News: Axios Vitals: Chronic illness crisis

Monday, April 11, 2022

Axios Vitals: Chronic illness crisis

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Presented By PhRMA

Axios Vitals

By Tina Reed · Apr 11, 2022

Good morning, Vitals readers. Today's newsletter is 770 words or a 3-minute read.

1 big thing: Why America needs new urgency around diet-related diseases

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Americans were more vulnerable to serious illness and death from COVID in part because of our poor health status heading into the pandemic.

Now, preparations for future public health emergencies have to include diet-related chronic illnesses, health experts say.

Why it matters: Obesity and related diseases like diabetes were closely linked with a far higher risk of serious illness and death from COVID.

That was particularly true among older adults, communities of color, and disadvantaged communities, Anand Parekh, chief medical adviser at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told Axios.

"Preventing chronic diseases has to come back as the top public health priority for the nation," said Parekh, while discussing a report from the center on the topic.

"The better our health status, the more resilient we can be if there is an emergency like COVID to reduce morbidity and mortality."

State of play: Multiple studies have tied patients' chronic health conditions with poorer COVID outcomes. For instance, about 30% of COVID-19 hospitalizations were found to be attributable to obesity, with about 20% of hospitalizations linked to diabetes and about 26% linked to hypertension, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

The risks of ICU admission, mechanical ventilation and death were higher with increasing body mass index, according to the CDC, citing reviews of COVID-19 cases.
Diabetes, hypertension, obesity and smoking contributed to nearly 30% of COVID-19 deaths, another study published in BMJ Open found.

What they're saying: "We know that diet-related diseases make people vulnerable to a lot of the ravages of this pandemic. In so many ways, it revealed the brokenness of our food system," Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., told Axios in an interview in December.

"Every time [public health officials] talked about social distancing, mask-wearing, getting a vaccine, why weren't they talking about this?"

Go deeper.

2. Pandemic-era pedestrian deaths up

Data: Governors Highway Safety Association; Chart: Kavya Beheraj/Axios

Pedestrian deaths rose precipitously in almost every state in the first 15 months of the pandemic, Axios' Kavya Beheraj and I report from preliminary Governors Highway Safety Association data.

GHSA projects 3,441 pedestrians were killed in collisions with vehicles in the U.S., a 17% increase from 2020.

Zoom in: South Carolina had the highest rates of pedestrian deaths, with 2.95 fatalities per 100,000 people in the first half of 2021 — up 30% from 1.44 fatalities per 100,000 people in the first half of 2020.

Thirteen states saw jumps of 40% or more in pedestrian fatalities.

California, Florida and Texas accounted for 37% of all pedestrian deaths in the first six months of 2021. (The states are home to approximately 27% of the U.S. population, per the report.)
Eleven states saw a drop in pedestrian deaths in that time. Hawaii, Nebraska and Virginia had two consecutive years of declines in pedestrian fatalities, the GHSA report shows.

3. New pressure for relaxed hearing aid rules

A pair of senators is prodding the FDA to issue a final rule to allow a new category of hearing aids to be sold over the counter without a medical exam or audiologist fitting, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim writes.

Why it matters: The change could give some of the estimated 38 million Americans with hearing loss more affordable choices and allow consumer electronics companies to enter the market.

Driving the news: Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation Friday to order a timetable for a final rule.

The agency last October began outlining technical requirements for OTC hearing aids but it offers no timeline for when consumers could see them hit the market.

Context: Congress asked the agency in 2017 to explore broadened access by August 2020, but the agency missed the deadline due to the pandemic.

Hearing aids cost thousands of dollars. Insurance coverage is limited and Medicare won't cover them. The stigma of hearing loss has also prevented millions from using them.
Congressional Democrats proposed expanding Medicare coverage to hearing services at a cost of $35 billion over a decade as part of the sweeping social spending bill that stalled in the Senate.

A message from PhRMA

Insured Americans face barriers to care

Nearly half of insured Americans who take prescription medicines encounter barriers that delay or limit their access to medicines.

Learn more about the abusive insurance practices that can stand between patients and the care they need in PhRMA's new report.

4. Pic du jour

Photo: Marc Pfitzenreuter/Getty Images

A woman demonstrates an immersive fitness game called the ExerCube during the FIBO 2022 international fitness, wellness and health conference in Cologne, Germany, over the weekend.

5. While you were weekending

Illustration of a desk on a beach under a palm tree.

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

🦠 We've told you about the possibility of a future COVID vaccine in the form of a pill. But there's also a possibility it could come in the form of a nasal spray. (Washington Post)

🚔 A Texas district attorney announced Sunday his office will drop a murder charge against a woman for an alleged "self-induced abortion." (Axios)

🏥 Health care employment is getting closer to pre-pandemic levels with some notable exceptions such as doctors and people who worked in long-term care facilities, a new study found. (CNN)