H.R. 9810––Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA)/Education and the Workforce (09/25/24)––A bill to carry out an early childhood educator loan assistance program.
H.R. 9811––Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA)/Ways and Means (09/25/24)––A bill to provide assistance with respect to child care infrastructure.
Equal Pay
H. Con. Res.42––Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (09/25/24)––A concurrent resolution recognizing the significance of equal pay and the disparity in wages paid to Latina women in comparison to White, non-Hispanic men.
H. Con. Res.131––Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM)/Education and the Workforce (09/25/24)––A concurrent resolution recognizing the significance of equal pay and the disparity in wages paid to Latina women in comparison to White, non-Hispanic men.
Health
S. 5141––Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (09/23/24)––A bill to provide for health coverage with no cost-sharing for additional breast screening for certain individuals at greater risk for breast cancer.
H. Res. 1494––Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA)/Energy and Commerce (09/24/24)––A resolution recognizing the threat of air pollution and extreme heat to maternal and infant health, and expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that meaningful interventions must be rapidly and equitably developed and deployed to address the unique vulnerabilities of pregnancy in Latino communities.
S. 5202––Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (09/25/24)––A bill to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance on best practices for screening and treatment of congenital syphilis under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
H. Res. 1507––Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)/Oversight and Accountability (09/25/24)––A resolution recognizing the importance of diapers to infant health and family well-being, and expressing support for the designation of the week of September 23-29, 2024, as “National Diaper Need Awareness Week.”
H.R. 9866––Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA)/Energy and Commerce (09/27/24)––A bill to conduct a study and submit to Congress a report on contraceptive access at community health centers in health care deserts.
As I walked the streets of Milwaukee, viewing some elegant old churches, I thought about its civil rights legacy. One street is named Dr. M.L.King Jr. Drive, though I don’t think Dr. King ever spoke in Milwaukee. Another is named Vel R. Phillips Ave. A Milwaukee native, she was a multiple first. The first Black woman who: graduated from U. Wisconsin Law School, elected to the city council, judge, elected Secretary of State, served on the Democratic National Committee. She was also active in the NAACP, leading open housing marches and getting arrested.
Shortly after she died in 2018, N. 4th St. was renamed in her honor. That’s why the official address of the Fiserv Forum, where the Republican convention was held July 15-18, is 1111 N. Vel R. Phillips Ave.
Less well known in Milwaukee, but better known to civil rights activists, is Father James Groppi, also a Milwaukee native. A few years after ordination in 1959, he was assigned to St. Boniface Church in the segregated Black community of north Milwaukee. There he developed an empathy with the Black poor. He took several of his parishioners to the 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 Selma march. On June 4, 1965 he and four other clergymen were arrested when they blocked a school bus. They were among 50 demonstrators protesting the Milwaukee School Board’s policy of keeping Black children in separate classrooms in otherwise white schools. The Board was under court order to bus children from overcrowded Black schools to white schools to foster integration, but it didn’t want to integrate the classrooms.
Groppi’s influence brought quite a few Catholic youth, Black and white, into the civil rights movement. Ten of them worked with SCOPE, SCLC’s 1965 summer project. Fr. Groppi drove seven to Atlanta, where they helped set up for orientation. One of those was his future wife. Fr. Groppi couldn’t stay in the South for the entire summer. But he spent his two-week vacation in August in Bullock County, AL working with those he had brought South in June. St. Boniface Church was razed in 1975 to make way for a new high school. Fr. Groppi was not reassigned to an African-American parish. Instead, he married in 1976 and became a bus driver. Always an activist, he led fair housing marches across the 16th St. Viaduct, which spans the Menomonee River Valley. This bridge separated north Milwaukee, where poor Blacks lived, from south Milwaukee, home of middle-class whites. James Groppi died of brain cancer in Milwaukee on November 4, 1985. In 1988 the Viaduct was renamed the James E. Groppi Unity Bridge.
Then there’s America’s Black Holocaust Museum, further north into the (still) poor Black neighborhoods of Milwaukee. It’s a purely private endeavor. Founded by James Cameron in 1988, the ABHM was inspired by the Holocaust memorial museum in Israel. It interprets the Black experience in the US as an ongoing series of mass atrocities. Cameron teamed up with philanthropist Daniel Bader to open the Museum. After Cameron died in 2006, the physical museum closed due to lack of funding. The museum went online as a virtual museum in 2012. After additional funding was secured, it reopened in 2022, but is only open a couple days a week. One of its seven History galleries is about the Civil Rights Movement – nationally, not Milwaukee.
Bringing women policymakers together across party lines to advance
issues of importance to women and their families.
Weekly Legislative Update
July 22, 2024
Bills Introduced: July 15-19, 2024
Child Care
H.R. 9068 –– Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA)/Education and the Workforce (07/18/24) –– A bill to assist states in carrying out projects to expand the child care workforce and child care facilities.
Child Protection
H.R. 9047 –– Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX)/Judiciary (07/15/24) –– A bill to modify provisions relating to kidnapping, sexual abuse, and illicit sexual conduct with respect to minors.
Reproductive Health
H.R. 9049 –– Rep. Zachary Nunn (R-IA)/Energy and Commerce (07/15/24) –– A bill to provide states with the option to provide coordinated care through a pregnancy medical home for high-risk pregnant women.
Violence Against Women
H.R. 9051 –– Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)/Energy and Commerce (07/15/24) –– A bill to expand trauma-informed training for law enforcement personnel related to sexual assault cases.
Congressional Schedule: July 22-26, 2024
Floor Action: The House and Senate are in session.
Appropriations – This week, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 9027, the FY2025 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies spending bill. The legislation includes funding for several domestic and international nutrition assistance programs and FDA user fees.
This week, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 8998, the FY2025 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies spending bill. The legislation includes funding for the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.
Also this week, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 8773, the FY2025 Financial Services and General Government spending bill. The legislation includes funding for women-owned business programs at the Small Business Administration.
Mark-Ups:
On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up the FY2025 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered). The legislation includes funding for programs to combat violence against women and encourage women to enter STEM-related professions.
On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up the FY2025 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered). The legislation includes funding for housing programs for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and to support affordable housing for women with dependents.
On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up the FY2025 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered). The legislation includes funding for the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.
Also on Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up the FY2025 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered). The legislation includes funding for several international assistance programs supporting women and girls.
Every national nominating convention has plenty of auxiliary events, some authorized, some not. Getting space can be a challenge; getting the word out even more so. But they do it nonetheless.
Press were given a RNC 2024 Master Event Calendar, which was updated a few days later. Events began on Sunday and ended on Thursday. The actual convention sessions were just one item on the list. The calendar said if an event was Open or Closed to press, and also whom to contact to register. I’m going to describe some of the events, including a couple I went to, and a couple I was turned away from.
Since my focus is on women, I obviously wanted to go to those events – if I could.
The National Federation of Republican Women is the largest grassroots Republican women’s organization in the country with hundreds of clubs. Founded in 1938, its members made the phone calls and knocked on the doors that elected Republican candidates for decades. It’s Tuesday luncheon featured Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders. The Master Calendar said it was SOLD OUT and they wouldn’t let me in. I was able to get into their lounge at the Fiserv Forum Wednesday evening, where I was repeatedly asked if I was a member, and if not, would I join. “I’m press,” I said. “I can’t join anything partisan.” I then said: “What brings you here?” On hearing that, finding anyone willing to chat with me was like pulling teeth.
Moms for Liberty met in a concert hall that afternoon. I had pre-registered, and I got in. From high in a balcony seat I listened to several people talk about the evils of transgenderism. It’s webpage says WE BELIEVE Power Belongs to the People. Sound Familiar? With a focus is on parental rights, it wants to “STOP WOKE indoctrination.”
I had pre-registered for a Monday event on “How AI Affects Women, Democracy and Elections” presented by Microsoft. However, it was so far outside the security zone that I couldn’t get there and go to the protests I described in my Third Dispatch.
Every national nominating convention has plenty of auxiliary events, some authorized, some not. Getting space can be a challenge; getting the word out even more so. But they do it nonetheless. Press were given a RNC 2024 Master Event Calendar, which was updated a few days later. Events began on Sunday and ended on Thursday. The actual convention sessions were just one item on the list. The calendar said if an event was Open or Closed to press, and also whom to contact to register. I’m going to describe some of the events, including a couple I went to, and a couple I was turned away from.
Since my focus is on women, I obviously wanted to go to those events – if I could.
The National Federation of Republican Women is the largest grassroots Republican women’s organization in the country with hundreds of clubs. Founded in 1938, its members made the phone calls and knocked on the doors that elected Republican candidates for decades. It’s Tuesday luncheon featured Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders. The Master Calendar said it was SOLD OUT and they wouldn’t let me in. I was able to get into their lounge at the Fiserv Forum Wednesday evening, where I was repeatedly asked if I was a member, and if not, would I join. “I’m press,” I said. “I can’t join anything partisan.” I then said: “What brings you here?” On hearing that, finding anyone willing to chat with me was like pulling teeth.
Moms for Liberty met in a concert hall that afternoon. I had pre-registered, and I got in. From high in a balcony seat I listened to several people talk about the evils of transgenderism. It’s webpage says WE BELIEVE Power Belongs to the People. Sound Familiar? With a focus is on parental rights, it wants to “STOP WOKE indoctrination.”
Tuesday I went to “The New Mavericks” reception co-hosted by the Black Republican Mayors Association and the Georgia Republican Party. They honored Sen. Tim Scott, four Congressmen and two Georgia delegates – all male. There was only one mayor on stage, from Aurora, IL. The chair of the Georgia Republican Party was the one white man on the stage. At that event, women served; they didn’t speak. The RNC reported that 55 delegates to the 2024 convention are Black, up from 18 in 2016.
I missed the Independent Women’s Forum toast to “Women Who Make Our Country Great” because I went to Convention Fest: The Official Delegate Experience, which was held in the streets outside the Fiserve Forum and Baird Hall as well as some space inside Baird. To get to that one you not only needed a credential of some sort, but a USSS pass (which I have).
Concerned Women for America parked its pink bus across from the Baird Center the week before the RNC. No one was home. When Convention Fest opened on Tuesday afternoon, they set up a pink tent, from which its leaders preached to whomever passed by. It calls itself “the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization” but its focus is evangelical Christian. The slogan on the side of its pink bus captures this emphasis: “She Prays, She Votes.” A prayer precedes each sermon.
“It’s for security” is the repeat answer every time you try to get information that was freely available at past conventions.
To start with, the US Secret Service has created a double security perimeter around the Fiserve Forum where the actual convention is being held July 15-18. The larger perimeter is roughly a ten square block area that is open to pedestrians, but any vehicle entering it must be screened. The smaller perimeter is restricted to those who have convention credentials; they must enter through a security checkpoint. You can see the security map with its boundaries online, but trying to get a paper copy you can carry with you is a study in frustration. Even the online version downloads as a webpage. Too small to see on a phone screen, you’d have to carry your laptop with you to see where the perimeter is and the checkpoints are located.
This is similar to the double security boundaries created around the Capitol and the White House for the 2020 inauguration, with one big difference. In DC, streets in the outer security perimeter had concrete bulwarks. You could walk between them or carry bikes over them. Only the inner perimeter had ten foot high fences forcing you to go to the very few checkpoints. In Milwaukee, the outer perimeter is high fencing. Pedestrians can only get in where cars can go, and there aren’t many of those.
Worst, the fencing seems to change every day. One day you can use one route; the next you must find another. I can see the Fiserve Forum from the AB&B where I am sleeping, but I can no longer get there from here. Each day is an adventure (and a waste of time) trying to get from one place to another.
The Baird Center is where things are happening other than the actual convention meetings. It occupies two city blocks not far from the Fiserve Forum. I was emailed to go there to pick up my pre-convention credentials – which are necessary to get into anything inside the inner security ring. But when I got there on Wednesday, no one could tell me where to go. After three hours of being told Not Here, and escorted hither and yon, I finally found the right place in a nearby hotel.
On Thursday, I took a walk to the Federal Building, which occupies an entire city block in West Milwaukee, well outside the security zone. Nonetheless, it was surrounded with the same ten foot fences that partitioned the security zone. I walked around the entire block looking for an opening before finally finding one on one side of the building. It was unguarded.
Once inside the fence I entered the front of the building to go through a security scrutiny that makes TSA look tame. Items were confiscated that I could carry on an airline. (They were returned when I left). In the atrium I saw three tables occupied by older women. They were registering voters for the League of Women Voters. They told me that a couple dozen new citizens were taking their oaths upstairs and they hoped to register them when they descended. I could only imagine what these new citizens thought about their new country after negotiating “security” to get into the building.
Even with pre-convention credentials, some places are closed. The North building of the Baird Center is open to press. The South Building is not. I was turned away completely before getting my pre-convention credentials. Once they were hanging from my neck, security let me in. I discovered that the convention committees (Platform, Bylaws, Credentials) were meeting in that side of the Baird Center. But they were closed to press. Indeed on my way out, when I happened to mention to the two Security guards that I wrote for a small online magazine, they told me that I wasn’t allowed into the South building at all. They let me in initially because I don’t look like press and they thought I was one of many volunteers
Special buses will carry delegates and others with the right credentials to and from the Fiserve Forum for each of the five official meetings (one day, four nights). Since those with press credentials can ride those buses (or so they could at past conventions), I thought it would be easier than walking late at night to take a bus to the hotel a block from where I’m staying. But which bus? When I asked the desk clerk at the nearby hotel which delegations were staying there, he said he couldn’t tell me. “It’s for security,” he said. “You understand that we have to protect people.” That approach certainly doesn’t protect me!
The federal government gives each convention $75 million dollars for security. They use part of that to feed and house police imported from all over. This year cops are coming from 15 Wisconsin police departments, and 25 out of state PDs. A list supplied by the Milwaukee press office lists cities mostly from Southern states – especially Florida and North Carolina. At the 2016 RNC in Cleveland, they were housed in college dorms. Milwaukee has enough residence halls to house several thousand cops.
I spoke to a group of four police sitting on very large horses, hoping to find out where they were staying. One told me they were from Louisville, KY. “You brought your horses?” I said. “Yes,” he replied. “We drove them from Louisville.” “Where are you staying,” I asked. “In the Milwaukee PD barn.” he said. “You mean your horses are staying there. Where are you staying?” “With them,” he responded. “On cots we brought with us.”
The analysis used data from electronic health records of 3.1 million Americans who are part of the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C). Researchers focused on 212,984 people who reported a reinfection. Those individuals were originally infected between March 1, 2020-Dec. 31, 2022, and experienced a second infection by March 2023. Most participants (203,735) had COVID-19 twice, but a small number (478) had it three times or more. COVID-19 vaccines, though not available during the entire study period, correlated with a protective effect(link is external).
About 27% of those with severe cases, defined as receiving hospital care for a coronavirus infection, also received hospital care for a reinfection. Adults with severe cases were more likely to have underlying health conditions and be ages 60 or older. In contrast, about 87% of those who had mild COVID cases that did not require hospital care the first time also had mild cases of reinfections.
Reinfections were defined as having occurred at least two months after a first infection. They were found to occur most frequently when omicron variants were circulating in late 2021 and early 2022. Waning immunity and increased exposure to the coronavirus, including the highly-infectious variants, likely accounted for the uptick.
Scientists also discovered that regardless of the variant, long COVID cases were more likely to occur after a first infection compared to a reinfection. Long COVID(link is external) was defined in the review as those experiencing long-term COVID-19 symptoms, such as feeling tired, coughing, or having problems sleeping, breathing, or thinking, after an acute coronavirus infection.
Researchers also found that lower levels of albumin, a protein made by the liver, may indicate a higher risk for reinfection. This finding could indicate lower albumin as a possible risk marker for reinfection. Scientists believe this deserves further attention, such as by considering trials to test if nutritional interventions may prevent reinfection or its severity.
David C. Goff, M.D., Ph.D., a senior scientific program director for the RECOVER Observational Consortium Steering Committee and director of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of NIH, is available for interviews on this paper.
Study
Hadley E, Yoo YJ, Patel S, et al. Insights from an N3C RECOVER EHR-based cohort study characterizing SARS-CoV-2 reinfections and Long COVID. Commun Med. 2024; doi: 10.1038/s43856-024-00539-2.(link is external)
Published on: 2 July 2024 – Melting of glaciers in a major Alaskan icefield has accelerated and could reach an irreversible tipping point earlier than previously thought, research led by Newcastle University suggests; Dr Bethan Davies: “This work has shown that different processes can accelerate melt, which means that current glacier projections may be too small and underestimate glacier melt in the future.”
Taku Glacier and the flat plateau area of Juneau Icefield, Alaskashow that different processes can accelerate melt, meaning that current glacier projections may be too small and underestimate glacier melt in the future; Image credit: Bethan Davies;
Dr Bethan Davies: The research found that glacier loss on Juneau Icefield, which straddles the boundary between Alaska and British Columbia, Canada, has increased dramatically since 2010.
The team, which included universities in the UK, USA and Europe, looked at records going back to 1770 and identified three distinct periods in how icefield volume changed. They saw that glacier volume loss remained fairly consistent from 1770 – 1979 at between 0.65- 1.01 km3 per year, increasing to 3.08-3.72 km3 per year between 1979-2010. Between 2010-2020 there was a sharp acceleration when the rate of ice loss doubled, reaching 5.91 km3 per year.
In particular, the research, published in Nature Communications, found that icefield-wide, rates of glacier area shrinkage were five times faster from 2015-2019 relative to 1948-1979.
Overall, the total ice loss across the Juneau icefield between 1770-2020 (315.3 ± 237.5 km3) equated to just under a quarter of the original ice volume.
The increased rate of glacier thinning has also been accompanied by increased glacier fragmentation. The team mapped a dramatic increase in disconnections, where the lower parts of a glacier become separated from the upper parts. Additionally, 100% of glaciers mapped in 2019 have receded relative to their position in 1770, and 108 glaciers have disappeared completely.
Study lead, Dr Bethan Davies, Senior Lecturer, Newcastle University, said: “It’s incredibly worrying that our research found a rapid acceleration since the early 21st century in the rate of glacier loss across the Juneau icefield.
“Alaskan icefields – which are predominantly flat, plateau icefields – are particularly vulnerable to accelerated melt as the climate warms since ice loss happens across the whole surface, meaning a much greater area is affected. Additionally, flatter ice caps and icefields cannot retreat to higher elevations and find a new equilibrium.
“As glacier thinning on the Juneau plateau continues and ice retreats to lower levels and warmer air, the feedback processes this sets in motion is likely to prevent future glacier regrowth, potentially pushing glaciers beyond a tipping point into irreversible recession.”
Alaska contains some of the world’s largest plateau icefields and their melting is a major contributor to current sea level rise. The researchers think the processes they observed at Juneau are likely to affect other, similar icefields elsewhere across Alaska and Canada, as well as Greenland, Norway and other high-Arctic locations.
They also say current published projections for the Juneau icefield that suggest ice volume loss will be linear until 2040, accelerating only after 2070, may need to be updated to reflect the processes detailed in this latest study.
Dr Davies said: “This work has shown that different processes can accelerate melt, which means that current glacier projections may be too small and underestimate glacier melt in the future.”
The team used a combination of historical glacier inventory records, 20th century archival aerial photographs, and satellite imagery as well as geomorphological mapping conducted during fieldwork in 2022 to piece together a comprehensive picture of changes over the past 250 years.
Dr Robert McNabb, Lecturer in Remote Sensing, Ulster University, said: “What was really exciting about this research was piecing together thousands of archived aerial photographs to extract elevation, which gave us a really detailed insight into the long-term behaviour of the icefield.
“Putting together this archive of photographs, collected 70 and 50 years ago, was a little like doing the world’s hardest jigsaw puzzle but the quality of the imagery meant we were able to reconstruct the icefield elevation in the pre-satellite era for the first time. Longer term archives like this one are an incredibly valuable resource, as they give us a much better understanding of the thresholds for accelerating change, as we’ve seen on the Juneau Icefield.”
Reference: Bethan Davies et al (2024) ‘Accelerating glacier volume loss on Juneau icefield driven by hypsometry and melt-accelerating feedbacks’, Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49269-y
Findings come from an NIH analysis of more than two decades of dietary data from 390,124 U.S. adults,questions the benefits of regular multivitamin use. Credit: iStock/bert_phantana
What
A large analysis of data from nearly 400,000 healthy U.S. adults followed for more than 20 years has found no association between regular multivitamin use and lower risk of death. The study, led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute, was published June 26, 2024, in JAMA Network Open.
Many adults in the United States take multivitamins with the hope of improving their health. However, the benefits and harms of regular multivitamin use remain unclear. Previous studies of multivitamin use and mortality have yielded mixed results and been limited by short follow-up times.
To more deeply explore the relationship between long-term regular multivitamin use and overall mortality and death from cardiovascular disease and cancer, the researchers analyzed data from three large, geographically diverse prospective studies involving a total of 390,124 U.S. adults who were followed for more than 20 years. The participants included in this analysis were generally healthy, with no history of cancer or other chronic diseases.
Because the study population was so large and included lengthy follow-up and extensive information on demographics and lifestyle factors, the researchers were able to mitigate the effects of possible biases that may have influenced the findings of other studies. For example, people who use multivitamins may have healthier lifestyles in general, and sicker patients may be more likely to increase their use of multivitamins.
The analysis showed that people who took daily multivitamins did not have a lower risk of death from any cause than people who took no multivitamins. There were also no differences in mortality from cancer, heart disease, or cerebrovascular diseases. The results were adjusted for factors such as race and ethnicity, education, and diet quality.
The researchers noted that it is important to evaluate multivitamin use and risk of death among different kinds of populations, such as those with documented nutritional deficiencies, as well as the potential impact of regular multivitamin use on other health conditions associated with aging.
Who:
Erikka Loftfield, Ph.D., M.P.H., Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute
The Study:
“Multivitamin Use and Mortality Risk in 3 Prospective US Cohorts” appears June 26, 2024, in JAMA Network Open.
About the National Cancer Institute (NCI): NCI leads the National Cancer Program and NIH’s efforts to dramatically reduce the prevalence of cancer and improve the lives of people with cancer. NCI supports a wide range of cancer research and training extramurally through grants and contracts. NCI’s intramural research program conducts innovative, transdisciplinary basic, translational, clinical, and epidemiological research on the causes of cancer, avenues for prevention, risk prediction, early detection, and treatment, including research at the NIH Clinical Center — the world’s largest research hospital. Learn more about the intramural research done in NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. For more information about cancer, please visit the NCI website at cancer.gov or call NCI’s contact center at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit nih.gov.
Reference
Loftfield E, O’Connell CP, Abnet CC, et al. Multivitamin Use and Mortality Risk in 3 Prospective US Cohorts. JAMA Network Open. June 26, 2024. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.18729.
National Cancer Institute’s original title: “For healthy adults, taking multivitamins daily is not associated with a lower risk of death was originally published by the National Cancer Institute
To more deeply explore the relationship between long-term regular multivitamin use and overall mortality and death from cardiovascular disease and cancer, the researchers analyzed data from three large, geographically diverse prospective studies involving a total of 390,124 U.S. adults who were followed for more than 20 years. The participants included in this analysis were generally healthy, with no history of cancer or other chronic diseases.
Because the study population was so large and included lengthy follow-up and extensive information on demographics and lifestyle factors, the researchers were able to mitigate the effects of possible biases that may have influenced the findings of other studies. For example, people who use multivitamins may have healthier lifestyles in general, and sicker patients may be more likely to increase their use of multivitamins.
The analysis showed that people who took daily multivitamins did not have a lower risk of death from any cause than people who took no multivitamins. There were also no differences in mortality from cancer, heart disease, or cerebrovascular diseases. The results were adjusted for factors such as race and ethnicity, education, and diet quality.
The researchers noted that it is important to evaluate multivitamin use and risk of death among different kinds of populations, such as those with documented nutritional deficiencies, as well as the potential impact of regular multivitamin use on other health conditions associated with aging.
Who
Erikka Loftfield, Ph.D., M.P.H., Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute
Study
“Multivitamin Use and Mortality Risk in 3 Prospective US Cohorts” appears June 26, 2024, in JAMA Network Open.
About the National Cancer Institute (NCI): NCI leads the National Cancer Program and NIH’s efforts to dramatically reduce the prevalence of cancer and improve the lives of people with cancer. NCI supports a wide range of cancer research and training extramurally through grants and contracts. NCI’s intramural research program conducts innovative, transdisciplinary basic, translational, clinical, and epidemiological research on the causes of cancer, avenues for prevention, risk prediction, early detection, and treatment, including research at the NIH Clinical Center—the world’s largest research hospital. Learn more about the intramural research done in NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. For more information about cancer, please visit the NCI website at cancer.gov or call NCI’s contact center at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
Right, Nora D. Volkow, M.D., Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse
Researchers from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that among a cohort of 137,000 Medicare beneficiaries who experienced a nonfatal overdose in 2020, almost 24,000 (17.4%) experienced a subsequent nonfatal overdose, and about 1,300 (1%) died from overdose in the following year. Results were published today in JAMA Internal Medicine(link is external), identifying both effective interventions and significant gaps in care.
“People who have experienced one overdose are more likely to experience another,” said Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and the leader of SAMHSA. “But we found that when survivors received gold-standard care such as medications for opioid use disorder and naloxone, the chances of dying from an overdose in the following year drop dramatically. In short, medications for opioid use disorder, opioid overdose reversal medications, and behavioral health supports save lives.”
The study identifies effective, lifesaving interventions following initial nonfatal overdoses. The odds of dying from a subsequent lethal overdose decreased among cohort members who received methadone (58% lower odds), buprenorphine (52% lower odds), or behavioral health assessment or crisis services (75% lower odds). The risk of overdose mortality among those who filled a prescription for naloxone was also reduced by 30%.
However, significant gaps in care were also noted. Only 4.1% of the cohort received medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and only 6.2% filled a prescription for naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, despite these being gold-standard interventions. Beneficiaries receiving MOUD waited a mean of 72 days between their nonfatal overdose and receiving medication.
Overall, 89% of beneficiaries in the cohort received behavioral health services in the 12 months following their nonfatal overdose for a median duration of 15 days throughout the year.
