Media Coverage

She points to the increase in the number of babies being born to women in their late 30s and early 40s, which she sees as a possible sign that the fertility rate could recover eventually. It’s possible that women who have been postponing pregnancy may have the babies they were planning to have and that could reverse the trend. Maybe, says Dr. Helen Kim. But maybe not. “As a fertility specialist, I worry that delaying childbearing will result in more fertility problems,” said Kim, an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Fertility — particularly women’s fertility — declines with age.

For the burnout guide, I spoke to Dr. Inger Burnett-Zeigler, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University, who recommends asking yourself this question if you feel like you’re at risk for parental burnout: “Do you actually have to do everything you think you have to do in this moment?” Sometimes taking 20 minutes to do something you find pleasurable, whether it’s watching trash TV, reading or talking to a friend, is a better use of your time than making something elaborate for preschool snack day.

It’s 3 p.m., I’ve been seeing patients for a few hours and I feel my focus fading. I need to stay sharp for those still to come, so I grab a snack and some coffee. This has become my afternoon ritual during my 20 years as a primary care doctor. Now, a new study confirms that my feared “3 o’clock fade” is real — and that it could affect patients’ health. According to the study, published in JAMA Network Open, doctors ordered fewer breast and colon cancer screenings for patients later in the day, compared to first thing in the morning. All the patients were due for screening, but ordering rates were highest for patients with appointments around 8 a.m. By the end of the afternoon, the rates were 10 percent to 15 percent lower. The probable reasons? Running late and decision fatigue.

If a doctor has spent much of the day talking to patients about cancer screening — and often hearing “no” — he or she might let it slide by day’s end. “This is a reminder that doctors are human, too,” said Dr. Jeffrey Linder, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “They’re laboring under the same psychological and fatigue constraints as everyone else.” Linder wrote an editorial accompanying the study, published May 10 in the journal JAMA Network Open. “Not everyone can get an 8 a.m. appointment,” Linder pointed out. But, he said, it’s good for doctors and patients to be aware that time of day might affect their care.

“We know that African American women are disproportionally affected by the HIV epidemic in the United States, and the interventions that have been laid out have not impacted this group in the same way it has males and nonblack women,” said Dr. Michael Angarone, assistant professor in the division of infectious diseases at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The researchers looked at HIV data collected over a seven-year period and used a model to measure the disparity among different groups called the population attributable proportion, or PAP. They modeled the reductions in new HIV infections that would have occurred if the rate of infections among black women were the same as white women. They found that the PAP decreased from 0.75 in 2010 to 0.70 in 2016.

“It’s not just feeling sweaty for a few minutes,” says Dr. David Walega, chief of pain medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “In the most severe hot flashes, women feel like they’re having a panic attack. They feel like they need to flee or get away and the heart races, the fight or flight hormones are all going crazy. And all they can do is wait for it to end.” Luckily, Barler found Walega, and a treatment that may be the answer women with severe hot flashes have been desperately looking for. Walega’s research has shown a startling impact on hot flashes with the use of a nerve-blocking shot that has been in use for pain management since the 1940s.

Gestational diabetes in the mother also leads to a higher risk a child will go on to develop prediabetes – a precursor to Type 2 diabetes – according to research published in the journal Diabetes Care. The research focused on the incidence of what’s also referred to as impaired glucose tolerance, and found this in 10.6 percent of children ages 10 to 14 of mothers who had untreated gestational diabetes. “What we found is that impaired glucose tolerance is significantly more frequent in those whose mothers had gestational diabetes,” says Dr. Boyd Metzger, the study’s corresponding author and a professor emeritus of endocrinology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Doctors caution against relying on natural methods to cure cancer. A 2017 study found that those with cancer who chose an alternative approach were 2.5 times more likely to die than those who stuck with conventional medicine. In an essay for Stat News, Suneel Kamath, hematology/oncology fellow at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, argued for an approach that incorporates alternative techniques like meditation, diet and acupuncture alongside traditional medicine.

Two Illinois universities are putting together what they say is the first database to focus on twins in the state. Northwestern University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign say in a news release they’re launching the Illinois Twins Project. Researchers will compile information from twins and other multiples in Illinois between from birth until they turn 17 years and will be a scientific resource for researchers interested in how genes and environment influence twins and other multiples. And it will allow them to examine differences between identical and fraternal twins.

The most dramatic increases were among black Americans, the researchers found. Those increases may be at least partially due to the epidemics of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, says co-author Dr. Sadiya Khan, an assistant professor of cardiology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “The growing prevalence of obesity and diabetes is now outweighing the progress we’ve made,” in terms of medications, treatments and surgical procedures.