closer look
Colon cancer tests had high rate of unusable samples
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Fecal immunochemical tests to screen for colorectal cancer, better known as FIT, are a tool health care leaders hope can help drive down cancer rates, especially in populations with higher death rates compared to white men: American Indian or Alaska Native men (46%) and Black men (44%). A new study performed at a safety-net system in Dallas that serves more than a million uninsured, lower-income patients, including people of color, says the tests' usefulness is undercut by the high percentage containing samples that could not be processed by labs.
More than a tenth of the tests, performed in a clinic or sent through the mail, had problems with the specimen, labeling, or containers. More worrying, researchers write in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, was the finding that only about 40% of those who had an unsatisfactory test received a follow-up test or a colonoscopy within 15 months of the failed result. STAT's Debbie Balthazar has more on why.
health equity
FDA asks for feedback on pulse oximeters and their lower accuracy on patients with darker skin
Just two weeks after two dozen state attorneys generals sent a letter prodding the FDA to take more urgent action to remedy pulse oximeters, widely used oxygen-measuring devices that have been shown to be less accurate on patients with darker skin, the agency announced it will convene a second public meeting to study the issue on Feb. 2. The agency also asked for feedback on a discussion paper released yesterday that proposes — as many physicians and researchers called for during a public meeting held in Nov. 2022 — having more patients with darker skin involved in pre-market testing of the devices, and implementing more standardized ways to measure skin pigment in those tests.
The scheduling of yet another meeting in lieu of new rules will likely be frustrating to those who have linked the inaccuracy of the devices to slower diagnosis and treatment for patients, STAT's Usha Lee McFarling tells us, but Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said the agency had been working on the issue, including commissioning studies to evaluate how well the devices work in both children and adults and working to analyze existing data on the devices.
reproductive health
Infant and maternal health in the U.S. at 'crisis level'
Preterm births and infant mortality are at alarming levels in the U.S., according to a new March of Dimes report published yesterday. In 2022, 10.4% of all babies were born premature (defined as before 37 weeks of gestation), higher than the global average of 9.9%. The U.S. has the highest risk of preterm birth among its wealthy peers: In the U.K. the rate is 7.6%; in Italy, it's 6.8%; in Japan, it was around 5%.
"This year's report shows the state of infant and maternal health in the United States remains at crisis-level, with grave disparities that continue to widen the health equity gap," said March of Dimes President and CEO Elizabeth Cherot, in a statement. There are significant racial and ethnic disparities: 14.6% of Black babies were born preterm, compared to 9.4% of white babies and 9% of Asian babies. STAT's Annalisa Merelli has more.
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