News and Updates for Healthcare Professionals

Diabetes in the US: Where Do We Stand?

CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation just released the National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2020, which presents the most recent scientific data on new and existing cases of diabetes, health complications, risk factors, costs, and much more.

The report analyzed health data through 2018, providing statistics across ages, races, ethnicities, education levels, and regions. Data from this report are crucial to informing prevention and management efforts going forward.

Be sure to check out our latest feature for a snapshot of findings as well as access to the full report. You’ll also find out what CDC is doing to reverse the epidemic, from identifying people with prediabetes to helping prevent diabetes complications.

NIH clinical trial of remdesivir to treat COVID-19 begins

Study enrolling hospitalized adults with COVID-19 in Nebraska.

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Opioids and Opioid Use Disorder TEP Final Report

This report considers issues related to acute and chronic pain management and substance use disorders (SUD). The guidance provided aims to achieve the application of the proper healthcare quality metrics across the U.S. healthcare system. Using the best metrics, in turn, seeks both to continue to reduce opioid deaths verifiably, to encourage the implementation of best practices of pain management, to decrease the incidence of other SUDs, and to decrease illegal drug use by those unable to obtain prescription pain medication.

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Neural Signature Identifies People Likely to Respond to Antidepressant Medication

Researchers have discovered a neural signature that predicts whether individuals with depression are likely to benefit from sertraline, a commonly prescribed antidepressant medication. The findings, published in Nature Biotechnology, suggest that new machine learning techniques can identify complex patterns in a person’s brain activity that correlate with meaningful clinical outcomes.

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AHRQ Views Blog: New Guide to Help Primary Care Practices Manage Opioid Patients

A new guide to help primary care practices manage patients taking opioids for chronic pain is highlighted in a new post by AHRQ Director Gopal Khanna, M.B.A. The new Self-Service How-To Guide helps practices implement the AHRQ-funded Six Building Blocks, a structured, systems-based approach to treating patients who use long-term opioid therapy. Clinicians and staff, quality improvement personnel, practice coaches, and clinic administrators can use the new guide to implement the Six Building Blocks in a three-stage,15-month timeline. Developing tools and resources to reduce opioid overdoses and the prevalence of opioid use disorder is a priority for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and AHRQ.

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Opioid-Benzo Co-Prescribing Continues, Despite Risks One-third of office visits with benzodiazepine prescriptions involve overlapping opioids

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The Public Health Road Map to Respond to the Growing Dementia Crisis

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Patients with newly diagnosed musculoskeletal pain are prescribed opioids more often than recommended

NIH study shows treatment recommendations impacted by patient and physician factors.
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The Federal Government Supports Health Literacy Research!

Several health literacy research tools are developed from the funding and support of the federal government. Visit our website to see how the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Education and others support health literacy research.
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