CDC in the news

CDC: most violent deaths are... suicides.

by white males, young or old, or AmerIndian/Innuits.

homicides are more likely among Black non Hispanic teenage males.

Less than 1 percent are death by law enforcement.

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CDC reports one third of those with Lupus (SLE) take opioids for pain, and the experts are not happy about it.

Quick: What's wrong with this statement.

The widespread and long-term use of prescription opioids among this cohort of patients with SLE was striking given lack of evidence regarding safety and efficacy of opioids for treating chronic pain associated with rheumatic disease (1,7).

translation: we don't have scientific studies that opioids work for this type of pain (just ignore the experience of thousands of physicians who find it's the only thing that keeps their patients comfortable enough to function)

Particularly concerning is that some of the less appreciated medical risks associated with long-term opioid use, such as myocardial infarction, immunosuppression, and osteoporosis (8), are potentially compounded in persons with SLE, whose baseline risks for these comorbidities are elevated because of the underlying disease and adverse effects of immunosuppressive and glucocorticoid therapies.

translation: opioid use is associated with these things, but hey, the disease of the patient cause them too.

Further, recent preliminary data suggest that opioids are associated with increased mortality in lupus.¶

so is it from the opioids, or because we give opioids to the patients whose lupus is worse?

The study about increased mortality is, of course, a "metanalysis" meaning it took a bunch of studies and averaged the results.

so what does this mean?

A qualitative review was performed because the number of articles pertaining to specific adverse effects of opioids was typically small, and the diversity of adverse effects across systems precluded a quantitative analysis.

hmm.. in other words, not a lot of data out there so the analysis might not be accurate.

Through a variety of mechanisms, opioids cause adverse events in several organ systems. Evidence shows that chronic opioid therapy is associated with constipation, sleep-disordered breathing, fractures, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal dysregulation, and overdose.

True. Constipation in cancer patients on opioids is a big problem no one wants to talk about. You get respiratory depression, and I've seen this in the elderly, who are doing well on their opioid dosage until they pneumonia... a Overdoses might be accidental or deliberate (not just suicide but from taking extra dosese because you hurt and take a second or third dose before the first dose starts to work).

However, significant gaps remain regarding the spectrum of potentially opioid-related adverse effects. Opioid-related adverse effects can cause significant declines in health-related quality of life and increased health care costs.

or maybe they increase the quality of life when taken. That part is not addressed.

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remember all the hysteria about the Zika virus causing mental retardation among infants whose moms were exposed to it?

well the dirty little secret is that Rubella does this too:

but thanks to vaccine, (MMR means Measles Mumps Rubella) it has gone down world wide.

CDC report:

Progress toward rubella elimination has resulted in 168 (87%) of 194 countries protecting infants with RCV and 81 (42%) eliminating rubella transmission. Equity between countries using rubella-containing vaccine has increased as lower-income countries have introduced rubella-containing vaccine.

this paper notes the decrease in cases from 2000 to 2016 

In 2016, 22,361 rubella cases were reported to WHO, a 97% decrease from 670,894 cases reported in 2000, and a 76% decrease from 94,277 cases reported in 2012 

there is a big worry that the increase in refusing "measles" shots (actually MMR shots) will increase the rate of fetal rubella syndrome: 

but one might not see this until these unvaccinated kids grow up and get pregnant.

and in some poorer countries, only measles vaccine was given, not the MMR combination which is usually used in the USA.