Media Coverage
The work done by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine faculty members (and even some students) is regularly highlighted in newspapers, online media outlets and more. Below you’ll find links to articles and videos of Feinberg in the news.
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Crain’s Chicago Business
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ER Visits by Youth with Suicidal Ideation Spiked in Fall of ’19
Researchers at Lurie Children’s and Northwestern University Feinberg medical school report that back in the fall of 2019, Illinois emergency departments experience a spike in visits from youth ages 5 to 19 with suicidal thoughts. While there was another uptick in 2020 when the pandemic began, the authors note that the Illinois data shows a pre-COVID crisis and is representative of a nationwide population. “A lot of people have talked about mental health problems in youth during the pandemic, but it was happening before the pandemic,” corresponding author Audrey Brewer, MD, MPH, instructor of pediatrics at Feinberg and a pediatrician at Lurie Children’s said in a statement. “This has been an issue for so long, and it’s getting worse.” Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the U.S. and has increased over 45% between 1999 and 2020, when more than 47,000 adolescents ages 10 to 19 died, the statement said. Although the data used in this study do not shed light on the reasons that suicidal ideation has spiked in recent years, senior author Joe Feinglass, PhD, research professor of medicine at Feinberg, surmised in the statement that it could be a combination of school-related stress, social isolation, including heavy social media exposure, growing hopelessness about climate change, political discord and gun violence, and family adversity, neglect or abuse, “This is like smoke,” Feinglass said of the study findings. “And there’s definitely a fire, but we don’t yet know and are not yet addressing what is causing the fire.”
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WTTW
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Study Finds Hair Straightening Chemicals Associated with Higher Risk of Uterine Cancer
A study from the National Institutes of Health last month showed women who use chemical hair relaxers or straighteners may have a higher risk of the cancer. A Missouri woman, Patrice Yursik is now suing five beauty companies — including L’Oréal — claiming the relaxers caused her uterine cancer at the age of 28. That diagnosis eventually led to a hysterectomy. Yursik says the need to chemically relax hair begins at a young age. “Many of us are taught from an early age that our hair is unmanageable or unprofessional or untidy, or of course it must be therefore tamed by these caustic chemicals and this is not just an American issue, this is global,” she said. June McKoy, MD, MPH, a professor of medicine and cancer researcher at Northwestern University, says the study’s findings are a big deal. “There are three or four components that are definite carcinogens. We know that the scalp absorbs things very well and it gets right into the system, and we know that we already know that this is a product people use repeatedly over time,” McKoy said. “ … We see high cancer rates among older adults over time exposure leaves cancer in some form.” McKoy is direct when it comes to the use of hair relaxers. “I would advise women strongly to stop using them. The association is so strong that I would advise not to use it,” she said.
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Crain’s Chicago Business
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Vaccine Rates, Herd Immunity ‘Going in the Wrong Direction’
The prospect of rising deaths from the flu coming in December and January, combined with a drop in the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccinations among children has a Northwestern Medicine infectious disease doctor worried about the cost of vaccine fatigue. “This is all going in the wrong direction. Not only are we having this bump up in flu cases and hospitalizations, but we are having fewer people get vaccinated. It’s the wrong time to slack off,” Robert Murphy, MD, executive director of the Robert J. Havey Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine said in a statement. Murphy warns that while people are tired of vaccines, with the most recent availability of what would be the 5th shot of COVID-19 vaccine to be recommended by the CDC, now is not the time to give up on them. “We have barely seen the influenza virus for the last one or two years, due to COVID-19 restrictions. We might have lost some of our previously acquired immunity due to the lack of viral circulation. Additionally, we now have pediatric populations that have never experienced this virus,” Ramon Lorenzo Redondo, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, added in the statement.
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The Washington Post
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New Weight-Loss Drugs Work, But Who’s Paying
After decades of failure, weight loss drugs seem finally poised to become big pharma’s newest blockbuster category. The enthusiasm is merited. These newer drugs offer more profound and sustained weight loss than any of the medicines that came before them. People are eager to try the new treatments. “The demand is overwhelming the workforce,” says Robert Kushner, MD, who specializes in obesity medicine at Northwestern Medicine. Also worth considering: The story about the long-term safety of this new generation of drugs is still being written. Past experience in the weight-loss arena has shown that side effects can emerge after the drugs hit the market. That worry is compounded by the drugs being potentially used in situations where there’s no evidence for their efficacy or safety.
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Associated Press
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Mindfulness worked as well for anxiety as drugs in study
Mindfulness mediation worked as well as a standard drug for treating anxiety in the first head-to-head comparison. The study tested a widely used mindfulness program that includes 2 1/2 hours of classes weekly and 45 minutes of daily practice at home. Participants were randomly assigned to the program or daily use of a generic drug sold under the name Lexapro for depression and anxiety. After two months, anxiety as measured on a severity scale declined by about 30% in both groups and continued to decrease during the following four months. The study “is reaffirming about how useful mindfulness can be when practiced effectively,” said psychologist Sheehan Fisher, PhD, an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine who was not involved in the study.
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The Washington Post
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Did pandemic stress change women’s periods?
During the pandemic, many women experienced high levels of stress as they took on a disproportionate share of child care and housework and dropped out of the labor force in large numbers. Now, a new study suggests that all of this extra stress may have changed women’s menstrual cycles in a variety of ways. Stress can affect a woman’s menstrual cycle in a number of ways. The stress hormone cortisol can affect the body’s production of estrogen and progesterone, which are reproductive hormones that influence the menstrual cycle. Stress-related factors, such as poor nutrition, weight gain, weight loss and poor sleep, also can play a role. Nicole C. Woitowich, a medical research assistant professor at Northwestern University, found a similar association between period changes and pandemic stress in 2020 after conducting an online survey of 210 women. Because it wasn’t a representative sample, the findings aren’t conclusive. But Woitowich said both studies, conducted a year apart, suggest that the pandemic affected women’s stress levels and menstrual cycles over a long period of time. “Women have really borne the brunt of the pandemic, from multiple facets,” Woitowich said. “From being the primary care giver, from dealing with remote learning, and often times working while navigating that as well.”
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TODAY
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A looming ‘tripledemic’ could make for a rough winter. Which states may be hit hardest?
With the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) surging early this year, ahead of an expected increase in COVID-19 cases, hospitals should plan to be overwhelmed this winter. Experts told TODAY it’s likely that a potential “tripledemic,” as some are calling it, may hit some parts of the country harder, or at the very least, sooner. The tripledemic of 2022 refers to the possibility that COVID-19 and and seasonal influenza will surge as RSV, a common virus that primarily effects children under 1 and older adults, continues to send kids to the hospital. Even though flu and RSV may be a bit early, it’s typical in winter to see a surge of these viruses, Michael Angarone, DO, associate professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, told TODAY. But this year is likely to be different: “What we are worried about is having the typical cold and flu seasons combined with SARS-CoV-2,” he said. The real fear around a tripledemic is the possibility that the three viruses will peak at the same time and inundate hospitals, filling every bed and stretching staff thin.
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US News & World Report
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‘SAD Season’: Depression Risks Rise as Days Get Shorter
As the daylight hours shrink, people’s moods can wind up in the tank. Rest assured, you’re not alone. It’s the SAD season for those affected by seasonal affective disorder. That’s the depression, fatigue and withdrawal that shorter days and longer nights often bring. “The seasonal mood change can come in different shapes and forms,” said Dr. Dorothy Sit, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “It can be a clinical diagnosis of depression, which we call SAD, but some people experience a milder form,” Sit said. “The clinical diagnosis means it is quite intense; it affects people all day for many weeks and can impact their functioning. In milder cases, people can feel a bit blah, but can push through. Still, functioning will feel a bit harder.” Besides feeling sluggish, people may be hungrier, crave carbohydrates, eat more and gain weight. They may also feel less motivated and find less enjoyment in activities. A major remedy for SAD is starting the day with bright light therapy. Sit recommends a unit that produces 10,000 LUX of white light to be used in the 30 minutes after waking up. “The treatment provides an uplift in the mood, improves a person’s functioning and may completely resolve their symptoms,” she noted. “It’s even effective for non-seasonal depression, depression in pregnancy and in certain people with bipolar depression.”
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ABC 7 Chicago
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How daylight saving time impacts seasonal depression
Daylight saving time ends overnight Saturday when clocks turn back an hour. That means an extra hour of sleep. But it also means it’ll be darker earlier in the evening and that could impact people dealing with seasonal depression. Dorothy Sit, MD, from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine joined ABC7 to share more on how to deal with the time change. Dr. Sit said light is an important cue for our body clocks. Behaviors and functions of the body such as sleep-wake patterns, digestion, physical activity, body temperature, stress responses and nightly release of melatonin (a natural hormone for sleep), all vary in accordance to daily or circadian rhythms that are highly responsive to light. he said sleep experts generally understand that standard time is in closest alignment with our body’s rhythms and adhering to standard time as long as possible (preferably year-round) is expected to produce positive health benefits. The shorter, darker days related to the change in seasons to fall and winter, is linked to seasonal depression, Dr. Sit said, adding that the time change from daylight saving may certainly compound the seasonal symptoms.
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USA Today
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Latinas have long been targeted by abortion misinformation. It’s getting worse, experts say.
The Latino community has been targeted by false information that’s meant to discourage abortions. Ahead of midterm elections, experts are raising the alarm. Experts say the Latino community has been targeted by false information about abortion and pregnancy. Intended to discourage abortions, such focused misinformation is not new but experts say it has increased since the Supreme Court’s June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v. Wade – the 1973 landmark case that constitutionally established the right to abortion in the U.S. One of the most important and enduring ways to dispel misinformation within the community is to have conversations with family members, said Melissa Simon, MD, MPH, an OB-GYN at Northwestern Medicine and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “It takes literally a village to try to stamp out this disinformation,” she said, “because it’s so deeply rooted in so many places and it’s hard to avoid.”
