All cancer centers that participated in a late-summer survey administered by National Comprehensive Cancer Network reported current shortages of at least one cancer medication. One in five centers reported shortages of at least five different medications.
Although medical societies, policymakers and the press have paid closer attention to the issue in recent years, nearly all centers surveyed indicated the impact of drug shortages is

So far, approximately 2,000 frontline workers have been vaccinated against Ebola virus in a growing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, WHO told Healio.
The vaccine, Ervebo (Merck), is licensed for a different species of Ebola than the one causing the outbreak, but early nonclinical data show it may provide some cross-protection against the currently circulating strain.
The DRC has a stockpile of about 70,000 doses — 50,000 will go to the outbreak’s frontline workers and 20,000 will be used for a WHO-led phase 3 trial to see if the vaccine works against Bundibugyo ebolavirus, the

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — More than 80% of toddler foods in grocery stores in Austin, Texas, were ultraprocessed, according to a presentation at the annual NUTRITION meeting.
“Based on earlier work looking at the complementary food industry, which is foods for both infants and toddlers, we expected at least 70% to be ultraprocessed,” Erin A. Hudson, JD, PhD, a recent PhD graduate from University of Texas at Austin, told Healio.
“We found [it was] 80%, which was slightly higher than anticipated, but unfortunately reflects the food environments parents are faced with in baby and toddler food aisles

WASHINGTON — Capsulotomy size may have a clinically meaningful impact on final IOL positioning after robotic laser cataract surgery, according to research presented at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting.
In a prospective paired-eye study, David V. Folden, MD, ABO, of Twin Cities Eye Consultants, and colleagues implanted 40 eyes of 20 patients with a single piece-acrylic IOL with a 6-mm optic. Postoperative anterior chamber depth was measured at 3 months and used as a proxy for effective lens position, according to the abstract.
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“We used the femtosecond

U.S. adults with disabilities are considerably less likely than those without them to undergo routine cancer screening, according to an analysis of national survey data.
Researchers observed the largest screening gaps among individuals with self-care disabilities, such as difficulty dressing or bathing.
Screening prevalence also declined as disability-related difficulty levels increased.
For example, adults who reported “substantial” difficulties with self-care appeared 37% less likely to undergo cervical cancer screening and 31% less likely to undergo breast cancer screening than adults with no

Adolescents who played a video game designed to explore behavioral health reported improvements in depressive symptoms and attitudes toward psychological services, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
Similar interventions can support youth who might not have other access to care, Caroline M. Barry, PhD, MPH, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote.
“Adolescence is a critical period for preventing mental health and substance use problems, but traditional prevention programs do

Interleukin-17 therapy for hidradenitis suppurativa was not associated with an increased risk for inflammatory bowel disease, according to a study published in JAMA Dermatology.
Of the 2,572 patients with HS who were treated with an IL-17 inhibitor across 10 randomized clinical trials, only six experienced new-onset IBD, according to the researchers.
“In this systematic review and meta-analysis, IBD events during IL-17 inhibitor therapy for HS were uncommon, with higher incidence rates in nonrandomized studies compared with RCTs, although events remained rare overall,” Marley Cutrona, BS, a