Read AMA Morning Rounds®’ most popular stories in medicine and public health from the week of May 2, 2022–May 6, 2022.
FDA limits who can receive Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine
The AP (5/5, Perrone, Neergaard) reports that on Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration “strictly limited who can receive Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.” The FDA “said the shot should only be given to adults who cannot receive a different vaccine or specifically request J&J’s vaccine.”
CNN (5/5, Dillinger) reports, “The FDA said in a statement that the change is being made because of the risk of a rare and dangerous clotting condition called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome...after receiving the vaccine.”
The Hill (5/5, Sullivan) reports that “the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do not carry the same risks of blood clots, given they use a different technology than the Johnson & Johnson vaccines.”
Women of all ages, younger men with certain mood disorders may be more likely to develop certain chronic diseases
CNN (5/4, Marples) reports, “Women of all ages and younger men with certain mood disorders are more likely to develop certain chronic illnesses,” investigators concluded after analyzing “health data of 40,360 adults from Olmsted County in Minnesota.” The study revealed that “women in their 20s were most likely to develop chronic illnesses if they had both anxiety and depression, with an over 61% increase in risk compared with participants without either mental disorder,” while men with “with anxiety and depression in the age 20 group were most likely to develop a chronic condition, with a nearly 72% risk increase compared with the control group, and men with anxiety in the age 60 group were least likely with an over 8% decrease in risk.” The findings were published online May 2 in JAMA Network Open.
Seven factors account for vast majority of risk for first-time acute MI in young adults, study finds
MedPage Today (5/3, Ruprecht) reports, “Seven risk factors, some modifiable and some not, accounted for the vast majority of risk for first-time acute myocardial infarction (MI) in young adults, according to a case-control study.” These “seven factors—diabetes, depression, hypertension, smoking, family history of premature MI, low household income, and hypercholesterolemia—accounted for 83.9% of the total acute MI risk in young women and 85.1% of the risk in young men, reported” researchers in JAMA Network Open.
Research suggests some people with long COVID may have been asymptomatic, experienced mild infection
CNN (5/2, Howard) reports that “emerging research suggests that a small portion of people who now live with long COVID may have showed no COVID-19 symptoms at all when they were initially infected—or their symptoms were mild or unusual.” Estimates of the incidence of long COVID “range from about 30% to more than half of people who have recovered from acute COVID-19,” and “women and older adults appear to be more likely to have it than men and younger adults.” American Medical Association President Gerald E. Harmon, M.D., said, “We do know that even a mild or relatively asymptomatic acute infection with COVID can eventually cause long COVID.” But even though “physicians know more about COVID-19 now than they did two years ago in the early days of the pandemic, the medical community still doesn’t ‘have all the answers’ when it comes to the disease—and especially long COVID, said” Dr. Harmon.
FDA to consider emergency use authorizations for pediatric COVID-19 vaccines in June
The Washington Post (4/29, McGinley, Johnson) reported FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Director Dr. Peter Marks “pledged Friday not to delay the rollout of coronavirus vaccines for the youngest children and said at least one of the two shots under review could become available in June.” The agency “announced plans to convene meetings with its outside advisers on June 8, 21 and 22 to consider emergency use authorizations for pediatric coronavirus shots and to hold additional sessions for other pressing vaccine matters.”
The New York Times (4/29, LaFraniere) reported that on Thursday, Moderna requested authorization of its vaccine for children under six years, and “said it would finish submitting its data to the FDA by May 9.” In the meantime, “Pfizer and BioNTech are expected to complete their application” for a three-dose regimen for “children under 5 in June.”
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Table of Contents
- FDA limits who can receive Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine
- Women of all ages, younger men with certain mood disorders may be more likely to develop certain chronic diseases
- Seven factors account for vast majority of risk for first-time acute MI in young adults, study finds
- Research suggests some people with long COVID may have been asymptomatic, experienced mild infection
- FDA to consider emergency use authorizations for pediatric COVID-19 vaccines in June
