About The Study: Despite rapid expansion of ultraexpensive drugs in Medicare Part D, this cohort study found that availability in comparable economies remains limited, and internationally unavailable products often have higher per-beneficiary spending, underscoring their fiscal significance.

A new study led by researchers at NYU School of Global Public Health finds that sickle cell disease care is unevenly distributed across regions in New York State. New York City has the largest proportion of hospitalizations and Long Island has the highest charges for care, but hospital stays are longer in other areas with less access to specialized care, according to the study published in JAMA Network Open.

Researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Central Ohio Poison Center analyzed calls to U.S. poison centers and found an alarming 6,532% increase in the rate of reported water bead ingestions among children younger than 6 years from 2019 to 2023, followed by a 24% decrease from 2023 to 2024.

A long-standing scientific consensus holds that vaccines are not associated with autism. However, a recent shift in messaging by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moved from emphasizing this consensus to highlighting uncertainty, potentially implying that a link has not been fully ruled out. Although this policy change could have significant consequences for public health, its effects on how people think, feel, and act regarding vaccination remain poorly understood. Moreover, moving from a clear, evidence-based consensus to messaging that emphasizes uncertainty may do more than influence vaccine decisions, it can also contribute to wider social effects, such as deepening political divisions, weakening trust in institutions, and making individuals more receptive to dismissing scientific evidence, especially in areas where experts largely agree. In this Policy Article, Bohm et al. conducted an online experiment using an opt-in sample of 2,989 U.S. adult participants. Participants were randomly exposed to either a consensus-based or uncertainty-based CDC-style statement, and their responses were measured. They found that exposure to the uncertainty-based message increased perceived vaccine risks and uncertainty, reduced vaccination intentions, lowered trust in the CDC, and increased endorsement of science-denial strategies. These effects occurred regardless of participants’ political orientation. “Overall, the findings underscore the responsibility of public health institutions to communicate scientific uncertainty in ways that protect, rather than inadvertently weaken, population health,” write the authors.

New research reveals a hidden trade-off in corporate sustainability: companies that spend more on political lobbying tend to disclose less about their environmental and social performance – raising fresh concerns about the credibility of ESG reporting. “Firms disclose less while investing more in political influence. Understanding this relationship is crucial if we want ESG information to remain credible, useful, and relevant for investors, policymakers, and the public,” explains lead author and CMCC scientist Simone Taddeo.