Population-Level Trends In Adult Pain Treatments, 2011-2019
As reported in the December 2022 issue of the journal Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, a study was conducted that included a comparison of the annual use of nonpharmacologic pain treatments versus prescription opioids among cancer-free adults. Other objectives were to estimate the annual use of acupuncture, chiropractic care, massage therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy; determine whether calendar year was associated with treatment type; and explore whether pain treatments varied by pain severity. The prevalence of nonpharmacologic treatments increased while prescription opioid use declined following policy and practice changes during the past decade. Nonpharmacologic pain treatments may be appropriate for all degrees of pain severity. Chiropractic care and physical therapy were the most common nonpharmacologic treatment providers. Nonpharmacologic treatments did not vary based on pain severity.
Severe Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Risk
Differences in rates of severe maternal morbidity and mortality (SMMM) have been studied among Medicaid-funded compared with privately insured hospital births through specific additive and intersectional risk by rural or urban geography; race and ethnicity; and clinical factors. Maternal discharge records from childbirth hospitalizations in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's National Inpatient Sample from 2007 to 2015 were used. As reported in the November-December 2022 issue of the periodical Women’s Health Issues, the highest rate of SMMM (224.9 per 10,000 births) occurred among rural Indigenous Medicaid-funded births. Those births among Black rural and urban residents, and among Hispanic urban residents, also experienced elevated rates and significant additive interaction. These rates indicate an opportunity for tailored state and federal policy responses to address the particular maternal health challenges faced by Medicaid beneficiaries, including Black, Indigenous, and rural residents.
HEALTH TECHNOLOGY CORNER
Delivery Of Human Organ Transplantation By Drones
Organs are in short supply for patients in need of a life-saving transplant. The moment an organ is removed from the human body, it begins to deteriorate rapidly. Historically, organ transport has relied on standard ground and air transportation. Although these methods are satisfactory, they are risky, inefficient, and expensive. Significant delays persist and are exacerbated by road traffic and transportation availability in metropolitan areas. According to an article published on December 21, 2022 in the journal Science Robotics, researchers validated the process of donor lung transportation via remote piloted aircraft system (RPAS) in controlled airspace over a densely populated urban environment of downtown Toronto, Canada. With the successful delivery of kidneys and now lungs, the development of a universal transport system for all organs is within reach. Thus, RPAS technology is likely to see early adoption in American Northeast, Southeast, and Ontario, Canada.
Applications Of Speech Analysis In Psychiatry
The need for objective measurement in psychiatry has stimulated interest in alternative indicators of the presence and severity of illness. Speech may offer a source of information that bridges the subjective and objective in the assessment of mental disorders. As reported in the January/February 2023 issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, the utility of speech analysis depends on how accurately speech features represent clinical symptoms within and across disorders. Four domains of the application of speech analysis in the literature are: diagnostic classification, assessment of illness severity, prediction of onset of illness, and prognosis and treatment outcomes. Models that bring together multiple speech features can distinguish speakers with psychiatric disorders from healthy controls with high accuracy. Convergent progress in speech research and computer sciences opens avenues for implementing speech analysis to enhance objectivity of assessment in clinical practice.