Post-thawing change in embryo quality predicts embryo transfer success, according to the results of a retrospective study published in Fertility and Sterility. After thawing, previously frozen embryos re-expand and should resume their stage of cell division before cryopreservation. However, freezing and thawing may affect the embryo’s grade, morphology, ability to re‑expand, and transfer success rate. To assess whether changes in the quality of embryos after thawing affect the success rate of single-euploid embryo transfer, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York ..read more

Gestational weight gain below IOM recommendations is safe among patients with obesity, according to study findings published in The Lancet. Recommendations about gestational weight gain allowances among patients with obesity. The US Institute of Medicine (IOM) and others have called for research about the safety of weight gain (<5 to 9 kg) and weight loss in pregnancies with obesity. To assess the effects of low weight gain during pregnancy, researchers conducted a population-based cohort study using data from the Stockholm-Gotland Perinatal Cohort. Participants had obesity and singleton pr ..read more

HealthDay News — ChatGPT shows promise in polypharmacy management and deprescribing medications among the elderly, according to a study published online April 18 in the Journal of Medical Systems. Arya Rao, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues evaluated ChatGPT performance in polypharmacy management via its binary (yes/no) deprescribing decisions in standardized clinical vignettes. The researchers found that in yes/no binary deprescribing decisions, ChatGPT universally recommended deprescribing medications regardless of activities of daily living (ADL) status in patients with ..read more

HealthDay News — Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) receptor agonist use does not appear to be associated with an increased risk for thyroid cancer, according to a study published online April 10 in The BMJ. Björn Pasternak, M.D., Ph.D., from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues examined whether use of a GLP1 receptor agonist is associated with an increased risk for thyroid cancer in a Scandinavian cohort study in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden from 2007 to 2021. Patients who initiated GLP1 receptor agonist treatment were compared to those who started dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) i ..read more

Vascular endothelial growth factor signaling pathway inhibitors (VSPIs) for cancer are often discontinued due to high-grade hypertension and proteinuria, a new study finds. Investigators have identified key risk factors. Shruti Gupta, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues examined risk factors and time to onset of VSPI-associated grade 3 or higher hypertension and grade 2 or higher proteinuria among 5236 adults with cancer treated from 2016 to 2023 at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. VSPIs included anti-vascular e ..read more

In the 15 months following the onset of COVID-19, pediatric mental health and social risk continue to be worse than prepandemic levels. However, in-person schooling has a protective effect against these persistent, adverse mental health effects, according to data from a longitudinal study published in Child Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on pediatric mental health, as the societal stressors and reduced access to timely treatment exacerbated a preexisting public health crisis. As more longitudinal data has been collected in the years sin ..read more

Ontarian adults aged 18 years and older with back pain who require high-cost health care contributed to approximately half of total annual health care spending in Ontario, according to study results published in Pain. Adults aged over 65 years who had comorbidities, smoked, and reported fair or poor self-perceived general health were more likely to be high-cost health care users. Researchers conducted a population-based cohort study of Ontarian adults with back pain who responded to the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) between 2003 and 2012, to characterize high-cost health care users a ..read more

While inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treatments are more often withheld in patients who develop COVID-19, withholding therapy is not associated with increased IBD flares, according to study findings published in Digestive Diseases and Sciences. Due to the lasting effect of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it becomes important to understand the effect of treatments used for COVID-19 in different at-risk patient populations. Patients with IBD experience chronic inflammation, which is often treated with immunosuppressive therapy. Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the effect of ..read more

Despite poor discriminative ability, higher maternal age, higher body mass index (BMI), nulliparity, nonsmoking status, and thyroid autoimmunity are associated with a higher risk for gestational thyroid dysfunction, according to results of an individual-level meta-analysis published in Thyroid. Although targeted screenings for abnormal thyroid function in pregnancy consider risk factors for hypothyroidism, these factors have poor discriminatory power. For example, detection rates range between 75% and 85% among patients with overt hypothyroidism and between 54% and 60% among patients with subc ..read more

Diabetes is associated with reduced levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) among postmenopausal women, according to study results published in the Journal of Endocrinology & Metabolism. Although previous research findings suggest links between rising levels of FSH and cardiometabolic benefits during the transition to menopause, the association between FSH levels and diabetes among postmenopausal individuals remains unclear. To clarify the association between FSH levels and glycemic disturbances in menopause, researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis sourcing data fr ..read more