Aduhelm smacked down

After all the fuss about whether Medicare would have to pay for Biogen’s unproven Aduhelm Alzheimer’s medication, the ruling is finally out: Nope. Probably. Medicare officials said coverage should be limited to patients participating in approved clinical trials. (I thought those people would get it free, but what do I know?)

This is one of the rare times Medicare won’t cover an FDA-approved drug. But considering the huge controversy over that approval, it’s not entirely surprising.

Biogen was Not Happy At All, considering it was planning to charge Medicare $28,200 a year per patient, each of whom would have to take it for the rest of their lives.

Not much room at the inn

Georgia ranks #7 in the U.S. for hospital beds in use, with 83.8% occupied, according to the latest HHS data. More than a quarter hold Covid-19 patients, and the country continues to set records for infections.

Heart disease on one side, anxiety on the other

People with heart disease are likely to have anxiety, and one in five are taking antidepressants or other psychiatric meds. Not surprising. The problem, according to the shifty Danes who did the research, is that “Antidepressants and other psychiatric medications are associated with an almost doubled risk of premature death in patients with heart conditions.”

So they can be anxious and face (per the study) 1.67 higher odds of death, or they can take psychiatric meds and face 1.73 higher odds of death. “[Patients] should also ask that their anxiety is recognised as important and equal to their heart disease.”

ICD10 codes updated

The CDC has released some additions to the ICD10 list of diagnostic codes, including three covering Covid-19:

• Z28.310 – Unvaccinated for COVID-19;
• Z28.311 – Partially vaccinated for COVID-19; and
• Z28.39 – Other under-immunized status.

(Our favorite ICD10 code remains W55.52XD: “Struck by raccoon, subsequent encounter.”)

Misinformation misinformation

We all know that social media is full of Covid-19 misinformation. It’s almost as if you could flip a coin to decide whether something you read was likely to be true or false, right?

Actually, the good news, according to a group of data-researcher types, is that — at least in the first half of the pandemic — there was more sharing of accurate information than of the bogus stuff. Or as they put it, “URLs shared were more likely to be credible than non-credible.“

The bad news? Sharing of false Covid info was low compared to sharing of false information about other health topics.

Taken together, our findings suggest that the “infodemic” is, in fact, a general feature of health information online, that is not restricted to Covid-19.

In other news….

A group of 270 physicians and scientists have written to Spotify, asking that it remove “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast because of all the Covid-19 misinformation he continues to spread — including that vaccines only work because of “mass formation psychosis.”

It’s the Boomers OD’ing

Here’s a scary stat: It ain’t the kids you have to worry about so much. The number of opioid overdose deaths in older Americans increased 1886% between 1999 and 2019. There’s no missing decimal — that’s 1,886 percent.

The Northwestern researchers who did the study suggest that these are flower children who are … wilting: “people who in their youth, were using recreational drugs and, unlike in previous generations, they’ve continued using into their older age.”

[A]geism is one of the contributing factors for the increase in fatal opioid overdoses among older adults. […] doctors often don’t screen for drug misuse during appointments with older people because “it doesn’t fit the stereotype of what it means to be old.”

Speaking of “old,“ the article begins with this bit of shade-throwing: “A common stereotype for an ‘older adult‘ might include early-bird specials, dentures and tickets to the matinee show.“

Get your maple syrup in Vermont

…and your insulin from Mexico. The CDC is advising Americans to avoid traveling to Canada because of … you know.

(Today’s crazy fun fact: You can meet your Canadian friends in Peace Arch Park, because the 1814 Treaty of Ghent prevents either the U.S. or Canada from cutting off access. If Canada does, it has to give up part of southern Ontario and Quebec. If the U.S. does, it has to give up parts of Maine, Michigan, and Wisconsin.)

Omega-3 and head injuries

Could docosahexaenoic acid — aka DHA — be able to protect athletes from severe head injuries? Virginia Tech researchers think “Maybe.” That’s in part because they found that DHA is “usually inadequate in collegiate athletes’ diets” and until recently NCAA rules prohibited it as a supplement.

Research is preliminary, but there are some good signs, apparently:

For example, some biomarker concentrations and neurocognitive measures were better in the participants who took DHA supplements compared with those who took a placebo.

Next up will be more participants, more results, and MRI scans, for starters.