articles of medical research

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Trending Articles

• A prognostic model for use before elective surgery to estimate the risk of postoperative pulmonary complications (GSU-Pulmonary Score): a development and validation study in three international cohorts. NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery, et al. Lancet Digit Health. 2024. PMID: 38906616
• [Usutu virus: the phantom menace]. Clé M, et al. Med Sci (Paris). 2018. PMID: 30230467 Review. French.
• TERT activation targets DNA methylation and multiple aging hallmarks. Shim HS, et al. Cell. 2024. PMID: 38908367
• Astrocytic LRP1 enables mitochondria transfer to neurons and mitigates brain ischemic stroke by suppressing ARF1 lactylation. Zhou J, et al. Cell Metab. 2024. PMID: 38906140
• Supporting the Support System: How Assessment and Communication Can Help Patients and Their Support Systems. Harkey J, et al. Prof Case Manag. 2017. PMID: 28557875

Latest Literature

• Am J Clin Nutr (3)
• Arch Phys Med Rehabil (1)
• J Am Acad Dermatol (4)
• J Clin Endocrinol Metab (1)
• Nat Commun (16)
• Oncogene (1)
• Pediatrics (2)
• Spine (Phila Pa 1976) (2)

NCBI Literature Resources

MeSH PMC Bookshelf Disclaimer

The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited.

• Search by keyword
• Search by citation

Page 1 of 88

Differences in trajectories of quality of life according to type of dementia: 6-year longitudinal findings from the IDEAL programme

People with different types of dementia may have distinct symptoms and experiences that affect their quality of life. This study investigated whether quality of life varied across types of dementia and over time.

• View Full Text

Global burden, risk factors, and temporal trends of ureteral cancer: a comprehensive analysis of cancer registries

Ureteral cancer is a rare cancer. This study aimed to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis on the global trends of ureteral cancer incidence and its association with lifestyle and metabolic risk fa...

Heterologous versus homologous COVID-19 booster vaccinations for adults: systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis of randomised clinical trials

To combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), booster vaccination strategies are important. However, the optimal administration of booster vaccine platforms remains unclear. Herein, we aimed to assess the ben...

Lung cancer metabolomics: a pooled analysis in the Cancer Prevention Studies

A better understanding of lung cancer etiology and the development of screening biomarkers have important implications for lung cancer prevention.

Sleep and liver function biomarkers in relation to risk of incident liver cancer: a nationwide prospective cohort study

To assess the largely undetermined separate and joint effects of sleep and liver function biomarkers on liver cancer.

Long-term health outcomes by cancer diagnosed age among adolescent and young adult: multinational representative database

The cancer experienced in adolescent and young adult (AYA) could disturb developmental changes and long-term life. The current AYA guidelines and research for survivorship were developed and reported according...

First-in-human, double-blind, randomized phase 1b study of peptide immunotherapy IMCY-0098 in new-onset type 1 diabetes: an exploratory analysis of immune biomarkers

IMCY-0098, a synthetic peptide developed to halt disease progression via elimination of key immune cells in the autoimmune cascade, has shown a promising safety profile for the treatment of type 1 diabetes (T1...

Impact of baseline cardiovascular risk on the outcomes of intensive blood pressure intervention: a post hoc analysis of the China rural hypertension control project

The 2018/2023 ESC/ESH Guidelines underlined a gap how baseline cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk predicted blood pressure (BP) lowering benefits. Further, 2017 ACC/AHA Guideline and 2021 WHO Guideline recommen...

EEG signatures of cognitive decline after mild SARS-CoV-2 infection: an age-dependent study

Current research on the neurological impact of SARS-CoV-2 primarily focuses on the elderly or severely ill individuals. This study aims to explore the diverse neurological consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection,...

Associations of serum uric acid variability with neuroimaging metrics and cognitive decline: a population-based cohort study

The relationship between variation in serum uric acid (SUA) levels and brain health is largely unknown. This study aimed to examine the associations of long-term variability in SUA levels with neuroimaging met...

Healthcare utilisation in people with long COVID: an OpenSAFELY cohort study

Long COVID potentially increases healthcare utilisation and costs. However, its impact on the NHS remains to be determined.

Circulating small extracellular vesicles in Alzheimer’s disease: a case–control study of neuro-inflammation and synaptic dysfunction

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by Aβ plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Chronic inflammation and synaptic dysfunction lead to disease progression and cognitive decline....

Cognitive enhancing effect of rTMS combined with tDCS in patients with major depressive disorder: a double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled study

Cognitive dysfunction is one of the common symptoms in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have...

Taxane combined with lobaplatin or anthracycline for neoadjuvant chemotherapy of triple-negative breast cancer: a randomized, controlled, phase II study

Previous studies have shown that the addition of platinum to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) improved outcomes for patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, no studies have assessed the effic...

Association between exercise habits and incident type 2 diabetes mellitus in patients with thyroid cancer: nationwide population-based study

We investigated the association between exercise habits before or after thyroidectomy and incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in patients with thyroid cancer.

Early discharge hospital at home as alternative to routine hospital care for older people: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The global population of adults aged 60 and above surpassed 1 billion in 2020, constituting 13.5% of the global populace. Projections indicate a rise to 2.1 billion by 2050. While Hospital-at-Home (HaH) progra...

Associations of neighborhood sociodemographic environment with mortality and circulating metabolites among low-income black and white adults living in the southeastern United States

Residing in a disadvantaged neighborhood has been linked to increased mortality. However, the impact of residential segregation and social vulnerability on cause-specific mortality is understudied. Additionall...

Perceived barriers and facilitators for model-informed dosing in pregnancy: a qualitative study across healthcare practitioners and pregnant women

Most women use medication during pregnancy. Pregnancy-induced changes in physiology may require antenatal dose alterations. Yet, evidence-based doses in pregnancy are missing. Given historically limited data, ...

Distance-related functional reorganization predicts motor outcome in stroke patients

Analyzing distance-dependent functional connectivity density (FCD) yields valuable insights into patterns of brain activity. Nevertheless, whether alterations of FCD in non-acute stroke patients are associated...

The occlusion rates after distal radial access: how to multiply your bullets

Trends in cardiovascular risk factor prevalence, treatment, and control among us adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, 2001 to march 2020.

Early-life cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) are known to be associated with target organ damage during adolescence and premature cardiovascular morbidity and mortality during adulthood. However, contemporar...

Minimally invasive surgeries for spontaneous hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (MISICH): a multicenter randomized controlled trial

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a common stroke type with high morbidity and mortality. There are mainly three surgical methods for treating ICH. Unfortunately, thus far, no specific surgical method has been...

“The dream is that there’s one place you go”: a qualitative study of women’s experiences seeking care from Long COVID clinics in the USA

Seeking and obtaining effective health care for Long COVID remains a challenge in the USA. Women have particularly been impacted, as they are both at higher risk of developing Long COVID and of facing gendered...

Endothelial dysfunction and persistent inflammation in severe post-COVID-19 patients: implications for gas exchange

Understanding the enduring respiratory consequences of severe COVID-19 is crucial for comprehensive patient care. This study aims to evaluate the impact of post-COVID conditions on respiratory sequelae of seve...

Effectiveness of home treatment in children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders—systematic review and meta-analysis

Home treatment in child and adolescent psychiatry offers an alternative to conventional inpatient treatment by involving the patient’s family, school, and peers more directly in therapy. Although several revie...

Utility of shaking chills as a diagnostic sign for bacteremia in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Accurate prediction of bacteremia is essential for guiding blood culture collection and optimal antibiotic treatment. Shaking chills, defined as a subjective chill sensation with objective body shivering, have...

Protein truncating variants in mitochondrial-related nuclear genes and the risk of chronic liver disease

Mitochondrial (MT) dysfunction is a hallmark of liver diseases. However, the effects of functional variants such as protein truncating variants (PTVs) in MT-related genes on the risk of liver diseases have not...

Chronic pain in children and young people with cerebral palsy: a narrative review of challenges, advances, and future directions

Cerebral palsy (CP), the most common physical disability of childhood, is often accompanied by a range of comorbidities including pain. Pain is highly prevalent in children and young people with CP, yet has be...

Uptake, effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines in individuals at clinical risk due to immunosuppressive drug therapy or transplantation procedures: a population-based cohort study in England

Immunocompromised individuals are at increased risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes, underscoring the importance of COVID-19 vaccination in this population. The lack of comprehensive real-world data on vaccine upt...

Validation of the Health Assessment Tool (HAT) based on four aging cohorts from the Swedish National study on Aging and Care

As global aging accelerates, routinely assessing the functional status and morbidity burden of older patients becomes paramount. The aim of this study is to assess the validity of the comprehensive clinical an...

Understanding the causes of missingness in primary care: a realist review

Although missed appointments in healthcare have been an area of concern for policy, practice and research, the primary focus has been on reducing single ‘situational’ missed appointments to the benefit of serv...

Optimizing perioperative treatment for potentially resectable stage III squamous cell lung carcinoma: promising results of a condensed four-cycle regimen with tislelizumaband chemotherapy

The standard care for resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) involves perioperative therapy combining chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors, typically lasting 6 to 12 months. However, the optima...

Examining the impact of substance use on hospital length of stay in schizophrenia spectrum disorder: a retrospective analysis

Among patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, the presence of substance use poses an aggravating comorbidity, exerting a negative impact on the course of the disease, adherence to therapeutic regimens, treatmen...

Geriatric assessment with management for older patients with cancer receiving radiotherapy: a cluster-randomised controlled pilot study

Geriatric assessment and management (GAM) improve outcomes in older patients with cancer treated with surgery or chemotherapy. It is unclear whether GAM may provide better function and quality of life (QoL), o...

Expanding community case management of malaria to all ages can improve universal access to malaria diagnosis and treatment: results from a cluster randomized trial in Madagascar

Global progress on malaria control has stalled recently, partly due to challenges in universal access to malaria diagnosis and treatment. Community health workers (CHWs) can play a key role in improving access...

How do lifestyle factors modify the association between genetic predisposition and obesity-related phenotypes? A 4-way decomposition analysis using UK Biobank

Obesity and central obesity are multifactorial conditions with genetic and non-genetic (lifestyle and environmental) contributions. There is incomplete understanding of whether lifestyle modifies the translati...

Dysregulated RNA editing of EIF2AK2 in polycystic ovary syndrome: clinical relevance and functional implications

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a prevalent endocrine disorder affecting women of reproductive ages. Our previous study has implicated a possible link between RNA editing and PCOS, yet the actual role of R...

Are Dutch adults equally susceptible to nudging and pricing strategies? Secondary analyses of the Supreme Nudge parallel cluster-randomised controlled supermarket trial

Supermarket interventions are promising to promote healthier dietary patterns, but not all individuals may be equally susceptible. We explored whether the effectiveness of nudging and pricing strategies on die...

How effective is the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 transmission and infection? A national programme analysis in Monaco, July 2021 to September 2022

We quantified SARS-CoV-2 dynamics in different community settings and the direct and indirect effect of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine in Monaco for different variants of concern (VOC).

Sex-specific associations of adolescent motherhood with cognitive function, behavioral problems, and autistic-like traits in offspring and the mediating roles of family conflict and altered brain structure

Previous studies have linked adolescent motherhood to adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring, yet the sex-specific effect and underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

Association of depressive symptoms and sleep disturbances with survival among US adult cancer survivors

Depression and sleep disturbances are associated with increased risks of various diseases and mortality, but their impacts on mortality in cancer survivors remain unclear. The objective of this study was to ch...

Adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower risk of diabetic kidney disease among individuals with hyperglycemia: a prospective cohort study

Type 2 diabetes is associated with a variety of complications, including micro- and macrovascular complications, neurological manifestations and poor wound healing. Adhering to a Mediterranean Diet (MED) is ge...

The neural and genetic underpinnings of different developmental trajectories of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Symptoms in children and adolescents

The trajectory of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children and adolescents, encompassing descending, stable, and ascending patterns, delineates their ADHD status as remission, persi...

Virtual reality as an engaging and enjoyable method for delivering emergency clinical simulation training: a prospective, interventional study of medical undergraduates

It is a requirement that medical students are educated in emergencies and feel well prepared for practice as a doctor, yet national surveys show that many students feel underprepared. Virtual reality (VR), com...

Hepatic steatosis, metabolic dysfunction and risk of mortality: findings from a multinational prospective cohort study

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are implicated in the aetiology of non-communicable diseases. Our study aimed to evaluate associations between NAFLD and MetS with overal...

Associations of prenatal blood pressure trajectory and variability with child neurodevelopment at 2 years old

The patterns of blood pressure (BP) change throughout the pregnancy were related to adverse birth outcomes. However, little is known about the long-term effect of BP change patterns on child neurodevelopment. ...

Clustering care pathways of people with alcohol dependence using a data linkage of routine data in Bremen, Germany

Although many individuals with alcohol dependence (AD) are recognized in the German healthcare system, only a few utilize addiction-specific treatment services. Those who enter treatment are not well character...

Comparison of children and adults in deep brain stimulation for Tourette Syndrome: a large-scale multicenter study of 102 cases with long-term follow-up

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a promising therapy for refractory Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS). However, its long-term efficacy, safety, and recommended surgical age remain controversial, requiring ev...

Personalized therapy in endometriosis — based on ERα or ERβ expression

The original article was published in BMC Medicine 2023 21 :460

The impact of major depressive disorder on glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes: a longitudinal cohort study using UK Biobank primary care records

This study evaluates longitudinal associations between glycaemic control, measured by mean and within-patient variability of glycated haemaglobin (HbA1c) levels, and major depressive disorder (MDD) in individu...

• Editorial Team
• Editorial Board
• Call for papers
• Editor’s choice
• Sign up for article alerts and news from this journal
• Manuscript editing services

Annual Journal Metrics

2022 Citation Impact 9.3 - 2-year Impact Factor 10.4 - 5-year Impact Factor 3.011 - SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper) 3.447 - SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

2023 Speed 6 days submission to first editorial decision for all manuscripts (Median) 145 days submission to accept (Median)

2023 Usage  6,375,113 downloads 24,228 Altmetric mentions 

• More about our metrics

Announcements

medRxiv transfers

BMC Medicine  is happy to consider manuscripts that have been, or will be, posted on a preprint server. Authors are able to submit their manuscripts directly from  medRxiv , without having to re-upload files.

Registered reports

BMC Medicine is accepting Registered Reports. Find out more about this innovative format in our Submission Guidelines .

• Follow us on Twitter

BMC Medicine

ISSN: 1741-7015

• Submission enquiries: [email protected]
• General enquiries: [email protected]

Research articles

Nab-paclitaxel, cisplatin, and capecitabine versus cisplatin and gemcitabine as first line chemotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, lateral episiotomy or in vacuum assisted delivery in nulliparous women, global burden of type 1 diabetes in adults aged 65 years and older, antiplatelet therapy after coronary artery bypass surgery, mailed feedback to primary care physicians on antibiotic prescribing, tislelizumab plus chemotherapy versus placebo plus chemotherapy as first line treatment for advanced gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, epidural analgesia during labour and severe maternal morbidity, exposure to antibiotics during pregnancy or early infancy and risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, clinical and healthcare use outcomes after cessation of long term opioid treatment due to prescriber workforce exit, effect of the hpv vaccination programme on incidence of cervical cancer by socioeconomic deprivation in england, long acting progestogens vs combined oral contraceptive pill for preventing recurrence of endometriosis related pain, ultra-processed food consumption and all cause and cause specific mortality, comparative effectiveness of second line oral antidiabetic treatments among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus, efficacy of psilocybin for treating symptoms of depression, reverse total shoulder replacement versus anatomical total shoulder replacement for osteoarthritis, effect of combination treatment with glp-1 receptor agonists and sglt-2 inhibitors on incidence of cardiovascular and serious renal events, prenatal opioid exposure and risk of neuropsychiatric disorders in children, temporal trends in lifetime risks of atrial fibrillation and its complications, antipsychotic use in people with dementia, predicting the risks of kidney failure and death in adults with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease, impact of large scale, multicomponent intervention to reduce proton pump inhibitor overuse, esketamine after childbirth for mothers with prenatal depression, glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist use and risk of thyroid cancer, use of progestogens and the risk of intracranial meningioma, delirium and incident dementia in hospital patients, derivation and external validation of a simple risk score for predicting severe acute kidney injury after intravenous cisplatin, quality and safety of artificial intelligence generated health information, large language models and the generation of health disinformation, 25 year trends in cancer incidence and mortality among adults in the uk, cervical pessary versus vaginal progesterone in women with a singleton pregnancy, comparison of prior authorization across insurers, diagnostic accuracy of magnetically guided capsule endoscopy with a detachable string for detecting oesophagogastric varices in adults with cirrhosis, ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes, added benefit and revenues of oncology drugs approved by the ema, exposure to air pollution and hospital admission for cardiovascular diseases, short term exposure to low level ambient fine particulate matter and natural cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory morbidity, optimal timing of influenza vaccination in young children, effect of exercise for depression, association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with cardiovascular disease and all cause death in patients with type 2 diabetes, duration of cpr and outcomes for adults with in-hospital cardiac arrest, clinical effectiveness of an online physical and mental health rehabilitation programme for post-covid-19 condition, atypia detected during breast screening and subsequent development of cancer, publishers’ and journals’ instructions to authors on use of generative ai in academic and scientific publishing, effectiveness of glp-1 receptor agonists on glycaemic control, body weight, and lipid profile for type 2 diabetes, neurological development in children born moderately or late preterm, invasive breast cancer and breast cancer death after non-screen detected ductal carcinoma in situ, all cause and cause specific mortality in obsessive-compulsive disorder, acute rehabilitation following traumatic anterior shoulder dislocation, perinatal depression and risk of mortality, undisclosed financial conflicts of interest in dsm-5-tr, effect of risk mitigation guidance opioid and stimulant dispensations on mortality and acute care visits, update to living systematic review on sars-cov-2 positivity in offspring and timing of mother-to-child transmission, perinatal depression and its health impact, christmas 2023: common healthcare related instruments subjected to magnetic attraction study, using autoregressive integrated moving average models for time series analysis of observational data, demand for morning after pill following new year holiday, christmas 2023: christmas recipes from the great british bake off, effect of a doctor working during the festive period on population health: experiment using doctor who episodes, christmas 2023: analysis of barbie medical and science career dolls, christmas 2023: effect of chair placement on physicians’ behavior and patients’ satisfaction, management of chronic pain secondary to temporomandibular disorders, christmas 2023: projecting complete redaction of clinical trial protocols, christmas 2023: a drug target for erectile dysfunction to help improve fertility, sexual activity, and wellbeing, christmas 2023: efficacy of cola ingestion for oesophageal food bolus impaction, conservative management versus laparoscopic cholecystectomy in adults with gallstone disease, social media use and health risk behaviours in young people, untreated cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 and cervical cancer, air pollution deaths attributable to fossil fuels, implementation of a high sensitivity cardiac troponin i assay and risk of myocardial infarction or death at five years, covid-19 vaccine effectiveness against post-covid-19 condition, association between patient-surgeon gender concordance and mortality after surgery, intravascular imaging guided versus coronary angiography guided percutaneous coronary intervention, treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms in men in primary care using a conservative intervention, autism intervention meta-analysis of early childhood studies, effectiveness of the live zoster vaccine during the 10 years following vaccination, effects of a multimodal intervention in primary care to reduce second line antibiotic prescriptions for urinary tract infections in women, pyrotinib versus placebo in combination with trastuzumab and docetaxel in patients with her2 positive metastatic breast cancer, association of dcis size and margin status with risk of developing breast cancer post-treatment, racial differences in low value care among older patients in the us, pharmaceutical industry payments and delivery of low value cancer drugs, rosuvastatin versus atorvastatin in adults with coronary artery disease, clinical effectiveness of septoplasty versus medical management for nasal airways obstruction, ultrasound guided lavage with corticosteroid injection versus sham lavage with and without corticosteroid injection for calcific tendinopathy of shoulder, early versus delayed antihypertensive treatment in patients with acute ischaemic stroke, mortality risks associated with floods in 761 communities worldwide, interactive effects of ambient fine particulate matter and ozone on daily mortality in 372 cities, association between changes in carbohydrate intake and long term weight changes, future-case control crossover analysis for adjusting bias in case crossover studies, association between recently raised anticholinergic burden and risk of acute cardiovascular events, suboptimal gestational weight gain and neonatal outcomes in low and middle income countries: individual participant data meta-analysis, efficacy and safety of an inactivated virus-particle vaccine for sars-cov-2, effect of invitation letter in language of origin on screening attendance: randomised controlled trial in breastscreen norway, visits by nurse practitioners and physician assistants in the usa, non-erosive gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and oesophageal adenocarcinoma, venous thromboembolism with use of hormonal contraception and nsaids, food additive emulsifiers and risk of cardiovascular disease, balancing risks and benefits of cannabis use, promoting activity, independence, and stability in early dementia and mild cognitive impairment, effect of home cook interventions for salt reduction in china, follow us on, content links.

• Collections
• Health in South Asia
• Women’s, children’s & adolescents’ health
• News and views
• BMJ Opinion
• Rapid responses
• Editorial staff
• BMJ in the USA
• BMJ in South Asia
• Submit your paper
• BMA members
• Subscribers
• Advertisers and sponsors

Explore BMJ

• Our company
• BMJ Careers
• BMJ Learning
• BMJ Masterclasses
• BMJ Journals
• BMJ Student
• Academic edition of The BMJ
• BMJ Best Practice
• The BMJ Awards
• Email alerts
• Activate subscription

Information

• Search by keyword
• Search by citation

Page 1 of 508

Magnitude and determinants of undernutrition among tuberculosis patients in Ethiopia: systematic review and meta-analysis

Undernutrition increases the risk of TB infection to be active TB, death and relapse of the disease. Undernutrition also disturbs the management process of tuberculosis. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate...

• View Full Text

Age-specific association between meal-skipping patterns and the risk of hyperglycemia in Korean adults: a national cross-sectional study using the KNHANES data

Glucose metabolism regulation is influenced by age and meal skipping, although research on their interplay with hyperglycemia remains limited. This study aims to explore the intricate relationship between meal...

Health impacts of lifestyle and ambient air pollution patterns on all-cause mortality: a UK Biobank cohort study

Extensive evidence indicates that both lifestyle factors and air pollution are strongly associated with all-cause mortality. However, little studies in this field have integrated these two factors in order to ...

“A balancing act”: parents’ longitudinal perspectives of weight-related discussions with their children following obesity treatment

Weight-related discussions during childhood may have long-lasting effects on children’s body image and well-being. However, little is known about how parents frame these discussions with children who have unde...

Risk factors associated with loneliness among mexican-origin adults in southern Arizona

This study examines factors associated with symptoms of loneliness among a sample ( n  = 213) of mostly Mexican-origin adults at risk of chronic diseases in Southern Arizona’s Pima, Yuma, and Santa Cruz counties. I...

Sexual satisfaction and attitude toward marital infidelity among married people in Iran: the role of social media and entertainment preferences

Sexual satisfaction and attitudes toward marital infidelity are crucial components of marital quality and well-being. This study investigates the impact of social media and entertainment preferences on these a...

Associations among drug acquisition and use behaviors, psychosocial attributes, and opioid-involved overdoses

This study sought to develop and assess an exploratory model of how demographic and psychosocial attributes, and drug use or acquisition behaviors interact to affect opioid-involved overdoses.

Dynamics of HIV PrEP use and coverage during and after COVID-19 in Germany

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with oral emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil (FTC/TDF) proved highly efficient in preventing HIV. Since 09/2019, FTC/TDF-PrEP is covered by health insurances in Germany, if pres...

Place of residence and blood sugar testing practices among men: insights from the 2021 Madagascar demographic and health survey

In 2021, Madagascar had approximately 13,919 people living with diabetes, with 66.1% of cases being undiagnosed. The implication is that this population are at high risk of developing diabetes complications wh...

The association between problematic short video use and suicidal ideation and self-injurious behaviors: the mediating roles of sleep disturbance and depression

Prior work suggests that problematic short video use was associated with adverse psychological, physiological, and educational outcomes. With the prevailing of short video platforms, the potential relationship...

Early impact of a new food store intervention on health-related outcomes

This study investigated the early impact of a community-based food intervention, the Good Food Junction (GFJ), a full-service grocery store (September 2012 – January 2016) in a former food desert in Saskatoon,...

Malaria in under-five children: prevalence and multi-factor analysis of high-risk African countries

Malaria remains a significant public health challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly affecting under-five (UN5) children. Despite global efforts to control the disease, its prevalence in high-risk A...

Development and psychometric testing of a questionnaire for the Korea Youth risk behavior survey to assess physical activity behaviors

Physical activity is essential for physical, mental, and cognitive health. Providing evidence to develop better public health policies to encourage increased physical activity is crucial. Therefore, we develop...

Responding to human trafficking among refugees: prevalence and test accuracy of a modified version of the adult human trafficking screening tool

Human trafficking is a human rights violation and urgent public health challenge. It involves the exploitation of a person by means of force, intimidation or deceit and causes severe health risks. Though it oc...

Analysing the association between perceived knowledge, and attitudes on Lassa Fever infections and mortality risk factors in lower Bambara Chiefdom

Lassa fever (LF) presents significant public health challenges in Sierra Leone, particularly in the Lower Bambara Chiefdom. This study aims to deeply understand how knowledge and attitudes towards LF correlate...

Association between weight-adjusted waist index and testosterone deficiency in adult American men: findings from the national health and nutrition examination survey 2013–2016

Testosterone deficiency (TD) and obesity are globally recognized health concerns, with a bidirectional causal relationship between them. And a newly discovered obesity indicator, the Weight-Adjusted-Waist Inde...

Successful ageing is associated with falls among older adults in India: a large population based across-sectional study based on LASI

Falls are common in the elderly and can lead to adverse consequences, like injuries, hospitalization, disability even mortality. Successful ageing emerged in sight to assess physical, psychological and social ...

The impact of apparent temperature on the emergency visits for traumatic fractures in Hangzhou, China

Traumatic fractures occur frequently worldwide. However, research remains limited on the association between short-term exposure to temperature and traumatic fractures. This study aims to explore the impact of...

Randomised study of the effects of sense of entitlement and conflict of interest contrarianism on researcher decision-making to work with the alcohol industry

It is well established that the tobacco industry used research funding as a deliberate tactic to subvert science. There has been little wider attention to how researchers think about accepting industry funding...

Facebook’s shared articles on HPV vaccination: analysis of persuasive strategies

The current study analyzed articles shared on Facebook between 2019 and 2021 that discuss the HPV vaccine. Results address a gap in knowledge about the persuasive strategies used in HPV vaccine discourse on Fa...

“Well, what we can do is […] to organize data, to evaluate studies”—Self-images of public health academics in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

Despite the significant role of scientific knowledge pertaining to public health, the discipline of public health remained outside the centre stage within the pandemic discourse. Against this background, we in...

The relationship between air pollutants and preterm birth and blood routine changes in typical river valley city

To collect maternal maternity information on preterm births in two tertiary hospitals in the urban area of Baota District, Yan'an City, from January 2018 to December 2020, to explore the long-term and short-te...

Exploring the relationship between psychosocial factors, work engagement, and mental health: a structural equation modeling analysis among faculty in Saudi Arabia

Psychosocial hazards in the workplace were identified as a considerable risk to employee mental health as well as their general well-being. Few studies were found to examine its relationship with work engageme...

Parenting stress, anxiety, and sources of acquiring knowledge in Taiwanese caregivers of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

This survey study investigated the types of sources other than medical professionals (e.g., social media) that the caregivers of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) use to acquire kno...

The 2017 Women’s Health Initiative study and use of hormone therapy: an emulated repeated cross-sectional study

Hormone therapy (HT) use among menopausal women declined after negative information from the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) HT study. The 2017 post-intervention follow-up WHI study revealed that HT did n...

Global prevalence of obesity and overweight among medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Obesity is a global health concern, and understanding its prevalence among medical students is crucial for shaping targeted interventions. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to comprehensively assess...

Feeling unwell of passenger travel by small vehicles and associated risk factors in the North Shewa Zone, Oromiya, Ethiopia

The current study investigated how and why sociocultural structures, situational conditions, and personal behavioural factors cause passengers to feel ill when travelling by minibuses, drawing on ideas from th...

Mapping and predicting open defecation in Ethiopia: 2021 PMA-ET study

There has been extensive research conducted on open defecation in Ethiopia, but a notable gap persists in comprehensively understanding the spatial variation and predictors at the household level. This study u...

Barriers and enablers to promoting grandchildren’s physical activity and reducing screen time: a qualitative study with Australian grandparents

With an increasing number of grandparents providing care to their grandchildren, calls have been made for these caregivers to be considered important stakeholders in encouraging children’s engagement in health...

The transition of eldercare responsibility and traditional filial piety concepts and its urban-rural differences in China: an age-period-cohort analysis from 2006 to 2017

With rapid urbanization, massive migration, and non-family–based eldercare involvement, Chinese concepts of eldercare responsibility and filial piety are shifting. We performed age-period-cohort (APC) analyses...

Differences in the depression and burnout networks between doctors and nurses: evidence from a network analysis

Previous studies have demonstrated a strong association between depression and job burnout among healthcare professionals, but the results have been inconsistent, and there is a lack of in-depth exploration of...

Construction and evaluation of a practical model for measuring health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) in China

HALE is now a regular strategic planning indicator for all levels of the Chinese government. However, HALE measurements necessitate comprehensive data collection and intricate technology. Therefore, effectivel...

Factors influencing health-seeking behavior among Sudanese immigrants in Saudi Arabia

Health-seeking behavior (HSB) involves any action or inaction taken by individuals who perceive themselves to have a health problem or illness aimed at finding appropriate medical treatments. Studies suggest a...

A qualitative exploration of experts’ views about multi-dimensional aspects of hookah smoking control in Iran

The related literature has primarily addressed cigarette smoking control. It seems that researchers have failed to explore the determinants of hookah smoking (HS) control. In an attempt to fill this gap, the p...

Relationship between body mass index and residential segregation in large cities of Latin America

Obesity is a global health problem, and its connection with social and environmental factors is well-established. Social factors, such as urban segregation, may impact obesity through various mechanisms, inclu...

Results from the ENJOY MAP for HEALTH: a quasi experiment evaluating the impact of age-friendly outdoor exercise equipment to increase older people’s park visitations and physical activity

Recreational parks can play a significant role in older people’s health, with emerging evidence suggesting that changes in the physical environment, such as refurbishments of local parks, can increase park vis...

Preconception health and care policies, strategies and guidelines in the UK and Ireland: a scoping review

Preconception health has the potential to improve parental, pregnancy and infant outcomes. This scoping review aims to (1) provide an overview of the strategies, policies, guidelines, frameworks, and recommend...

Dietary patterns and micronutrients in respiratory infections including COVID-19: a narrative review

COVID-19 is a pandemic caused by nCoV-2019, a new beta-coronavirus from Wuhan, China, that mainly affects the respiratory system and can be modulated by nutrition.

Factor structure and measurement invariance of the Depression anxiety stress scale (DASS-21) in Chinese left-behind and non-left-behind children: an exploratory structural equation modeling approach

Comprehensive data has shown that adolescents often suffer from depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, and are in a particularly fragile stage of psychological, physiological, and social development. Left-b...

Accessibility to palliative care services in Colombia: an analysis of geographic disparities

Due to the increase in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases and the Colombian demographic transition, the necessity of palliative care has arisen. This study used accessibility and coverage indicators t...

Do promotions of healthier or more sustainable foods increase sales? Findings from three natural experiments in UK supermarkets

Dietary changes are necessary to improve population health and meet environmental sustainability targets. Here we analyse the impact of promotional activities implemented in UK supermarkets on purchases of hea...

Community-dwelling older adults’ perspectives on health risks: a qualitative study exploring anxieties, priorities, and expectations in ageing

With the conflict between the promise of ageing in health and longevity and the limited availability of health resources and social support, older adults in China inevitably experience anxieties surrounding he...

Cardiovascular disease risk and associated physical activity factors in gastrointestinal cancer survivors

Although the risk of CVD is increased in cancer survivors, few studies have investigated the CVD risk in survivors of gastrointestinal (GI) cancer. Therefore, we evaluated the CVD risk using the 10-year athero...

Psychometric properties of the health literacy instrument in Brazil (HLS-EU-BR47)

Health literacy (HL) is a key component of health promotion and sustainability and contributes to well-being. Despite its global relevance, HL is an under-researched topic in South America but is now debuting ...

Factors influencing smoking cessation attempts and success in Iranian male adults: national survey data

Smoking cessation is a dynamic process that often involves a series of unsuccessful quit attempts before long-term abstinence is achieved. To implement interventions that lead to long-term abstinence, it will ...

Geographic inequalities and determinants of anaemia among preeclamptic women: a cross-sectional sample-based study in Bangladesh

Anaemia among preeclamptic (PE) women is a major undefined health issue in Bangladesh. This study explored the risk factors associated with anaemia and mapped the regional influences to understand the geograph...

Self-inflicted ingestion of harmful chemicals in adolescents and adults: risk factors and characteristics

Injury due to ingestion of harmful chemicals has become an area of concern globally. In South Africa, paraffin has been widely implicated in multiple health outcomes, including severe ingestion injuries. A spe...

Estimating helmet wearing rates via a scalable, low-cost algorithm: a novel integration of deep learning and google street view

Wearing a helmet reduces the risk of head injuries substantially in the event of a motorcycle crash. Countries around the world are committed to promoting helmet use, but the progress has been slow and uneven....

Impact of the 2008 economic crisis on the burden of hepatitis B and C diseases in Southern European countries

The economic crisis that began in 2008 has severely affected Southern (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain) Western European (SWE) countries of Western Europe (WE) and may have affected ongoing efforts to eliminate...

Spatiotemporal epidemiology of substance-related accidental acute toxicity deaths in Canada from 2016 to 2017

In Canada, substance-related accidental acute toxicity deaths (AATDs) continue to rise at the national and sub-national levels. However, it is unknown if, where, when, and to what degree AATDs cluster in space...

Important information

Editorial board

For authors

For editorial board members

For reviewers

• Manuscript editing services

Annual Journal Metrics

2022 Citation Impact 4.5 - 2-year Impact Factor 4.7 - 5-year Impact Factor 1.661 - SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper) 1.307 - SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

2023 Speed 32 days submission to first editorial decision for all manuscripts (Median) 173 days submission to accept (Median)

2023 Usage  24,332,405 downloads 24,308 Altmetric mentions 

• More about our metrics

Peer-review Terminology

The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal:

Identity transparency: Single anonymized

Reviewer interacts with: Editor

Review information published: Review reports. Reviewer Identities reviewer opt in. Author/reviewer communication

More information is available here

• Follow us on Twitter

BMC Public Health

ISSN: 1471-2458

• General enquiries: [email protected]

• Download PDF
• Share X Facebook Email LinkedIn
• Permissions

A Clinical Diagnostic Test for Calcium Release Deficiency Syndrome

• 1 Libin Cardiovascular Institute, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• 2 Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• 3 Jesselson Integrated Heart Center, Eisenberg R&D Authority, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, and Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel
• 4 Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, England
• 5 Oxford Heart Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, England
• 6 Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Antwerp University Hospital, Antwerp, Belgium
• 7 Cardiovascular Research, Departments of Genetics, Pharmacology and Physiopathology of Heart, Blood Vessels and Skeleton, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
• 8 Member of the European Reference Network for Rare, Low Prevalence, and Complex Diseases of the Heart (ERN GUARD-Heart)
• 9 Department of Clinical Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• 10 Heart Failure and Arrhythmias, Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• 11 Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
• 12 Montreal Heart Institute and Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 13 Department of Cardiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus N, Denmark
• 14 Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec, Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
• 15 Department of Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology, Hopital Cardiologique du Haut-Leveque, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Bordeaux, Pessac, France
• 16 Division of Cardiology and Centre for Cardiovascular Innovation, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
• 17 Department of Molecular Cardiology, IRCCS Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri, Pavia, Italy
• 18 Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
• 19 Windland Smith Rice Genetic Heart Rhythm Clinic, Division of Heart Rhythm Services, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
• 20 Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
• 21 Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Division of Cardiology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle
• 22 Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• 23 Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
• 24 Windland Smith Rice Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory, Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
• 25 Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
• 26 Inherited Arrhythmia and Cardiomyopathy Program, Arrhythmia Service, Division of Cardiology, Toronto General Hospital and the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 27 Leviev Heart Institute, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel
• 28 Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
• 29 Oxford Biomedical Research Centre and Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, England
• 30 Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
• 31 Heart Institute, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel
• Editor's Note Clinical Test for Calcium Release Deficiency Syndrome? Gregory M. Marcus, MD, MAS; Gregory Curfman, MD; Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS JAMA

Question   Cardiac arrest frequently occurs without explanation, even after a thorough clinical evaluation. Can a simple maneuver clinically diagnose calcium release deficiency syndrome (CRDS), a newly described cause of sudden death?

Findings   In this international, multicenter, case-control study, a provoked measure of T-wave amplitude on an electrocardiogram ascertained cases of CRDS with high accuracy. The genetic mouse models recapitulated the human findings and suggested a pathologically large systolic calcium release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum was responsible.

Meaning   These preliminary results suggest that the repolarization response on an electrocardiogram to brief tachycardia followed by a pause may effectively diagnose CRDS. Given the frequency of unexplained cardiac arrest, should these findings be confirmed in larger studies, this readily available maneuver may provide clinically actionable information.

Importance   Sudden death and cardiac arrest frequently occur without explanation, even after a thorough clinical evaluation. Calcium release deficiency syndrome (CRDS), a life-threatening genetic arrhythmia syndrome, is undetectable with standard testing and leads to unexplained cardiac arrest.

Objective   To explore the cardiac repolarization response on an electrocardiogram after brief tachycardia and a pause as a clinical diagnostic test for CRDS.

Design, Setting, and Participants   An international, multicenter, case-control study including individual cases of CRDS, 3 patient control groups (individuals with suspected supraventricular tachycardia; survivors of unexplained cardiac arrest [UCA]; and individuals with genotype-positive catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia [CPVT]), and genetic mouse models (CRDS, wild type, and CPVT were used to define the cellular mechanism) conducted at 10 centers in 7 countries. Patient tracings were recorded between June 2005 and December 2023, and the analyses were performed from April 2023 to December 2023.

Intervention   Brief tachycardia and a subsequent pause (either spontaneous or mediated through cardiac pacing).

Main Outcomes and Measures   Change in QT interval and change in T-wave amplitude (defined as the difference between their absolute values on the postpause sinus beat and the last beat prior to tachycardia).

Results   Among 10 case patients with CRDS, 45 control patients with suspected supraventricular tachycardia, 10 control patients who experienced UCA, and 3 control patients with genotype-positive CPVT, the median change in T-wave amplitude on the postpause sinus beat (after brief ventricular tachycardia at ≥150 beats/min) was higher in patients with CRDS ( P  < .001). The smallest change in T-wave amplitude was 0.250 mV for a CRDS case patient compared with the largest change in T-wave amplitude of 0.160 mV for a control patient, indicating 100% discrimination. Although the median change in QT interval was longer in CRDS cases ( P  = .002), an overlap between the cases and controls was present. The genetic mouse models recapitulated the findings observed in humans and suggested the repolarization response was secondary to a pathologically large systolic release of calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum.

Conclusions and Relevance   There is a unique repolarization response on an electrocardiogram after provocation with brief tachycardia and a subsequent pause in CRDS cases and mouse models, which is absent from the controls. If these findings are confirmed in larger studies, this easy to perform maneuver may serve as an effective clinical diagnostic test for CRDS and become an important part of the evaluation of cardiac arrest.

• Editor's Note Clinical Test for Calcium Release Deficiency Syndrome? JAMA

Read More About

Ni M , Dadon Z , Ormerod JOM, et al. A Clinical Diagnostic Test for Calcium Release Deficiency Syndrome. JAMA. Published online June 20, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.8599

Manage citations:

© 2024

Artificial Intelligence Resource Center

Cardiology in JAMA : Read the Latest

Browse and subscribe to JAMA Network podcasts!

Others Also Liked

Select your interests.

Customize your JAMA Network experience by selecting one or more topics from the list below.

• Academic Medicine
• Acid Base, Electrolytes, Fluids
• Allergy and Clinical Immunology
• American Indian or Alaska Natives
• Anesthesiology
• Anticoagulation
• Art and Images in Psychiatry
• Artificial Intelligence
• Assisted Reproduction
• Bleeding and Transfusion
• Caring for the Critically Ill Patient
• Challenges in Clinical Electrocardiography
• Climate and Health
• Climate Change
• Clinical Challenge
• Clinical Decision Support
• Clinical Implications of Basic Neuroscience
• Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Consensus Statements
• Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Critical Care Medicine
• Cultural Competency
• Dental Medicine
• Dermatology
• Diabetes and Endocrinology
• Diagnostic Test Interpretation
• Drug Development
• Electronic Health Records
• Emergency Medicine
• End of Life, Hospice, Palliative Care
• Environmental Health
• Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
• Facial Plastic Surgery
• Gastroenterology and Hepatology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Genomics and Precision Health
• Global Health
• Guide to Statistics and Methods
• Hair Disorders
• Health Care Delivery Models
• Health Care Economics, Insurance, Payment
• Health Care Quality
• Health Care Reform
• Health Care Safety
• Health Care Workforce
• Health Disparities
• Health Inequities
• Health Policy
• Health Systems Science
• History of Medicine
• Hypertension
• Images in Neurology
• Implementation Science
• Infectious Diseases
• Innovations in Health Care Delivery
• JAMA Infographic
• Law and Medicine
• Leading Change
• Less is More
• LGBTQIA Medicine
• Lifestyle Behaviors
• Medical Coding
• Medical Devices and Equipment
• Medical Education
• Medical Education and Training
• Medical Journals and Publishing
• Mobile Health and Telemedicine
• Narrative Medicine
• Neuroscience and Psychiatry
• Notable Notes
• Nutrition, Obesity, Exercise
• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Occupational Health
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopedics
• Otolaryngology
• Pain Medicine
• Palliative Care
• Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
• Patient Care
• Patient Information
• Performance Improvement
• Performance Measures
• Perioperative Care and Consultation
• Pharmacoeconomics
• Pharmacoepidemiology
• Pharmacogenetics
• Pharmacy and Clinical Pharmacology
• Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
• Physical Therapy
• Physician Leadership
• Population Health
• Primary Care
• Professional Well-being
• Professionalism
• Psychiatry and Behavioral Health
• Public Health
• Pulmonary Medicine
• Regulatory Agencies
• Reproductive Health
• Research, Methods, Statistics
• Resuscitation
• Rheumatology
• Risk Management
• Scientific Discovery and the Future of Medicine
• Shared Decision Making and Communication
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports Medicine
• Stem Cell Transplantation
• Substance Use and Addiction Medicine
• Surgical Innovation
• Surgical Pearls
• Teachable Moment
• Technology and Finance
• The Art of JAMA
• The Arts and Medicine
• The Rational Clinical Examination
• Tobacco and e-Cigarettes
• Translational Medicine
• Trauma and Injury
• Treatment Adherence
• Ultrasonography
• Users' Guide to the Medical Literature
• Vaccination
• Venous Thromboembolism
• Veterans Health
• Women's Health
• Workflow and Process
• Wound Care, Infection, Healing
• Register for email alerts with links to free full-text articles
• Access PDFs of free articles
• Manage your interests
• Save searches and receive search alerts

• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

• Virtual Tour
• Staff Directory
• En Español

Don’t let alcohol put a chill on summer fun.

Think before you drink.

Learn more »

Yes, YOU can prevent heart disease!

About 1 in 16 women over age 20 has heart disease. It’s never too early to start protecting your heart.

New Roadmap for Women’s Health Research

The NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Research on the Health of Women 2024-2028 is now available.

NIH Virtual Tour: Now in Spanish

Get to know NIH and explore our Bethesda campus online.

Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease Risk

Learn what factors may contribute to your risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

In the News

Aggressive B-Cell Lymphoma

Combination therapy produces lasting remission.

Post-Traumatic Stress

Service dogs reduced severity of PTSD symptoms and feelings of anxiety.

Dementia Assessment Tool

Resource tripled the odds of receiving dementia-related care.

Hypertension in Pregnancy

Many chronic cases are left untreated.

NIH at a Glance

Virtual-tour-screenshot-square.jpg.

Take the Virtual Tour

Explore the Bethesda campus and how NIH turns discovery into health.

monica-bertagnolli-thumbnail.jpg

The NIH Director

Monica M. Bertagnolli, M.D., is the NIH Director and provides leadership for the 27 Institutes and Centers that make up NIH.

nih-at-a-glance-funding.jpg

Funding for Research

NIH is the largest source of funding for medical research in the world, creating hundreds of thousands of high-quality jobs.

nih-at-a-glance-labs.jpg

Labs at NIH

Scientists conduct research on NIH campuses across the U.S., as part of our Intramural Research Program.

improving-health-collage.jpg

Impact of NIH Research

NIH-supported research has had a major positive impact on nearly all of our lives.

researcher-holding-petri-dish.jpg

Jobs at NIH

The central recruitment point of access to all NIH jobs and training opportunities

A public-private partnership to develop a coordinated research strategy to speed the most promising COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx)

An initiative to speed innovation in the development, commercialization, and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing.

A new research initiative to understand, prevent, and treat the long-term effects of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines

Guidelines from NIH for the diagnosis, treatment, and control of COVID-19.

Research information from NIH

NIH supports research in COVID-19 testing, treatments, and vaccines. También disponible en español.

NIH COVID-19 Safety Plan

Guidance to NIH staff, including employees, contractors, trainees, and volunteers, related to COVID-19.

Featured Resources & Initiatives

A new science agency proposed by President Joseph Biden as part of NIH to drive biomedical breakthroughs and provide transformative solutions for all patients.

Anti-Sexual Harassment

NIH does not tolerate pervasive or severe harassment of any kind, including sexual harassment.

Ending Structural Racism

Learn more about NIH’s efforts to end structural racism in biomedical research through the UNITE initiative.

All of Us Research Program

A research effort to revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease.

NIH HEAL Initiative

Trans-agency effort to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid crisis.

Clinical Trials

Learn about participating in clinical trials and where to find them.

Accelerating Medicines Partnership

A bold venture to help identify new treatments and cures for diseases.

Medical Research Initiatives

Important initiatives aimed at improving medical research.

Training at NIH

NIH provides training opportunities internally, as well as at universities and other institutions across the U.S.

Connect with Us

• More Social Media from NIH

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock Locked padlock icon ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

• Health Topics
• Drugs & Supplements
• Medical Tests
• Medical Encyclopedia
• About MedlinePlus
• Customer Support

Understanding Medical Research

Related issues, see, play and learn, videos and tutorials, statistics and research.

• Journal Articles

Reference Desk

Find an expert.

• No links available

It seems to happen almost every day - you hear about the results of a new medical research study. Sometimes the results of one study seem to disagree with the results of another study.

It's important to be critical when reading or listening to reports of new medical findings. Some questions that can help you evaluate health information include:

• Was the study in animals or people?
• Does the study include people like you?
• How big was the study?
• Was it a randomized controlled clinical trial ?
• Where was the research done?
• If a new treatment was being tested, were there side effects?
• Who paid for the research?
• Who is reporting the results?

NIH: National Institutes of Health

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Considering Sex as a Variable at a Research University: Knowledge, Attitudes,...
• Article: Different domains of dengue research in the Philippines: A systematic review...
• Article: The impact of a digital platform on migraine patient-centered outcome research....
• Understanding Medical Research -- see more articles

The information on this site should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care or advice. Contact a health care provider if you have questions about your health.

• History, Facts & Figures
• YSM Dean & Deputy Deans
• YSM Administration
• Department Chairs
• YSM Executive Group
• YSM Board of Permanent Officers
• FAC Documents
• Current FAC Members
• Appointments & Promotions Committees
• Ad Hoc Committees and Working Groups
• Chair Searches
• Leadership Searches
• Organization Charts
• Faculty Demographic Data
• Professionalism Reporting Data
• 2022 Diversity Engagement Survey
• State of the School Archive
• Faculty Climate Survey: YSM Results
• Strategic Planning
• Mission Statement & Process
• Beyond Sterling Hall
• COVID-19 Series Workshops
• Previous Workshops
• Departments & Centers
• Find People
• Biomedical Data Science
• Health Equity
• Inflammation
• Neuroscience
• Global Health
• Diabetes and Metabolism
• Policies & Procedures
• Media Relations
• A to Z YSM Lab Websites
• A-Z Faculty List
• A-Z Staff List
• A to Z Abbreviations
• Dept. Diversity Vice Chairs & Champions
• Dean’s Advisory Council on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Affairs Website
• Minority Organization for Retention and Expansion Website
• Office for Women in Medicine and Science
• Committee on the Status of Women in Medicine Website
• Director of Scientist Diversity and Inclusion
• Diversity Supplements
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Recruitment
• By Department & Program
• News & Events
• Executive Committee
• Aperture: Women in Medicine
• Self-Reflection
• Portraits of Strength
• Mindful: Mental Health Through Art
• Event Photo Galleries
• Additional Support
• MD-PhD Program
• PA Online Program
• Joint MD Programs
• How to Apply
• Advanced Health Sciences Research
• Clinical Informatics & Data Science
• Clinical Investigation
• Medical Education
• Visiting Student Programs
• Special Programs & Student Opportunities
• Residency & Fellowship Programs
• Center for Med Ed
• Organizational Chart
• Leadership & Staff
• Committee Procedural Info (Login Required)
• Faculty Affairs Department Teams
• Recent Appointments & Promotions
• Academic Clinician Track
• Clinician Educator-Scholar Track
• Clinican-Scientist Track
• Investigator Track
• Traditional Track
• Research Ranks
• Instructor/Lecturer
• Social Work Ranks
• Voluntary Ranks
• Adjunct Ranks
• Other Appt Types
• Appointments
• Reappointments
• Transfer of Track
• Term Extensions
• Timeline for A&P Processes
• Interfolio Faculty Search
• Interfolio A&P Processes
• Yale CV Part 1 (CV1)
• Yale CV Part 2 (CV2)
• Samples of Scholarship
• Teaching Evaluations
• Letters of Evaluation
• Dept A&P Narrative
• A&P Voting
• Faculty Affairs Staff Pages
• OAPD Faculty Workshops
• Leadership & Development Seminars
• List of Faculty Mentors
• Incoming Faculty Orientation
• Faculty Onboarding
• Past YSM Award Recipients
• Past PA Award Recipients
• Past YM Award Recipients
• International Award Recipients
• Nominations Calendar
• OAPD Newsletter
• Fostering a Shared Vision of Professionalism
• Academic Integrity
• Addressing Professionalism Concerns
• Consultation Support for Chairs & Section Chiefs
• Policies & Codes of Conduct
• First Fridays
• Fund for Physician-Scientist Mentorship
• Grant Library
• Grant Writing Course
• Mock Study Section
• Research Paper Writing
• Establishing a Thriving Research Program
• Funding Opportunities
• Join Our Voluntary Faculty
• Child Mental Health: Fostering Wellness in Children
• Faculty Resources
• Research by Keyword
• Research by Department
• Research by Global Location
• Translational Research
• Research Cores & Services
• Program for the Promotion of Interdisciplinary Team Science (POINTS)
• CEnR Steering Committee
• Experiential Learning Subcommittee
• Goals & Objectives
• Faculty & Staff
• Issues List
• Print Magazine PDFs
• Print Newsletter PDFs
• YSM Events Newsletter
• Social Media
• Patient Care

INFORMATION FOR

• Residents & Fellows
• Researchers

Dermatology and Mental Health: Study Links Psoriasis to OCD

In an ongoing effort to better understand possible links between skin conditions and mental health, researchers at Yale School of Medicine have discovered an association between psoriasis and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that may have important implications for dermatology practice.

Their study , published in Archives of Dermatological Research on May 25, uses data from the All of Us Research Program , an NIH initiative that collects health information from patients across the United States. This health data is currently being used for thousands of research projects investigating a variety of health conditions, and at Yale, researchers used the surveys and electronic health records of over 250,000 diverse participants to demonstrate for the first time an association between OCD and psoriasis in U.S. adults.

We’re interested in the overlap between psychiatric disease and inflammatory skin disease. There may be opportunities for dermatologists to identify the potential for mental health disorders in one of our patients that would then allow us to appropriately refer that person to a mental health professional. Jeffrey Cohen, MD

Psoriasis is an immune-mediated inflammatory skin condition characterized by scaly plaques on the body. It affects more than 8 million people in the U.S. OCD, a psychiatric disorder characterized by obsessive thoughts and compulsions, may affect between 2 and 3 million people. Among the participants analyzed in the study, researchers found that those with psoriasis had a 1.5-fold increase in odds for an OCD diagnosis.

“We’re interested in the overlap between psychiatric disease and inflammatory skin disease,” says Jeffrey Cohen, MD, assistant professor of dermatology and principal investigator of the study. “There may be opportunities for dermatologists to identify the potential for mental health disorders in one of our patients that would then allow us to appropriately refer that person to a mental health professional.”

Symptoms, inflammation, and genetics

There are a few potential explanations for the OCD-psoriasis link that Cohen and his team found. It’s possible that symptoms associated with psoriasis—chronic itching, sleep troubles, disfigurement—might put patients at greater risk for developing OCD. But it’s also possible that certain OCD-related tendencies, such as too much bathing or handwashing, could exacerbate psoriasis.

“Excessive bathing can dry the skin and flare psoriasis. The itch of psoriasis can lead to a lot of scratching that can become a compulsion,” says Cohen.

Inflammation could also play a role. Both OCD and psoriasis are associated with elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-2, IL-6, and TNF-α, that play a role in the body’s immune response. Cohen believes this could be significant, especially considering genetic evidence that shows family members of people who have OCD have higher rates of immune-mediated disease, such as skin conditions that include psoriasis.

A diverse dataset

Though the same OCD-psoriasis association had previously been found in Taiwanese and Swedish populations, this study was the first to demonstrate the link in American adults, and in particular, those Americans who are often left out of biomedical research.

The All of Us database that Cohen and his team used collects health information from U.S. patients of various races, ethnicities, ages, gender identities, sexualities, and other classifications. This provides researchers such as Cohen access to a highly valuable and largely underrepresented data pool.

“It remains a really great database to use for this because it has information about a lot of people from diverse groups across the United States, and the data that’s there is quite powerful,” says Cohen.

Integrating mental health and dermatology

Cohen has been using All of Us data since 2021 to discover a number of other associations, such as eczema and eating disorders , and atopic dermatitis and OCD. His findings add to the growing body of research linking the skin with the mind, but despite such evidence, mental health is frequently not considered in dermatology practice. Cohen believes this is an area where the field could improve.

“In dermatology, we’re not that great at asking about certain mental health disorders that may be relevant,” says Cohen. “But if we identify it, if we see that someone might be at risk, we could put the wheels in motion to try to get them thoroughly evaluated and, if needed, treated for whatever it is that’s going on, in addition to what we’re doing for their skin.”

As medical professionals who often have frequent contact with their patients, dermatologists are well positioned to identify the potential for mental health concerns early on, Cohen says. Thus, increasing the awareness around research findings that link the skin and the mind will be key for dermatologists and their patients alike.

Featured in this article

• Jeffrey Cohen, MD Assistant Professor of Dermatology; Director, Psoriasis Treatment Program; Director of Safety, Dermatology

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Indian J Anaesth
• v.60(9); 2016 Sep

Types of studies and research design

Mukul chandra kapoor.

Department of Anesthesiology, Max Smart Super Specialty Hospital, New Delhi, India

Medical research has evolved, from individual expert described opinions and techniques, to scientifically designed methodology-based studies. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) was established to re-evaluate medical facts and remove various myths in clinical practice. Research methodology is now protocol based with predefined steps. Studies were classified based on the method of collection and evaluation of data. Clinical study methodology now needs to comply to strict ethical, moral, truth, and transparency standards, ensuring that no conflict of interest is involved. A medical research pyramid has been designed to grade the quality of evidence and help physicians determine the value of the research. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have become gold standards for quality research. EBM now scales systemic reviews and meta-analyses at a level higher than RCTs to overcome deficiencies in the randomised trials due to errors in methodology and analyses.

INTRODUCTION

Expert opinion, experience, and authoritarian judgement were the norm in clinical medical practice. At scientific meetings, one often heard senior professionals emphatically expressing ‘In my experience,…… what I have said is correct!’ In 1981, articles published by Sackett et al . introduced ‘critical appraisal’ as they felt a need to teach methods of understanding scientific literature and its application at the bedside.[ 1 ] To improve clinical outcomes, clinical expertise must be complemented by the best external evidence.[ 2 ] Conversely, without clinical expertise, good external evidence may be used inappropriately [ Figure 1 ]. Practice gets outdated, if not updated with current evidence, depriving the clientele of the best available therapy.

Triad of evidence-based medicine

EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE

In 1971, in his book ‘Effectiveness and Efficiency’, Archibald Cochrane highlighted the lack of reliable evidence behind many accepted health-care interventions.[ 3 ] This triggered re-evaluation of many established ‘supposed’ scientific facts and awakened physicians to the need for evidence in medicine. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) thus evolved, which was defined as ‘the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of the current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.’[ 2 ]

The goal of EBM was scientific endowment to achieve consistency, efficiency, effectiveness, quality, safety, reduction in dilemma and limitation of idiosyncrasies in clinical practice.[ 4 ] EBM required the physician to diligently assess the therapy, make clinical adjustments using the best available external evidence, ensure awareness of current research and discover clinical pathways to ensure best patient outcomes.[ 5 ]

With widespread internet use, phenomenally large number of publications, training and media resources are available but determining the quality of this literature is difficult for a busy physician. Abstracts are available freely on the internet, but full-text articles require a subscription. To complicate issues, contradictory studies are published making decision-making difficult.[ 6 ] Publication bias, especially against negative studies, makes matters worse.

In 1993, the Cochrane Collaboration was founded by Ian Chalmers and others to create and disseminate up-to-date review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to help health-care professionals make informed decisions.[ 7 ] In 1995, the American College of Physicians and the British Medical Journal Publishing Group collaborated to publish the journal ‘Evidence-based medicine’, leading to the evolution of EBM in all spheres of medicine.

MEDICAL RESEARCH

Medical research needs to be conducted to increase knowledge about the human species, its social/natural environment and to combat disease/infirmity in humans. Research should be conducted in a manner conducive to and consistent with dignity and well-being of the participant; in a professional and transparent manner; and ensuring minimal risk.[ 8 ] Research thus must be subjected to careful evaluation at all stages, i.e., research design/experimentation; results and their implications; the objective of the research sought; anticipated benefits/dangers; potential uses/abuses of the experiment and its results; and on ensuring the safety of human life. Table 1 lists the principles any research should follow.[ 8 ]

General principles of medical research

Types of study design

Medical research is classified into primary and secondary research. Clinical/experimental studies are performed in primary research, whereas secondary research consolidates available studies as reviews, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Three main areas in primary research are basic medical research, clinical research and epidemiological research [ Figure 2 ]. Basic research includes fundamental research in fields shown in Figure 2 . In almost all studies, at least one independent variable is varied, whereas the effects on the dependent variables are investigated. Clinical studies include observational studies and interventional studies and are subclassified as in Figure 2 .

Classification of types of medical research

Interventional clinical study is performed with the purpose of studying or demonstrating clinical or pharmacological properties of drugs/devices, their side effects and to establish their efficacy or safety. They also include studies in which surgical, physical or psychotherapeutic procedures are examined.[ 9 ] Studies on drugs/devices are subject to legal and ethical requirements including the Drug Controller General India (DCGI) directives. They require the approval of DCGI recognized Ethics Committee and must be performed in accordance with the rules of ‘Good Clinical Practice’.[ 10 ] Further details are available under ‘Methodology for research II’ section in this issue of IJA. In 2004, the World Health Organization advised registration of all clinical trials in a public registry. In India, the Clinical Trials Registry of India was launched in 2007 ( www.ctri.nic.in ). The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) mandates its member journals to publish only registered trials.[ 11 ]

Observational clinical study is a study in which knowledge from treatment of persons with drugs is analysed using epidemiological methods. In these studies, the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring are performed exclusively according to medical practice and not according to a specified study protocol.[ 9 ] They are subclassified as per Figure 2 .

Epidemiological studies have two basic approaches, the interventional and observational. Clinicians are more familiar with interventional research, whereas epidemiologists usually perform observational research.

Interventional studies are experimental in character and are subdivided into field and group studies, for example, iodine supplementation of cooking salt to prevent hypothyroidism. Many interventions are unsuitable for RCTs, as the exposure may be harmful to the subjects.

Observational studies can be subdivided into cohort, case–control, cross-sectional and ecological studies.

• Cohort studies are suited to detect connections between exposure and development of disease. They are normally prospective studies of two healthy groups of subjects observed over time, in which one group is exposed to a specific substance, whereas the other is not. The occurrence of the disease can be determined in the two groups. Cohort studies can also be retrospective
• Case–control studies are retrospective analyses performed to establish the prevalence of a disease in two groups exposed to a factor or disease. The incidence rate cannot be calculated, and there is also a risk of selection bias and faulty recall.

Secondary research

Narrative review.

An expert senior author writes about a particular field, condition or treatment, including an overview, and this information is fortified by his experience. The article is in a narrative format. Its limitation is that one cannot tell whether recommendations are based on author's clinical experience, available literature and why some studies were given more emphasis. It can be biased, with selective citation of reports that reinforce the authors' views of a topic.[ 12 ]

Systematic review

Systematic reviews methodically and comprehensively identify studies focused on a specified topic, appraise their methodology, summate the results, identify key findings and reasons for differences across studies, and cite limitations of current knowledge.[ 13 ] They adhere to reproducible methods and recommended guidelines.[ 14 ] The methods used to compile data are explicit and transparent, allowing the reader to gauge the quality of the review and the potential for bias.[ 15 ]

A systematic review can be presented in text or graphic form. In graphic form, data of different trials can be plotted with the point estimate and 95% confidence interval for each study, presented on an individual line. A properly conducted systematic review presents the best available research evidence for a focused clinical question. The review team may obtain information, not available in the original reports, from the primary authors. This ensures that findings are consistent and generalisable across populations, environment, therapies and groups.[ 12 ] A systematic review attempts to reduce bias identification and studies selection for review, using a comprehensive search strategy and specifying inclusion criteria. The strength of a systematic review lies in the transparency of each phase and highlighting the merits of each decision made, while compiling information.

Meta-analysis

A review team compiles aggregate-level data in each primary study, and in some cases, data are solicited from each of the primary studies.[ 16 , 17 ] Although difficult to perform, individual patient meta-analyses offer advantages over aggregate-level analyses.[ 18 ] These mathematically pooled results are referred to as meta-analysis. Combining data from well-conducted primary studies provide a precise estimate of the “true effect.”[ 19 ] Pooling the samples of individual studies increases overall sample size, enhances statistical analysis power, reduces confidence interval and thereby improves statistical value.

The structured process of Cochrane Collaboration systematic reviews has contributed to the improvement of their quality. For the meta-analysis to be definitive, the primary RCTs should have been conducted methodically. When the existing studies have important scientific and methodological limitations, such as smaller sized samples, the systematic review may identify where gaps exist in the available literature.[ 20 ] RCTs and systematic review of several randomised trials are less likely to mislead us, and thereby help judge whether an intervention is better.[ 2 ] Practice guidelines supported by large RCTs and meta-analyses are considered as ‘gold standard’ in EBM. This issue of IJA is accompanied by an editorial on Importance of EBM on research and practice (Guyat and Sriganesh 471_16).[ 21 ] The EBM pyramid grading the value of different types of research studies is shown in Figure 3 .

The evidence-based medicine pyramid

In the last decade, a number of studies and guidelines brought about path-breaking changes in anaesthesiology and critical care. Some guidelines such as the ‘Surviving Sepsis Guidelines-2004’[ 22 ] were later found to be flawed and biased. A number of large RCTs were rejected as their findings were erroneous. Another classic example is that of ENIGMA-I (Evaluation of Nitrous oxide In the Gas Mixture for Anaesthesia)[ 23 ] which implicated nitrous oxide for poor outcomes, but ENIGMA-II[ 24 , 25 ] conducted later, by the same investigators, declared it as safe. The rise and fall of the ‘tight glucose control’ regimen was similar.[ 26 ]

Although RCTs are considered ‘gold standard’ in research, their status is at crossroads today. RCTs have conflicting interests and thus must be evaluated with careful scrutiny. EBM can promote evidence reflected in RCTs and meta-analyses. However, it cannot promulgate evidence not reflected in RCTs. Flawed RCTs and meta-analyses may bring forth erroneous recommendations. EBM thus should not be restricted to RCTs and meta-analyses but must involve tracking down the best external evidence to answer our clinical questions.

Financial support and sponsorship

Conflicts of interest.

There are no conflicts of interest.

Closing Gaps in Data-Sharing Is Critical for Public Health

Updated federal strategy could also ease burdens on agencies, providers.

Navigate to:

• Table of Contents

Every day, public health officials use data from each other and from doctors, hospitals, and health systems to protect people from infectious and environmental threats. When these officials receive timely, accurate, and complete information from health care providers, they can more clearly detect disease, prevent its spread, and help people connect to care. To improve the quality of this information, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed the Public Health Data Strategy (PHDS), which was updated in April, to facilitate data-sharing between these many stakeholders. As the director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, Dr. Jennifer Layden is responsible for leading, coordinating, and executing the strategy.  

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

What is the Public Health Data Strategy?

It’s CDC’s two-year plan to provide accountability for the data, technology, policy, and administrative actions necessary to meet our public health data goals. We aim to address challenges in data exchange between health care organizations and public health authorities, moving us toward one interconnected system that protects and improves health.

And what are the main goals of this effort?

The PHDS has four main goals: strengthen the core of public health data; accelerate access to analytic and automated solutions that support public health investigations and advance health equity; visualize and share insights to inform public health action; and advance more open and interoperable public health data. The plan sets milestones that help public health partners, health care organizations and providers, and the public understand what’s being done and what progress is being made toward these goals.

What barriers does the strategy aim to address?

Electronic health care records (EHRs) and associated efforts at interoperability [the successful exchange of health information between different systems] have seen over $35 billion of investment over the last couple decades. This has led to robust and widespread use of EHRs , adoption of health IT standards , and improved data-sharing across health care. Public health, however, hasn’t seen the same investment. And this has contributed to gaps in the completeness of data and the timely exchange of information to support public health.

Can you share an example of these gaps?

At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, we had race and ethnicity data on less than 60% of cases. New investments in public health, largely tied to the COVID response, allowed for advanced connectivity with the use of electronic case reporting, or eCR [the automated electronic reporting of individual cases of illness], as well as electronic laboratory reporting [the automated sharing of lab reports]. This led to a rapid improvement in the completeness of race and ethnicity data, which improved the nation’s ability to identify disparities in COVID burden and severity.

As we work to transform public health systems, we need to leverage existing health IT standards and technical approaches to ensure better connections between public health and health care. This benefits us all through more streamlined data-sharing, reduced burden on health care facilities and providers, and faster detection of health threats and outbreaks. And ultimately, improved bi-directional data-sharing [where data is available to health care providers who generate the information and health departments that receive the data] will benefit patients and those who care for them .

What progress have you seen so far?

The PHDS was launched in 2023 with 15 milestones, such as increasing the number of critical access hospitals sending electronic case reports as well as increasing the number of jurisdictions inputting eCR data into disease surveillance systems. Twelve were met , and work continues on the remaining three. The milestones reached in 2023 have made it easier to share information, provided access to modern tools, and improved the real-time monitoring of health threats, all of which strengthened public health data systems. The latest version of the PHDS includes updated 2024 milestones as well as new ones for 2025 that will advance the nation’s public health data capabilities. Milestones for the next two years focus on improving the completeness and coverage of eCR, syndromic surveillance [which uses anonymized emergency room data to identify emerging threats quickly], and data on mortality and wastewater. [When wastewater contains viruses, bacteria, and other infectious diseases circulating in a community, it can provide early warning even if people don’t have symptoms or seek care.]

How will the strategy make it easier for public health agencies and health care to share data?

Collaboration is at the heart of the new milestones. The updated strategy focuses on accelerating the adoption of eCR to ensure timely detection of illnesses, expanding data-sharing initiatives to improve public health responses and decision-making, and driving innovations in analytics to address health disparities and promote health equity.

These new milestones aim to reduce burdens on public health agencies by reducing the need to manually input case data into disease surveillance systems and will mitigate the overhead for managing individual point-to-point connections with labs to support eCR. The strategy will also let public health agencies more effectively identify and address health disparities based on a wider range of health equity measures.

In addition, the Workforce Accelerator Initiative, launched by the CDC Foundation, will recruit, place and support more than 100 technical experts in public health agencies to achieve the strategy’s goals.

What other partners will be engaged to accomplish the strategy?

Successful implementation will require collaboration with public health agencies, public health partners, private industry, health care partners, and other federal agencies, as well as sustained resources. We will directly engage with public health agencies to understand their priority needs and work with public health partners to support their progress toward key milestones. We’ll also collaborate with private partners to encourage dialogue and promote data exchange pilots, as well as with providers and labs to gather feedback on how we can better support their progress.

The CDC is working with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to create a common approach for data exchange among health care, public health agencies, and federal agencies. This effort involves a partnership with representatives from health care, health IT, states, and federal organizations that sets up an exchange system to make it easier for providers to send data to public health agencies and for public health agencies to receive it. The collaboration will provide data standards, common agreements, and exchange networks that will assist public health agencies in their data exchange needs. We’ll continue to collaborate with ONC, as well as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to advance a shared understanding of activities that support our milestones and will reach out to other federal agencies to synergize our efforts.

What will success look like?

We have ambitious goals to strengthen the connections between public health and health care. And other federal initiatives, like the movement toward the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA), adoption of USCDI+ , and new data standards lay out a pathway to making this a reality.

In five years, we aim to have 75% of state and big city jurisdictions , along with CDC, connected to TEFCA. This can eliminate inefficient point-to-point interfaces and enable more reliable exchange of real-time information. We also want to have 90% of emergency room data connected and flowing to public health agencies and envision a future where eCR has replaced most manual reporting of cases of infectious diseases and other conditions.

And big picture, what would this accomplish?

Reaching these goals would mean having more complete data and faster reporting of threats that could put our nation at risk. This will lead to better detection of outbreaks, faster response times, and healthier communities—and ultimately result in an integrated public health ecosystem that produces and uses data to support healthier communities and keep people safe.

Don’t miss our latest facts, findings, and survey results in The Rundown

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Trust Magazine

More from pew.

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

It appears JavaScript is disabled. To get the most out of the website we recommend enabling JavaScript in your browser.

• News and events

RCSI leads new €1.8m research project to explore Parkinson’s disease progression

• General news

A new project led by researchers at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences aims to uncover critical insights into the progression and potential treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

The ambitious €1.8 million study, known as the 4DPD-Omics project, is coordinated by Professor Jochen Prehn , Chair of the RCSI Department of Physiology and Medical Physics and Principal Investigator at the SFI FutureNeuro  research centre. It hopes to enhance understanding of the neurodegenerative disorder Parkinson’s disease through advanced analysis techniques. Dr Niamh Connolly , Lecturer, RCSI Department of Physiology and Medical Physics is also a partner on the project.

The project will explore how specific genes and proteins behave across different cell types and disease stages. Focusing on the abnormal protein deposits known as α-synuclein that are characteristic of Parkinson’s, the researchers are aiming to find new targets for future treatments.

Professor Jochen Prehn highlighted the innovative nature of the research: "This project represents a significant step forward in Parkinson’s disease research. By examining how different cell types respond to the disease and identifying key changes occurring in genes and proteins, we hope to discover important targets for therapy. We will also confirm our findings in clinical samples and combine them with patient data to contribute to the development of more personalised treatment strategies."

Funded by the EU Joint Programme for Neurodegenerative Diseases Research (JPND) through the Health Research Board (HRB), 4DPD-Omics is a collaboration with expert researchers in Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The project is further supported by the advanced single-cell and spatial analysis platforms funded through the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Infrastructure Programme.

Dr Niamh Connolly emphasised the collaborative effort involved: "The 4DPD-Omics project brings together a diverse team of researchers and clinicians, united by a common goal to better understand and ultimately combat Parkinson’s disease. Our multidisciplinary approach, combined with cutting-edge technology, will enable us to delve deeper into the disease mechanisms."

Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) has been embedded in the project from an early stage, with the Dutch Parkinson patient association, Parkinson’s Alliance Netherlands, and patient advisory panels at FutureNeuro research centre in RCSI and DZNE actively contributing. Additionally, the Scientific Advisory Board will include a representative from a major patient association from one of the partner countries.

The 4DPD-Omics project promises to yield valuable insights that could pave the way for new, targeted therapies for Parkinson’s disease, potentially benefitting the millions of people worldwide living with Parkinson’s. 

Latest news

25 June 2024

20 June 2024

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts

Medical research articles within Scientific Reports

Article 25 June 2024 | Open Access

Hodgkin lymphoma: hypodense lesions in mediastinal masses

• Adrian Damek
• , Lars Kurch
•  &  Dietrich Stoevesandt

Prevalence and death rate of birth defects from population-based surveillance in Hunan Province, China, 2010–2020

• , Donghua Xie
•  &  Junqun Fang

Identification and characterization of plasma proteins associated with intra-amniotic inflammation and/or infection in women with preterm labor

• Hee Young Cho
• , Ji Eun Lee
•  &  Sue Shin

Cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory effects of high-intensity interval training in body fat responders and non-responders

• Jarosław Domaradzki
•  &  Dawid Koźlenia

MRI-based adrenal gland volume is associated with cardiovascular alterations in individuals without prior cardiovascular disease

• Esther Askani
• , Susanne Rospleszcz
•  &  Corinna Storz

Sex differences in the association of long-term exposure to heat stress on kidney function in a large Taiwanese population study

• Yi-Kong Chen
• , Ping-Hsun Wu
•  &  Szu-Chia Chen

Negative association between higher maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index and breastfeeding outcomes is not mediated by DNA methylation

• Hannah R. Elliott
• , Chloe L. Bennett
•  &  Sinead English

Fetal cord plasma herpesviruses and preeclampsia: an observational cohort study

• Inka Häkkinen
• , Gamze Yazgeldi Gunaydin
•  &  Satu Wedenoja

Predicting type 2 diabetes via machine learning integration of multiple omics from human pancreatic islets

• , Alexander Perfilyev
•  &  Charlotte Ling

The role of attachment and personality traits in choosing opiate addiction replacement therapy

• Alena Gizdic
• , Vesna Antičević
•  &  Igna Brajević-Gizdić

Article 24 June 2024 | Open Access

Preliminary clinical and radiological evaluation of osteosynthesis using the Femoral Neck System (FNS) for subcapital fractures of the femur

• Jose Manuel Hernández-Naranjo
• , Borja Campuzano-Bitterling
•  &  Ernesto Muñoz-Mahamud

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori resistance to certain antibiotics at An-Najah University Hospital: a cross-sectional study

• Qusay Abdoh
• , Mohammad Alnees
•  &  Nizar Abu Hamdeh

Bmi-1 promotes the proliferation, migration and invasion, and inhibits cell apoptosis of human retinoblastoma cells via RKIP

•  &  Xin Zhang

Comparison of luteal support protocols in fresh IVF/ICSI cycles: a network meta-analysis

• Stavroula L. Kastora
• , Grigoria Gkova
•  &  Dimitrios Mavrelos

Prediction of fluid responsiveness in spontaneously breathing patients with hemodynamic stability: a prospective repeated-measures study

• Yong Hwan Kim
•  &  Jae Hoon Lee

Comparison of visual outcomes and optical aberrations after SMILE with intraoperative Kappa angle adjustments between small and large Kappa angles

• Xiaojuan Lai
•  &  Xin Yang

Nicotiana benthamiana -derived dupilumab-scFv reaches deep into the cultured human nasal epithelial cells and inhibits CCL26 expression

• Beom Jun Kwon
• , Na Hyun Cho
•  &  Joo Young Kim

Possible adverse events of imidazole antifungal drugs during treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis: analysis of the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System

• Tianyu Zhou
• , Chongze Chen
•  &  Hongtao Jin

Exploring botulinum toxin’s impact on masseter hypertrophy: a randomized, triple-blinded clinical trial

• Bryanne Brissian de Souza Nobre
• , Luciana Rezende
•  &  Giancarlo De la Torre Canales

Identifying the risk of exercises, recommended by an artificial intelligence for patients with musculoskeletal disorders

• Annika Griefahn
• , Christoff Zalpour
•  &  Kerstin Luedtke

Clinical experience with shear wave elastography (SWE) for assessing healthy uterus in a transabdominal approach

• Judith M. Stader
• , Florian Recker
•  &  Milka Marinova

Tumor biomechanical stiffness by magnetic resonance elastography predicts surgical outcomes and identifies biomarkers in vestibular schwannoma and meningioma

• Bailey H. Duhon
• , Kristin Thompson
•  &  Yin Ren

Distribution and prevalence of refractive error in Iranian adult population results of the PERSIAN eye cohort study PECS

• Fateme Alipour
• , Maryam Mohammadzadeh
•  &  Hassan Hashemi

Article 22 June 2024 | Open Access

Development of a new prognostic model to predict pneumonia outcome using artificial intelligence-based chest radiograph results

• Hyun Joo Shin
• , Eun Hye Lee
•  &  Eun-Kyung Kim

An elastic net regression model for predicting the risk of ICU admission and death for hospitalized patients with COVID-19

• , Xiujuan Yao
•  &  Baosong Xie

Impact of foot progression angle on spatiotemporal and plantar loading pattern in intoeing children during gait

• , Hanjie Zhuang
•  &  Hang Xu

Comparison of SHD-IBG and PVIBGT in ONFH including mechanical and pathological analysis of failure cases

•  &  Jirong Shen

Coronary artery bypass grafting outcomes of patients with human immunodeficiency virus: a population-based study of National Inpatient Sample from 2015 to 2020

• , Deyanira J. Prastein
•  &  Brian G. Choi

Succinate promotes pulmonary fibrosis through GPR91 and predicts death in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

• , Yuanyuan Han
•  &  Wei Xie

Article 21 June 2024 | Open Access

Validity of OSDI-6 questionnaire in a Chinese adult population

• Guanghao Qin
• , Salissou Moutari
•  &  Sile Yu

Proof-of-concept study evaluating humoral primary immunodeficiencies via CJ:KREC ratio and serum BAFF level

• Elisa Ochfeld
• , Amer Khojah
•  &  Lauren M. Pachman

Clinical prediction model for red cell blood transfusion in elective primary posterior lumbar spine fusion

• Chatchawan Pirot
• , Chakkraphan Tantrakansakun
•  &  Todsaporn Sirithiantong

Analysis of the clinical characteristics and risk factors associated with contralateral hip fracture after initial hip fracture in elderly patients: a retrospective cohort study

• Liping Zhao
• , Shoujin Tian
•  &  Youjia Xu

The changes in ocular torsion after unilateral lateral rectus recession-medial rectus resection for intermittent exotropia

• Changyang Liu
• , Jiasu Liu
•  &  Qi Zhao

Effects of percutaneous endovascular angioplasty for severe stenosis or occlusion of subclavian artery

• Tong-Yuan Zhao
• , Gang-Qin Xu
•  &  Zhong-Can Chen

Factors associated with health-related quality of life among community-dwelling older adults: the APPCARE study

• Esmée L. S. Bally
• , Sophie A. Korenhof
•  &  Hein Raat

A pilot study of a joint outdoor exercise program for dog owners and dogs

• K. Smedberg
• , E. Lundbeck
•  &  J. Söder

Article 20 June 2024 | Open Access

Protective effects of butorphanol in oleic acid-endotoxin “two-hit” induced rat lung injury by suppression of inflammation and apoptosis

• Yanlei Zheng
• , Ronghua Hu
•  &  Shi Li

Ambient air pollution exposure and COVID-19 related hospitalizations in Santiago, Chile

• Robert Dales
• , Anna O. Lukina
•  &  Sabit Cakmak

Impact of systematic diabetes screening on peri-operative infections in patients undergoing cardiac surgery

• Alessandro Mattina
• , Giuseppe Maria Raffa
•  &  Diego Bellavia

Rare variants analyses suggest novel cleft genes in the African population

• Azeez Alade
• , Peter Mossey
•  &  Azeez Butali

Prognostic scoring system based on indicators reflecting the tumor glandular differentiation and microenvironment for patients with colorectal cancer

• Toshinori Kobayashi
• , Mitsuaki Ishida
•  &  Mitsugu Sekimoto

Assessing safety and efficacy of TNFi treatment in late onset ankylosing spondylitis: a TURKBIO registry study

• Sadettin Uslu
• , Semih Gulle
•  &  Fatos Onen

Automated hearing loss type classification based on pure tone audiometry data

• Michał Kassjański
• , Marcin Kulawiak
•  &  Miłosz Grono

Bone microstructural characteristics or positional changes of condyle head affect short-term condyle head resorption after orthognathic surgery

• Kazuaki Miyagawa
• , Chihiro Arikawa
•  &  Emiko Tanaka Isomura

Improving difficult direct laryngoscopy prediction using deep learning and minimal image analysis: a single-center prospective study

• Jong-Ho Kim
• , Hee-Sun Jung
•  &  Young-Suk Kwon

Recent daily life burdens associated with neovascular age-related macular degeneration involve difficulties in use of electronic devices

• , Keisuke Yoshihara
•  &  Yasuko Aitoku

Fibronectin and vitronectin alleviate adipose-derived stem cells senescence during long-term culture through the AKT/MDM2/P53 pathway

• Patcharapa Tragoonlugkana
• , Chatchai Pruksapong
•  &  Aungkura Supokawej

Global ischemia induces stemness and dedifferentiation in human adult cardiomyocytes after cardiac arrest

• Helen Jinton
• , Victoria Rotter Sopasakis
•  &  Kristina Vukusic

Article 19 June 2024 | Open Access

Admission levels of serum biomarkers have additive and cumulative prognostic value in traumatic brain injury

• Ida A. Kaaber
• , Maj Lesbo
•  &  Claus V. B. Hviid

Browse broader subjects

• Health sciences

Browse narrower subjects

• Drug development
• Epidemiology
• Experimental models of disease
• Genetics research
• Outcomes research
• Paediatric research
• Preclinical research
• Stem-cell research
• Clinical trial design
• Translational research

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock Locked padlock icon ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

LGBTQI+ People and Substance Use

• Research has found that sexual and gender minorities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people (LGBTQI+), have higher rates of substance misuse and substance use disorders than people who identify as heterosexual. People from these groups are also more likely to enter treatment with more severe disorders.
• People in LGBTQI+ communities can face stressful situations and environments like stigma and discrimination , harassment, and traumatic experiences . Coping with these issues may raise the likelihood of a person having substance use problems.
• NIDA supports research to help identify the particular challenges that sexual and gender minority people face, to prevent or reduce substance use disorders among these groups, and to promote treatment access and better health outcomes.

Latest from NIDA

A Plan to Address Racism in Addiction Science

Find more resources on lgbtqi+ health.

• Hear the latest approaches in treatment and care from experts in the fields of HIV and SUD in this NIDA video series, “ At the Intersection .”
• See the Stigma and Discrimination Research Toolkit from the National Institute of Mental Health.

BREAKING: Trump's VP announcement could come as early as this week

Texas abortion ban linked to 13% increase in infant and newborn deaths

A Texas law that banned abortions in early pregnancy is associated with a stark increase in infant and newborn deaths, a study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics found. 

Lawmakers passed Texas Senate Bill 8 , or SB8, in September 2021. The state law banned abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as five weeks. This effectively banned abortion in the state, which used to allow abortion up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. 

The law did not include exemptions for congenital anomalies, including conditions that will cause a newborn to die soon after birth. 

The new study compared infant death rates in Texas from 2018 to 2022 to those of 28 other states. The data included newborns 28 days or younger and infants up to 12 months old. Infant deaths in Texas rose by nearly 13% the year after SB8 was passed, from 1,985 in 2021 to 2,240 in 2022. During that same period, infant deaths rose by about 2% nationwide.

Babies born with congenital anomalies also increased in Texas, by nearly 23%, but decreased by about 3% nationwide. 

“This is pointing to a causal effect of the policy; we didn’t see this increase in infant deaths in other states,” said Alison Gemmill, assistant professor of population, family and reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who led the research. 

While some congenital anomalies can be corrected after birth, including cleft palate and some heart defects, others are deemed “incompatible with life.” 

“The specific increase in deaths attributable to congenital anomalies really makes an ironclad link between the change in the law and the terrible outcomes that they’re seeing for infants and families,” said Nan Strauss, senior policy analyst of maternal health at the National Partnership for Women & Families, who was not involved with the research. “The women and families have to suffer through an excruciating later part of pregnancy, knowing that their baby is likely to die in the first weeks of life.”

Gemmill said the new insight is important for other states, since Texas passed SB8 about a year before the Dobbs decision overturned federal abortion protections , leading to total bans on abortion in 14 states, according to the latest data from the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that researches and supports sexual and reproductive rights. 

“This might foreshadow what is happening in other states,” Gemmill said. “Texas is basically a year ahead.”

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report already found that infant and newborn mortality rates in the U.S. rose in 2022 for the first time since 2001. 

“This shows what probably was expected before the Dobbs decision, that there would be downstream unintended consequences by banning abortions in early pregnancy,” said Dr. Mary Rosser, director of Integrated Women’s Health at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, who was not involved with the study. 

Rosser added that such bans disproportionately affect marginalized populations including low-income families and people of color, and that further research is needed to better understand these effects. 

The researchers of the new study also highlighted the ripple effect that a newborn or infant’s death can have on a family, including trauma and medical bills. 

“Behind these numbers are people,” said Dr. Erika Werner, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Tufts Medical Center, who was not involved in the research. “For each of these pregnancies, that’s a pregnant person who had to stay pregnant for an additional 20 weeks, carrying a pregnancy that they knew likely wouldn’t result in a live newborn baby.”

Kaitlin Sullivan is a contributor for NBCNews.com who has worked with NBC News Investigations. She reports on health, science and the environment and is a graduate of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at City University of New York.

Jason Kane is a producer in the NBC News Health & Medical Unit.