MDNN: Mortality Rates, Single Fathers, Greener Neighborhoods and FDA Approvals

Hi, I’m Matt Hoffman, I’m Jenna Payesko, and this is MD Magazine News Network - it’s clinical news for connected physicians.

A study of mortality rates of residents living in the most and least socially deprived areas of England and Wales found that the populations living in the most deprived areas have a two-fold greater mortality rate. The deprived area population includes substance abuse disorders patients, homeless people, sex workers, and prisoners. Females in these areas also reported a consistently greater mortality rate than males. The analysis highlights an extreme health inequality that is prevalent in high-income countries, and pushes for policy action to ensure deprived areas are not excluded from health benefits and preventive measures.

Single dads have it bad. An analysis of 40,000-plus parents from the Canadian Community Health Survey reported that single fathers have a 3 times greater mortality rate than that of single mothers, and partnered fathers and mothers. Though they only comprised just more than 2% of the parent population, researchers noted the single father population is growing in major countries, and expressed concern for their notable rates of cancer, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease when compared to other parent populations.

While my mom’s long-held claim that TV rots the brain still lacks any real evidence, there is now proof that going outside may be good for the brain. Schoolchildren exposed to greener communities in their lifetime were positively associated with gray matter volume in the brain, according to a recent study. More than 250 children were assessed with MRI over a 12-month period, which eventually identified several brain regions with greater volumes of gray matter in urban children with more exposure to residential-surrounding greenness. So go green! Plant a tree! Earth Day! When’s Earth Day?

I don’t know Matt. And now, for our new weekly segment FDA Roundup, let’s go to Kevin Kunzmann, reporting live from in front of a green screen. Kevin?

Thanks guys. Here’s your FDA headlines from this past week.

Health tech company Medtronic had a dozen FDA approvals for its devices in 2017, and is already up to 4 this year. Their most recent indication was granted to the Guardian Sensor 3 continuous glucose monitoring system, which is designed to automatically adjust basal insulin delivery in conjunction with a hybrid closed-loop system for patients with type 1 diabetes.

Apadaz, KemPharm’s benz-hydrocodone-acetaminophen oral therapy was granted approval for short-term acute pain management this week. The treatment is meant to serve patients suffering pain severe enough for opioid analgesic therapy, and in which alternative treatments are inadequate.

The FDA also released a warning this week for physicians prescribing AbbVie’s bacterial antibiotic clarithromycin to patients with heart disease, as it has shown raised risks of heart disease or even death, years after treatment. This isn’t a first offense for the drug marketed as Biaxin, as the FDA first warned about its potential adverse events following a placebo-controlled analysis in December 2005.

From the other side of the room, I’m Kevin Kunzmann with FDA Roundup. Back to you guys.

For these stories and more, visit us at mdmag.com. I’m Matt Hoffman, and I’m Jenna Payesko. Thank for you watching MDNN.