a stat investigation
Sickle cell, loss, and survival in America
Tammy Clemons was in the hospital again, a place where she'd spent too much of her life already. This time, when a nurse asked her what level her pain was, Clemons said eight — like her insides no longer wanted to be a part of her and were trying to get out.
The pain had started while she was at work, at the beauty supply store. A customer had asked for some extensions, but when Clemons had reached up with the grabber, a sharpness in her belly made her gasp. She'd been living with sickle cell disease for decades at that point, and the pain it caused her was just one of life's heartbreaks. She'd never have kids thanks to a tubal ligation she got as a teenager on a doctor's recommendation. But there was also the death of her brother, her grandmother.
Read more about Clemons and her experience with sickle cell disease in Part 5 of Eric Boodman's Coercive Care series. And if you haven't read the first four parts, please do. Eric writes vividly about how doctors push sickle cell patients into unwanted sterilizations and reports on new data showing how prevalent sterilizations are among these patients; about how, when they do get pregnant, patients can be pushed toward or against abortions; and about the federal rule that fails to protect patients.
heart health
911 operators could eliminate bystander CPR disparities
Bad news: When a woman's heart suddenly stops beating, she is less likely to receive CPR from a bystander than a man is. Good news: The disparity is eliminated when a 911 operator guides a caller through the steps.
That's according to new research being presented today at the American Heart Association's Resuscitation Science Symposium. Researchers at Duke University School of Medicine analyzed nearly 2,400 emergency calls for cardiac arrest in North Carolina. CPR was administered in about half of all calls. When it was, 911 operators assisted 81% of the time.
Previous research has shown that the fear of being perceived as touching someone inappropriately and concerns about harming someone frail contribute to hesitancy to do CPR on women. But when bystanders are guided by 911 operators, both men and women receive CPR much more often. The study authors hope that their findings offer insight to improve the low rate of people who survive cardiac arrest when it occurs outside a hospital, per a press release.
more heart health
More puzzling heart health disparities
STAT's Liz Cooney highlights four new papers that reiterate how people in different socioeconomic groups have differing health outcomes.
Here's what researchers found: Cardiac care before delivery helped white but not Black mothers with preeclampsia. Black veterans were less likely to be prescribed weight loss drugs than white ones. Social needs keep heart failure patients from getting the benefits of "quadruple therapy," meaning all four forms of guideline-directed medical therapy. And cardiology fellows have mixed reviews on their programs' DEI efforts.
Read more from Liz about those studies, which will also be presented at AHA scientific sessions later this week.
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