Research Roundup: Flu Vaccine; Vitamin D And Pregnancy; Medical Student Mistreatment; And More

CIDRAP: Study Ranks Relative Effectiveness Of Influenza Vaccines In Seniors
A study today in the Journal of Infectious Diseases found that egg-based adjuvanted and high-dose (HD) flu vaccines had slightly higher relative vaccine effectiveness (RVE) than egg-based quadrivalent (four-strain) vaccines in nearly 13 million Medicare beneficiaries 65 and older during the 2018-19 flu season. Led by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists, the researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study using inverse probability of treatment weighting and Poisson regression to measure RVE in preventing flu-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits. (2/26)

The New York Times: Vitamin D During Pregnancy May Benefit Children’s Bones
Most experts recommend that pregnant women take a daily supplement of 400 units of vitamin D. Now a randomized clinical trial suggests that a much larger dose may be beneficial for children’s bone health. The study, in JAMA Pediatrics, randomized 517 women to take either a 2,400-unit vitamin D supplement or a placebo from 24 weeks of pregnancy until one week after birth. (Bakalar, 2/25)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Assessment Of The Prevalence Of Medical Student Mistreatment By Sex, Race/Ethnicity, And Sexual Orientation
Female, URM, Asian, multiracial, and LGB students seem to bear a disproportionate burden of the mistreatment reported in medical schools. It appears that addressing the disparate mistreatment reported will be an important step to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in medical education. (Hill et al, 2/24)

CIDRAP: Analysis Links Outpatient Penicillin Prescribing With Sepsis Mortality Rates
A new study by researchers from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health suggests that outpatient prescribing of penicillins is associated with rates of mortality with sepsis in older US adults. The study, published in BMC Infectious Diseases, used a multivariable mixed-effects model to relate state-specific rates of outpatient prescribing for oral fluoroquinolones, penicillins, macrolides, and cephalosporins in 2014 and 2015 to state-specific rates of mortality with sepsis in different age-groups of US adults in the same years, adjusting for additional covariates and random effects associated with 10 US Department of Health and Human Services regions. (2/24)

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: Health Care In The 2020 Election
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide today whether to take up Texas v. United States, which challenges the constitutionality of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA). The February KFF Health Tracking Poll finds attitudes towards the ACA has hit its highest favorability since KFF began tracking opinions nearly ten years ago. The latest KFF poll finds a clear majority of the public viewing the law favorably (55%), while slightly more than one-third (37%) of the public hold unfavorable views. (Kirzinger, Kearney and Brodie, 2/21)