Closer Look
Omitting race from a clinical algorithm for cancer isn't an easy fix, study says
Clinicians and health policy makers alike have been calling for the elimination of race and ethnicity from formulas used to calculate risk scores and clarify care decisions. In two recent examples, race has been removed from calculators used to estimate kidney function and predict the success of a vaginal birth after a cesarean section. A new study in JAMA Network Open suggests a fair algorithm doesn't necessarily ensure fair health outcomes.
In the study, researchers used data from thousands of colorectal cancer patients to evaluate how well four algorithms predicted the likelihood that cancer would return after a tumor was removed. The model that included race and ethnicity as a predictive variable, they found, performed more equally across groups than a model with race redacted. Their conclusion: Simply removing race (or keeping it) isn't a guarantee of equally accurate results for patients — or more equitable health outcomes. STAT's Katie Palmer explains.
pandemic
FDA advisers endorse Omicron-only Covid vaccine for the fall
No matter how many Covid vaccine doses you've had, they've all contained at least some of the original coronavirus strain that sent us into our current pandemic. Now FDA advisers have voted for the next round of shots to include protection only against the Omicron strains now dominating transmission worldwide, the Associated Press reports. Yesterday's meeting did not conclude with an exact recipe for vaccines aimed at fall delivery, but they will come from a branch of the Omicron family tree named XBB.
The final decision is FDA's. Vaccine makers said during the meeting that they could have updated vaccines available within months, depending on the strain. "We're concerned that we may have another wave of Covid-19 during a time when the virus has further evolved, immunity of the population has waned further, and we move indoors for wintertime," FDA's Peter Marks said as the daylong meeting opened.
mental health
Deaths by homicide and suicide spiked early in the pandemic for young Americans
During the first two years of the pandemic, the homicide rate for older teens in the U.S. hit a 25-year peak and the suicide rate for adults in their early 20s was the highest in 50 years, a new CDC report says. The analysis, which covered 2001 through 2021, placed suicide and homicide as the second and third leading causes of death for 10- to 24-year-olds, after accidental deaths such as motor vehicle crashes, falls, drownings, and overdoses. Guns were used in 54% of suicides and 93% of homicides among the age group in 2021.
"Picture a teenager sitting in their bedroom feeling desperate and making a decision, impulsively, to take their own life," researcher Steven Woolf of the Virginia Commonwealth University, who was not involved in the study, told the Associated Press. If they have access to a gun, "it's game over." Read more.
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. For TTY users: Use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 988.
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