HEOR NEWS
How Does the Affordable Housing Crisis Impact Health Outcomes? (Patient Engagement HIT)
A study published in JAMA Network Open, highlighting data from UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, found that housing instability due to rent increases leads to more psychological distress, higher likelihood for emergency department visits, and lower likelihood of having preventive care visits. Read more
NICE Recommended Weight-Loss Drug to Be Made Available in Specialist NHS Services (NICE)
Patients in the United Kingdom who are eligible for weight management services will have access to Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy (semaglutide), after the launch of the drug is confirmed by the manufacturer. Read more
A National Hepatitis C Elimination Program in the United States: A Historic Opportunity (JAMA Network)
Despite the availability of direct-acting antivirals that can cure hepatitis C in more than 95% of patients, a significant fraction of the more than 2.4 million US residents chronically infected do not receive them, with 15,000 dying each year. The Biden-Harris administration is calling on Congress to accept a 5-year program to eliminate hepatitis C in the United States. Read more
Even Oncologists Sold on Value-Based Care Hesitate to Embrace the EOM (AJMC)
At a panel discussion at the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) 2023 Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit that included members of the ACCC Alternative Payment Coalition, oncologists who said they had learned a lot from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Oncology Care Model are expressing hesitation about the upcoming Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM), which only covers 7 cancer types. Read more
Integrating the US Public Health and Medical Care Systems to Improve Health Crisis Response (Health Affairs)
Because of what researchers call the “operational cleavage” between the US public health and medical systems, the 3 fundamental elements of epidemic response during the COVID-19 pandemic—case finding, mitigating transmission, and treatment—were undermined by the lack of coordination between public health and medical care and contributed to health disparities. The writers suggest 3 ways— establishing a case-finding diagnostic system, data systems, and a treatment pathway—to bring these systems together. Read more
Effects of Time-Restricted Eating on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (JAMA Network Open)
A study in China of 88 adults with obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) found that time-restricted eating, an intermittent fasting regimen, did not produce additional benefits for reducing IHTG (intrahepatic triglyceride) content, body fat, and metabolic risk factors compared with daily calorie restriction. Researchers say these findings support the importance of caloric intake restriction when using time-restricted eating to manage NAFLD. Read more
GPEI Statement on cVDPV2 Detections in Burundi and Democratic Republic of the Congo (Global Eradication Initiative) Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo have reported cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) linked with the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), with viruses isolated from stool samples of 7 children with acute flaccid paralysis in the 2 countries. Read more
Exploring the Influence of TikTok on Health Information (Duke University School of Medicine)
Duke researchers have found that top TikTok videos tend to portray negative patient experiences with intrauterine devices and provide reliable and useful information about abortion access. Read more
Babies Should Be Given Peanut Products Between 4 and 6 Months to Reduce Allergy, Say Researchers (BMJ)
Because the incidence of peanut allergy has tripled in recent decades and now affects around 2% of the UK’s children, researchers say the government should revamp weaning guidelines to recommend introducing peanut products to infants during a “window of opportunity.” Read more
Male Footballers Are 50% More Likely to Develop Neurodegenerative Disease, Finds Swedish Study (BMJ)
A study of men who played in Sweden’s top division from 1924 to 2019 found that football players had a 1.6% higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias than the controls, with 8% of the footballers and 5% of controls in the study receiving these diagnoses. Read more
