Chelsie Derman

From 2018 to 2021, the deaths among U.S. pregnant and postpartum women aged 35 – 44 years old more than tripled, a new study found.

A new study found a 35% prevalence of newly diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea in patients with lingering COVID-19 symptoms of fatigue or sleepiness.

At the 14-year follow-up, ADHD medication use was associated with a 4% increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.

After receiving the COVID-19 vaccination, the antibody titers of patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma were significantly reduced compared to patients with chronic hepatitis C patients.

Hepatitis B virus vaccination effective for patients with chronic hepatitis C, nonalcoholic liver disease, and liver cirrhosis to significantly improve survival rates.

Standard-Field Fundus Camera performs well in detecting proliferative sickle cell retinopathy, but performs poorly detecting non-proliferative sickle cell retinopathy, a new study found.

After years 1, 3, and 5, patients with diabetic retinopathy patients had increased odds of depression and suicide, patients with glaucoma had increased odds for all mental health conditions with higher odds for suicide or suicide ideation, and patients with AMD had increased odds for depression.

Only the states California, Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Pennsylvania require physicians to report medically impaired drivers, and 66% of states reported there was instructions on reporting available on DMV websites.

In the new study, 71% of the patients who developed gross hematuria after a COVID-19 vaccination were females, and for 92% of the patients, the investigators observed gross hematuria had developed after the second or subsequent vaccinations.

Part 1 of the study evaluates reduction in urine protein: creatinine ratio, and part 2 of the study evaluates the number of patients achieving complete remission when on the bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor for primary membranous nephropathy.

The ravulizumab group had a proteinuria reduction of 40.3% while the placebo group had a reduction of 10.9% by week 26, highlighting ravulizumab’s effectiveness in treating patients with IgA Nephropathy.

Children of mothers in minority group were associated with a higher likelihood of ASD diagnosis, but only children of White mothers had ASD associated with neighborhood disadvantages.

On November 15, 2023, the FDA approved Defencath. The new drug can reduce catheter-related bloodstream infections in adults with kidney failure receiving chronic hemodialysis through a central venous catheter.

An artificial intelligence can detect increased fluid in lungs by simply hearing voice changes over time—and the increased fluid in lungs can be a sign of heart failure.

Compared to their usual diet, participants placed in the low sodium diet group—required to keep their sodium intake to 500 mg daily—had their blood pressure reduced by 6 mm Hg.

FDA approved sotaglifozin (INPEFA®) on May 26, 2023, to treat heart failure. Also, a phase 3 trial shows the clinical benefits of the drug by the 3-month mark.

Early control of blood pressure helps lower blood pressure levels in postpartum women and potentially slows the progression of needing treatment for hypertension later down the line.

Participants with heart failure measured lower on physical and mental component scores than patients with lung, colon, breast, or prostate cancer, highlighting their worser health-related quality of life.

The incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy rose from 9.22% in January 2018 to 12.15% in December 2021.

Presented at AAO 2023, Kendra Klein-Mascia, MD, discussed her team’s study, comparing faricimab with aflibercept. The study found 2 injections of faricimab gets rid of 75% of retina fluid by week 8, but for aflibercept, erasing the same amount of fluid takes 3 injections until week 12.

At the end of year 2, 80% of patients on faricimab reached > q12 week dosing, and 63% achieved q16 dosing.

A study followed a neonatal cohort with sickle cell disease for up to 20 years. The study demonstrated how hydroxyurea lowers the risk of high mortality.

Investigators studied factors that could be associated with anemia in children < 5 years old, such as gender, age in years, type of birth (single or multiple), birth order, preceding birth interval in months (<18 months, 18+ months, or 1st born), and fever or no fever in the past 2 weeks (with malaria and without). Other factors related to mother or caregiver characteristics and household characteristics.

Presented at AAO 2023, a study analyzed which race was associated more with having a glaucoma-associated diagnosis, as well as races’ knowledge, attitude, and beliefs about eye care.

Eligibility criteria prevents more Black individuals than White individuals from participating in clinical trials for diabetic macular edema.

Durga S. Borkar, MD, MMCi, presented her study at AAO 2023 which found trial eligibility discriminates against race/ethnicity.

In the PULSAR study, White and Asian participants had similar best corrected visual acuity improvements in the 2 mg aflibercept group.

Presented at AAO 2023, Russell Van Gelder, MD, PhD, discussed Abacus study and how KIO-301 targets low vision and end stage retinitis pigmentosa with visual acuity of light perception.

Two studies presented at AAO demonstrate that low dose atropine is associated with slowing myopia progression, but another study finds that this is not true. Thus, there are mixed results on this relationship.

Patients who are female, in minority groups (particularly, Black or Asian), a visual acuity outside of the <20/40 to 20/200 range, and who are >70 years old receive less treatment.