politics

Health worker shortage grabs bipartisan attention from Senate committee

The shortage of doctors and nurses across the country is both an urgent problem and a source of common ground for the Senate’s health committee. Both Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and ranking member Bill Cassidy (R-La.) have listed health workforce problems as one of their top priorities — and yesterday Sanders said at a hearing he is already eyeing legislation to solve them. There’s also bipartisan consensus on expanding telehealth programs and increasing the mental health care workforce in particular.

But some fault lines are still wide: Sanders is plunging ahead on plans to interrogate pharmaceutical company executives on high drug costs, and Cassidy is pressing for probes into how the Biden administration has implemented a law he co-authored to end patients’ surprise medical bills. STAT’s Sarah Owermohle has more from the hearing.

health

Scientists link certain genes in women to cardiovascular risks from obesity

Scientists have connected hundreds of genes to obesity, but they’re still learning which ones matter for risks like heart disease or diabetes. A new study published yesterday in Nature Genetics turned up 91 genes linked to the accumulation of fat in the abdomen for women, compared to only 42 genes for men. That waist-to-hip ratio is considered a better measure of cardiovascular risk than BMI, so they zeroed in one gene in particular, called SNX10, that was most strongly associated with a high waist-to-hip ratio in women. 

The findings could potentially lead to tests to identify who is at the highest risk of cardiovascular problems, an appealing option when new, in-demand drugs for obesity have become available but at high cost. Developing a new drug to target the gene is another possibility, but not before understanding what metabolic ripples might follow blocking it. STAT’s Elaine Chen has more.

coronavirus

More Black and Hispanic Americans have long Covid symptoms, but fewer are diagnosed

Just as Black and Hispanic people in the U.S. have disproportionately borne the brunt of Covid-19 infections, so too are these Americans more likely to be burdened by long Covid — but not as often diagnosed as white people. These conclusions, based on health records, are among the first to emerge from the NIH’s RECOVER initiative, criticized last year as “a slow-moving glacier.” 

The first study, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found that Black and Hispanic patients were more likely to have more but different persistent symptoms. If hospitalized, they were more likely to have headaches, chest pain, and joint pain but less likely to have sleep disorders, cognitive problems, or fatigue. After milder infections, Black adults were more likely to have blood clots in their lungs, chest pain, joint pain, anemia, or be malnourished; Hispanic adults were more likely to have dementia, headaches, anemia, chest pain, and diabetes; and white adults were most likely to have brain fog and fatigue.

The second study, in BMC Medicine, found that most adults and children diagnosed with long Covid were white, female, non-Hispanic, and likely to live in areas with low poverty and greater access to health care.