Clinical

Well before the COVID-19 virus reached pandemic proportions, opioid abuse and related overdoses and deaths had been declared an epidemic in the United States. However, thanks to factors such as social isolation, economic instability, fear over disease, and reduced access to health resources, drug overdoses have reached historic levels over the past 2 years—to the point that more than 100,000 Americans died of overdoses over the 12-month period ending in April 2021, according to the …

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention following the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to allow COVID-19 booster shots for all individuals over the age of 18, urgent care providers are emboldened to take the next step in their efforts to offer added protection to patients who completed their initial immunization at least 6 months ago. The CDC also strengthened a recommendation that everyone over the age of 50 should get …

It didn’t take long for physicians to notice that patients with COVID-19 also came down with pink eye more often than patients who did not have the virus. According to information presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in New Orleans and reported by MedPage Today this week, however, patients with COVID-19 are also more likely to have photophobia, retinal hemorrhage, and optic neuritis. Those experiencing long-haul disease, in particular, seem …

Despite increased emphasis on public education on the dangers of vaping various substances, the “past 12 months” prevalence of cannabis vaping by adolescents more than doubled between 2013 and 2020 (from 6.1% to 13.6%) according to an article published by JAMA Pediatrics. The authors conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 17 unique studies from the United States and Canada, reflecting the experiences of 198,845 adolescents. They also discovered that preference for cannabis products seems …

Research continues to support the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and to disprove the perceived likelihood of many dangers associated with them. Most recently, a Research Letter published by JAMA Network takes aim at the misperception that pregnant women who receive a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine are at increased risk for spontaneous abortion. Looking at 105,446 unique pregnancies at eight U.S. health systems, the researchers found that “among women with spontaneous abortions, the odds of COVID-19 vaccine exposure …

Many patients with diabetes loathe being called “diabetics” and people with autism may blanch at being called “autistic.” And studies, some reported on in JUCM News, have shown that the words a healthcare provider chooses actually influence outcomes. Using patient-first language (eg, “a patient with diabetes”) is a good first step toward a productive clinical relationship, whereas putting the disease first (“the diabetic patient”) can leave someone feeling demeaned or paint the clinician as uncaring, …

We all know that COVID-19 vaccines (like all vaccines) are not 100% effective in preventing infection. And we’re still learning just how long protection can be expected to last. As such, patients with symptoms that could be attributed to SARS-CoV-2 should be tested for the virus regardless of their vaccination status. An urgent care operation in Michigan learned this the hard way after they declined to test a 74-year-old woman who presented with sinus congestion, …

With the rate of COVID-19 cases and related deaths continuing to slow, there could be a collective sense of hope among the public that Thanksgiving 2021 will see a return to large gatherings without fear of infecting, or being infected by, loved ones. While the U.S. is currently in a healthier situation than it was a year ago, assuming the danger of the pandemic has passed would be both premature and dangerous. Rather, it’s time …

Even patients who recover quickly from COVID-19 infection may continue to struggle with brain fog months after they’re past physical symptoms of the virus, according to a new research letter published online by JAMA Network Open. Perhaps most surprisingly, cognitive dysfunction showed up in patients between 38 and 59 years more than 7 months post infection. The data were drawn from the cases of 740 patients tracked through a Mount Sinai Health System registry between …

At this time last year, COVID-19 vaccines were still months off and many Americans were grappling with the headaches of remote work and school, social distancing, and acute awareness of their own hygiene practices. One of the few upsides to that was reduction of exposure to seasonal influenza. Consequently, we had a relatively light flu season. Now, however, with several COVID-19 vaccines available and caseloads and hospitalizations slowly coming down, people are getting together in …