The AAFP sent lawmakers letters of support for three US House bills on maternal mortality, including the Helping Medicaid Offer Maternity Services Act, the Rural Maternal and Obstetric Modernization of Services Act and the Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act. One letter noted that CDC data show 700 women in the US die each year due to pregnancy or delivery complications.

A Vital Signs report in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report says progress on reducing the number of new HIV infections has leveled off, and the authors say more work is needed to achieve the government's goal of a 90% reduction in new diagnoses by 2030. The report notes that in 2017, about 14% of people who were infected did not know it, and among those who did have a diagnosis, more than one-third had not achieved viral suppression, well short of goals.

Beginning treatment to reduce cholesterol levels earlier in adulthood may decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease later, researchers reported in The Lancet. Data suggested that for adults under age 45 who had at least two heart disease risk factors, lowering non-HDL cholesterol reduced later CV risks from about 16% down to 4% for women and from 29% to 6% among men.

Researchers found that older adults who took aspirin at least three times weekly had 15% lower odds of cancer-related death and 19% reduced likelihood of all-cause mortality, compared with those who didn't take aspirin. The findings in JAMA Network Open also linked aspirin use to 34% and 28% lower risk of colon and gastrointestinal cancer-related mortality, respectively, among those who were overweight.

A study in Nature Medicine showed that children who had been infected with the enterovirus coxsackievirus for at least 30 days had a higher likelihood of developing beta-cell autoimmunity, putting them at increased risk for type 1 diabetes. Researchers analyzed stool samples of children from the Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young study and also found a higher beta-cell autoimmunity risk among young people who had a particular genetic variant of the virus receptor.

A report in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine outlined how a group of medical professionals and public health officials created an algorithm tool to help health care professionals diagnose and manage lung injuries associated with vaping. A CDC update of its e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury guidance last month emphasized the importance of asking patients who have respiratory or gastrointestinal illnesses about their e-cigarette use.

Health care professionals and organizations can counteract vaccine misinformation by creating narrative posts and providing informational resources on Instagram, researchers reported in Health Education & Behavior. Researchers analyzed Instagram posts about the human papillomavirus vaccine and found that although 56% of the posts supported vaccination, engagement was highest with anti-vaccination posts that employed a narrative structure, garnering more positive engagement than posts that provided only informational resources.

The Trump administration has outlined plans to provide free preventive HIV medications to at-risk people with no medical coverage. Gilead Sciences will donate enough pre-exposure prophylaxis drugs to treat up to 200,000 people annually for 11 years, although the cost of the appointments and tests needed to qualify for treatment will not be covered, the government will handle eligibility and claims, and early next year CVS Health, Walgreens and Rite Aid pharmacies will begin donating dispensing services.

The Trump administration on Wednesday approved a rule that could remove almost 700,000 people from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by making it more difficult for states to waive program work requirements. Two additional rules proposed by the administration that would affect SNAP would change how states automatically enroll families that receive other federal aid and limit deductions made for housing and utility costs.

First-year results from a wellness project implemented at an Indianapolis-based internal medicine residency program showed improvements in all 10 areas of wellness measured: social, occupational, spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, environmental, financial, mental and medical, according to a study in MedEdPublish. "By instilling personal well-being and self-care into residency training, we are hoping to prevent burnout before it happens to ensure a healthy and engaged physician workforce for the future," said lead author Laurel Fick, M.D.

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