Plus: Some kids waits longer in the ER for mental health care than others

July 9, 2024 Check out STAT+

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By Theresa Gaffney Morning Rounds Writer and Podcast Producer

It's so hot and it's so humid!! I've never been so grateful for the fact that my first-floor apartment gets zero direct sunlight. Depressing in the winter, but low-key lifesaving in the summer. If we sit very still, the cat and I can stay relatively cool.

biology The untold story of the Human Genome Project JOVELLE TAMAYO FOR STAT The Human Genome Project, launched in 1990, was "the world's biggest science project," as one news report called it — aiming to read and map a human genetic code in its entirety. It took 13 years and $3 billion to finish, and now serves as a cornerstone resource of modern biology. But a new investigation from Undark, co-published by STAT, reveals information that potentially casts a stain on a project long extolled for its high ethical standards. Undark senior editor Ashley Smart reviewed more than 100 emails, letters, and other digital documents demonstrating that the project's sourcing of human genetic material was more ethically fraught than official publications portrayed it to be, and pushed the boundaries of informed consent. Read the investigation to learn more about the fascinating story, and check out the author's five biggest takeaways from the reporting. cardiology Women who survive cardiac arrest may face more mental health struggles afterward, study says Women who survive cardiac arrest that occurred outside of a hospital are more likely to receive medication for anxiety and depression than their counterparts in the general population, according to a study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality & Outcomes. Women in the study experienced a 50% rise in antidepressant prescriptions in the first year after the event, while men saw no increase. Five years afterward, women still had a 20% increase in prescriptions compared to rates before the cardiac event. Many studies focus on the short-term effects of cardiac arrest, but these study authors analyzed data up to five years later from 259 women and almost 1,000 men in the Netherlands who survived at least 30 days after cardiac arrest. The authors say more research is needed to understand the reasons for the mental-health fallout, but that the results suggest that women are not adequately supported after cardiac arrest. mental health Young people face disparities in ER wait times for inpatient mental health care The youth mental health crisis in the U.S. is growing, with visits to the emergency department related to suicide among children and young adults increasing fivefold from 2011 to 2020. Youth taken to the emergency room for any sort of mental health care are more likely to be stuck there waiting for care than they were a decade ago. But some youth from marginalized groups face longer waits, and then are less likely to be admitted for inpatient care afterward, according to a study of Massachusetts data published yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics. Trans and nonbinary youth were typically held in the ER for two nights longer than cisgender females but were more than 9% less likely to be admitted for inpatient care, the researchers found. (Findings were similar when comparing trans youth to all cisgender youth.) Black youth were more than 4% less likely to be admitted compared to their white counterparts. To assess the disparities, researchers used data on everyone between the ages of 5 to 17 who boarded in a Massachusetts emergency department between 2020 and 2022. Overall, almost half of all youth who were stuck in the ER for three nights or longer did not end up getting admitted — which means they may be less likely to receive the mental-health care they need. (To learn more about the mental health crisis, keep up with STAT's coverage.)

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First opinion People in jail deserve addiction treatment, too SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES  Overdose is the leading cause of death among those returning to their communities after being in jail or prison. To prevent such deaths, it's not enough to simply make sure that people abstain from drugs while incarcerated, write experts Nora Volkow and Tisha Wiley in a new First Opinion essay. Actually effective, cost-efficient, FDA-approved medications for addiction like methadone and buprenorphine are woefully underused in the criminal justice system, Volkow and Wiley write. Not only would providing medications for opioid use disorder in jails benefit public health and public safety, they say, it can help break the cycle of recidivism and reduce the burden on the wider health care system. Read more. medical education Johns Hopkins to offer free tuition to most medical students The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine will be free for most medical students starting in fall 2024, after a $1 billion donation from ​​Bloomberg Philanthropies. Medical students who come from families that earn under $300,000 will receive free tuition, while those with families earning less than $175,000 will also receive funding for living expenses. Nearly two-thirds of current and incoming students already qualify for either benefit, according to a press release from the school. It's the latest in a series of similar moves from medical schools since the NYU Grossman School of Medicine first announced its free tuition program in 2018. By relieving students of the typically crushing debt that comes with medical school, institutions hope to increase diversity and equity, and to encourage future doctors to pursue less popular, less lucrative specialties. Experts disagree on how helpful free tuition actually is when it comes to achieving these goals. h5n1 bird flu Could the bird flu with an affinity for cows also be attracted to humans? Different flus for different crews — that's typically the motto for circulating influenza viruses. Certain flu viruses have an affinity for latching onto receptors commonly found in bird guts, while others prefer those found in the human upper respiratory tract. But a new study found that the H5N1 virus infecting dairy cows across the U.S. could actually bind to both types of receptors. What does that mean for us? It's too soon to say whether this means there's an increased risk for the virus to become a significant human pathogen, one of the study authors told STAT's Megan Molteni. Read more from Megan on our evolving understanding of how bird flu circulates.

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What we're reading Isolation, extreme fatigue, lingering misery: What it's like to survive measles, Washington Post Parkinson's expert visited the White House eight times in eight months, New York Times Drugmakers are losing crucial friends on Capitol Hill, STAT Disabled students are struggling to get what they need at school, NPR A faster, simpler, cheaper cancer cell therapy is about to be tested in humans, STAT

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Thanks for reading! More tomorrow,

theresa.gaffney@statnews.com

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