health
Racism may contribute to stroke risk for Black women, per study
Black women who reported experiences of interpersonal racism related to their housing, employment, and interactions with police had a 38% increased risk of stroke compared to those who didn't report such experiences, according to a study published Friday in JAMA Network Open.
The data comes from the Black Women's Health Study, a prospective cohort study of 59,000 Black women across the country. Researchers followed participants starting in 1997 and identified 1664 cases of stroke, 550 of which were confirmed by neurologist review or the National Death Index.
Sadly, racial disparities in heart health aren't new: Black people in the U.S. are at higher risk for having a stroke and for dying from one than their white peers; about a third live in "cardiology deserts"; and equipment and algorithms that health care providers use are often less reliable for Black patients. But in this study, the increased risk associated with experiences of interpersonal racism persisted even after demographic and vascular risk factors were taken into account.
health tech
NYU radiologists want to build cheaper MRI machines
How about a riddle from STAT's Lizzy Lawrence on this Monday morning: How many radiologists does it take to build a working MRI from scratch?
MRI machines, which typically cost between $1 million and $3 million, are frequently the most expensive pieces of equipment in a hospital. Patients in sub-saharan African countries have particularly difficulty accessing MRIs; the continent has the lowest number of MRI scanners per million people at 0.7. MRI access is also a problem in the U.S., with scans costing up to $2,850 out of pocket.
The answer to the riddle? Two radiologists, 50 researchers, five days. Leeor Alon and Tobias Block of New York University gathered with dozens of researchers last month to build a small, low-field MRI, and are now fine-tuning its imaging abilities. "If we have a low-cost, open source scanner that people can reproduce and build, that can down the road create a lot of new, exciting developments and technology," Block told Lizzy. Read more about the team's efforts.
health
In world first, U.K. panel recommends meningitis B vaccine to curb gonorrhea
Not another U.K. approval, but some advice: An expert panel that advises the U.K. on vaccine policy has recommended using a meningitis B vaccine to try to bring down spiking rates of gonorrhea, the country's second most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted infection. If adopted, the U.K. would be the first country to use the meningitis B vaccine for this purpose. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization released a report Friday saying that targeted use of the vaccine in people at high risk of contracting gonorrhea should reduce the incidence of an infection that is becoming increasingly difficult to treat.
"A vaccination program to impact … gonorrhea cases would be a hugely welcome intervention to ensure we are better prepared to address this increasing threat," Katy Sinka, head of the sexually transmitted infections program at the U.K. Health Security Agency, told STAT's Helen Branswell. But the U.K.'s department of health and social care needs to study and approve the recommendation before it can be put into effect. Read more from Helen on the science.
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