closer look
Opinion: Here's a plan to get weight-loss drugs to everyone who needs them (and save Medicare, too)
Cydni Elledge/New York Times
Data on the new class of weight-loss drugs has shown they work well not just for obesity and diabetes, but also for heart disease. But their price has also been jaw-dropping, especially because people often regain weight soon after they stop taking them. Still, Jeremy Shane, former general manager of WebMD/Medscape Editorial writes in a STAT First Opinion, if the goal in the U.S. is to help people be healthier and save Medicare's solvency, too, these drugs are our best bet.
Providing them will be costly, he says, but so is the status quo. He argues that most of the drugs' value will be realized only if people actually get to Medicare age with less metabolic disease. "It is possible to design pricing tied to patient outcomes with payments to pharmas spread out over many years, even after patent expirations," he says. Read more on how that could play out.
health
For better or for worse: Couples share high blood pressure
If your spouse has high blood pressure, you're more likely to have it, too. A study out today in the Journal of the American Heart Association found this phenomenon is true not just in the U.S. and England, but also in China and India. The prevalence of hypertension among married or partnered heterosexual couples over age 50 was highest in England (47%), then the U.S. (38%), followed by China (21%) and India (20%). While high blood pressure is more common in the U.S. and England, the blood pressure link between couples was stronger in China and India.
The researchers raised the hope that couples might be helped together. Blood pressure can be modified with more physical activity, less stress, and a healthier diet. Two caveats: Only heterosexual couples were included and only one instance per person of a high blood pressure reading (over 140/90) or report of high blood pressure was collected.
reproductive health
Bariatric surgery affects how much weight is gained in pregnancy, study says
With obesity drugs drawing so much attention these days, it's easy to forget about bariatric surgery. But a new study in JAMA Network Open explored weight gain in pregnancy after weight-loss surgery. Looking at more than 12,000 pregnancies in Sweden, the researchers concluded that women with a history of bariatric surgery gained less weight during pregnancy than similar women who hadn't had the surgery.
Also important was the fact that mothers in the surgery group who were classified as being of normal weight status at the start of pregnancy were at higher risk of not gaining enough weight during pregnancy, and more likely to have babies who were small for gestational age. "Clinical attention to women with history of bariatric surgery and a normal weight status in early pregnancy might be warranted," the researchers write.
On this week's First Opinion podcast, First Opinion Editor Torie Bosch talks with U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) about the country's shortage of infectious disease physicians and what it's like to be a doctor in Congress. Listen here.
Molly Ferguson for STAT
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