Attorneys for GOP-controlled states seeking to kill the Affordable Care Act told the Supreme Court last week that at least some of the 12 million people who newly enrolled in Medicaid signed up only because of the law’s requirement that people have insurance coverage — although a tax penalty no longer exists.webmd.ads2.defineAd({id:’ads-pos-1122′,pos: 1122});The statement drew […]
Subcutaneously administered methylnaltrexone (MNTX) (Relistor), a peripherally acting µ-opioid receptor antagonist, relieves opioid-induced constipation (OID) in both chronic, noncancer-related illness and cancer-related illness, a new analysis concludes.”While these are two very different patient groups, the ability to have something to treat OIC in noncancer patients who stay on opioids for whatever reason helps, because [otherwise] […]
A strategy of routine coronary CT angiography (CTA) made little difference to treatment decisions or 1-year outcomes, compared with standard care, in intermediate- to high-risk patients with chest pain and suspected acute coronary syndromes (ACS), a randomized trial shows.The RAPID-CTCA trial is only the latest attempt to nail down the most appropriate coronary CTA candidates […]
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. University of Illinois student Sarah Keeley (right) keeps her distance on the Urbana campus Oct. 6. When the coronavirus emerged in the news in January, Keeley was working as a medical scribe and considering what to do with her biology degree. […]
Much has changed in the 10 years since Medscape’s first survey on what physicians would do when faced with painful choices in patient care.A new report, Ethics 2020: Life, Death, and Painful Dilemmas, shows that physicians’ value judgments have shifted in many respects, sometimes as a result of increased regulations and fears of litigation. webmd.ads2.defineAd({id:’ads-pos-1122′,pos: […]
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. New observational data are the first to support recommendations to continue osteoporosis medications during the COVID-19 pandemic, and even suggest that some agents may protect against the virus. webmd.ads2.defineAd({id:’ads-pos-1122′,pos: 1122});Findings from the cross-sectional study of 2102 patients with osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and/or fibromyalgia […]
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. More patients are surviving critical illnesses requiring ICU care but many emerge with physical debility that may or may not eventually resolve.webmd.ads2.defineAd({id:’ads-pos-1122′,pos: 1122});Over the past decade, functional status deterioration after critical illness has become more common and of greater magnitude, despite […]
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Eleven months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the United States experiencing record new daily cases, basic infection control and prevention measures are still lacking in US hospitals, including an inadequate supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), according to a survey […]
The high-dose influenza vaccine was not more effective than a standard-dose vaccine in lowering the risk for death or hospitalizations for cardiac or pulmonary events in older high-risk patients with cardiovascular disease in a new large randomized clinical trial.Although data regarding influenza illness were not captured systematically in the trial, hospitalizations ascribed to influenza were few […]
Prescription opioid use increases the risk for major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety and stress-related disorders (ASRD), new genetic evidence shows. The findings also suggest MDD is a potential causal risk factor for increased prescription opioid use. Taken together, the results “support recommendations that caution is needed with prescribing opioids in settings of mood disorders […]