Ping Chua News Today

Quotable quotes heard by <em>MedPage Today</em>'s reporters

Public interest in weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic is surging, but national data on dispensing patterns in the United States are surprisingly scarce.

The average number of inappropriate antibiotics prescribed monthly decreased at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but returned to pre-pandemic levels by late 2021, data show.

WEDNESDAY, May 1, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- There was an initial decrease in inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions following onset of COVID-19, followed by an increase, according to a study published online April 22 in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Kao-Ping Chua, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, and colleagues conducted an interrupted

Initial decrease seen in proportion with inappropriate prescription, followed by subsequent increase.

For adolescents and young adults, antidepressant dispensing was increasing before the COVID-19 outbreak, and increased after.

Young people turned to antidepressants in greater numbers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, new research has shown. Mental health experts react to the findings.

Importantly, the increase in the antidepressant dispensing rate during the pandemic was driven by females: 130 per cent faster among girls aged 12-17 years and 60 per cent faster among females aged 18-25 years.

Researchers found a 66.3% increase in the monthly antidepressant dispensing rate between January 2016 and December 2022, from 2575.9 to 4284.8.

Post-surgery pain relief has shifted away from opioid-containing medications over the past seven years, but the downward trend has slowed since 2020, a new study shows.