The FDA approved modifications to the iPLEDGE Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy that permit patients to take a pregnancy test outside of a medical setting during and after isotretinoin treatment for acne, according to a press release.
The modifications include those the FDA recommended on Nov. 30, 2023, to streamline the iPLEDGE Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) — a program aimed at preventing fetal exposure during isotretinoin treatment — while maintaining safety. These changes will go into effect 180 days after approval, which the FDA issued on Feb. 9, according to the

A prior history of ischemic stroke may signal higher risk for another stroke during pregnancy and in the early postpartum period, researchers reported at the International Stroke Conference.
“We found that in a study that involved 220,479 pregnancies, women with a prior history of ischemic stroke had two times higher odds of having another ischemic stroke during pregnancy or in [the] postpartum period,” Adnan I. Qureshi, MD, executive director of the Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Institutes and professor of neurology at University of Missouri, Columbia, told Healio.
Qureshi and colleagues analyzed

SAN DIEGO – A retrospective chart review of pediatric patients with MS at a tertiary treatment center showed how the center’s first choice of disease-modifying therapy changed from injectable to oral or IV formulations, according to a poster.
“MS is an interesting pathology, but we don’t know as much [about] how it acts in children as compared to adults,” Isabella Strozzi, MD, second year clinical neurophysiology fellow at Children’s Medical Center at the University of Texas Southwestern, told Healio at ACTRIMS.
“So that was the thought process behind doing this short review, just to find the

Rates of diagnosis for depression fell by 27.7% after the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with pre-pandemic rates, according to data published in the British Medical Journal.
But rates of diagnosis for dementia returned to pre-pandemic levels or were lower than expected, varying by patient demographics, Mark D. Russell, PhD, MB BChir, MA, senior clinical lecturer, Centre for Rheumatic Diseases, King’s College London, and colleagues wrote.
“From preliminary studies, we knew that diagnosis rates for several diseases had been impacted early on in the pandemic. However, it wasn’t clear the extent to

Among a group of women with gestational diabetes, those with polycystic ovary syndrome had similar rates of adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes as women without PCOS, researchers reported.
In a secondary analysis of the Dietary Intervention in Gestational Diabetes trial conducted in the U.K., women with gestational diabetes and PCOS had similar anthropometric measures, HbA1c and continuous glucose monitoring metrics at 36 weeks’ gestation as those with gestational diabetes but no PCOS. There were no significant differences for all adverse pregnancy outcomes between women with PCOS and

The cost profile of single maintenance and reliever therapy, also known as SMART or single-inhaler therapy, was “favorable” compared with traditional asthma therapy, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.
“Given its cost-effectiveness, demonstrated effectiveness and strong guideline endorsement, expanding insurance coverage of SMART may reduce asthma-related morbidity while lowering costs to U.S. health care payers,” Tri Pham, MD, MPH, resident physician at Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues wrote.
In an economic evaluation, Pham and colleagues analyzed 11,988

If you are a curious, sociable and driven physician interested in engaging with people in a community to address their individual needs, community-based health research might be for you.
Healio spoke with three physicians who conduct community-based health research aimed at improving outcomes among children and families to learn more about why this research is needed, the studies and projects they have been a part of and their advice for those interested in conducting this type of research.
Without research that specifically addresses communities, Andrea Pappalardo Wlochowicz, MD, FAAAAI,

LAS VEGAS — For patients with acute severe ulcerative colitis treated in tertiary care, accelerated infliximab induction significantly reduced odds of a colectomy at 2 years, according to data presented at Crohn’s & Colitis Congress.
However, the lower odds of needing a colectomy in the short term were not significant, which could indicate that the severity of inflammatory bowel disease contributed to a bias in the dosing used.
These findings contrast with real-world data. Those data indicate that the use of accelerated infliximab induction in patients who were hospitalized for acute

WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — In this expert perspective from Hawaiian Eye 2026, John D. Sheppard, MD, MMSc, FACS, discusses “exciting” treatments for neurotrophic keratitis.
Sheppard, of Virginia Eye Consultants, highlights therapies for neurotrophic keratitis as well as treatment modalities for severe cases, such as Oxervate (cenegermin-bkbj, Dompé), amniotic membranes and preventive measures in high-risk populations. Therapies in the pipeline include a hepatocyte growth factor from Claris Bio.
“There are several other companies looking at neurotrophic disease as well, which will come to the forefront

Exposure to air pollutants such as particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide may increase the risk for rheumatoid arthritis in African American and Latino adults aged 65 years or older, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.
“Inhaled ambient air pollutants as well as occupational exposures can induce pulmonary oxidative stress and inflammation, triggering autoimmune responses and risk of RA,” Anna H. Wu, PhD, from the department of population and public health sciences at Keck School of Medicine, at the University of Southern California, and colleagues wrote.
“This study