The World Health Organization reported that measles cases around the world rose from 7,585,900 in 2017 to 9,769,400 in 2018, while measles-related deaths increased from 124,000 to 142,300 during the same period, with most deaths involving unvaccinated children. Meanwhile, a CDC study in the agency's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report showed that although yearly global measles incidence and deaths dropped between 2000 and 2018 and vaccination prevented 23.2 million deaths during that period, the number of infections and deaths have increased since 2016.

The number of diabetes cases in high-income countries are decreasing despite the steady increase in cases overall, according to the International Diabetes Federation Atlas that was presented at the IDF Congress. The findings, based on data from 221 countries, also showed that 1 in 11 adults aged 20 to 79 and 1 in 5 people aged older than 65 had diabetes, and 11.3% of deaths worldwide were associated with diabetes.

The CDC's most recent Antibiotic Resistance Threats Report says drug-resistant infections kill 35,000 people in the US annually, and although the US has achieved an 18% reduction in mortality associated with these infections, challenges remain, write HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield. "The very nature of antibiotic resistance means that new threats are constantly emerging," they write.

Findings from a study published in the journal Gastroenterology suggest that treatment with glecaprevir and pibrentasvir could be effective in patients with hepatitis C virus for whom sofosbuvir and an NS5A inhibitor was ineffective. The investigators conducted a Phase IIIB trial of 177 patients with HCV genotype 1 to assess the safety and efficacy of the regimen for 12 and 16 weeks, with or without ribavirin, and found the combination was well-tolerated and that ribavirin raised the number of adverse events without improving efficacy.

A small study published in Cell Metabolism found that women with metabolic syndrome who had intermittent fasting for 12 weeks lost 3.3 kg of their body weight and also had reductions in body mass index, waist circumference, body fat and visceral fat. Researchers also found time-restricted eating had favorable effects on cardiometabolic parameters, such as reductions in LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, as well as significant reductions in diastolic and systolic blood pressure, and in A1C levels among those with elevated fasting blood glucose levels at baseline.

Women who applied permanent hair dyes every five to eight weeks or more frequently during the past year had 9% overall increased likelihood of developing breast cancer, and risk was 60% higher among black women, according to a study in the International Journal of Cancer. Researchers also found nearly 30% increased odds of breast cancer among those who frequently used chemical hair straighteners.

A study published in Diabetologia found that individuals who were born preterm had 21% and 24% greater risk for developing type 1 diabetes before 18 years old and in adulthood, respectively, while type 2 diabetes risk was 26% greater before 18 years old and 49% greater in adulthood, compared with those born at full term. The study, which used data from the Swedish Hospital and Outpatient Registries collected between 1973 and 2014, suggests preterm birth should be seen "as a chronic condition that predisposes to the development of diabetes across the life course," the authors wrote.

A vast majority of nurses surveyed by Medscape said they were happy they chose nursing as a career, with satisfaction highest among clinical nurse specialists at 99%, while 94% of licensed practical nurses and registered nurses indicated they were satisfied with their career choice. Respondents differed in their satisfaction with the educational path they had followed, and the most commonly selected reason for career satisfaction was helping people and making a difference in their lives.

Chinese researchers found that grandparents could play an important role in preventing childhood obesity as children in a family-based obesity intervention program that included parents and grandparents had a significantly lower mean zBMI score at one year than the control group. The findings in PLOS Medicine, based on 1,641 6-year-old children, revealed that those in the intervention group were more likely to engage in physical activity and to eat more fruits and vegetables, compared with those in the control group.

AHIMA and other health care organizations have long supported congressional action to allow HHS to fund the establishment of a national patient identification system. NPIs would facilitate the matching of patients to their medical records, thus improving efficiency and reducing the risk for medical errors, and it would improve the security of Social Security numbers, though cost and patient privacy are issues that must be addressed.

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