Read AMA Morning Rounds®’ most popular stories in medicine and public health from the week of Aug. 17, 2026–Aug. 21, 2026.
Micro-awakenings during sleep linked to greater genetic risk for Alzheimer’s
HealthDay (8/14, Thompson) reports, “A greater number of micro-awakenings during sleep is linked to a greater genetic risk for Alzheimer’s, researchers” found. The investigators found that “more frequent micro-awakenings go hand in hand with that genetic risk, long before any memory problems arise.” The findings were published in Sleep.
You also may be interested in: How to screen for, reduce risk of and treat Alzheimer’s disease
Record high share of kindergartners have exemptions from school vaccine requirements
The Washington Post (8/17, A1, Sun) reports, “The share of U.S. kindergartners with exemptions from school vaccine requirements for the 2025-2026 school year rose to another record high, according to” CDC data released on Monday. The jump “from 3.6 to 4.2% seeking exemptions – about 155,000 students – extends a years-long erosion of childhood immunization rates as the country battles its worst measles resurgence in 35 years.”
Bloomberg (8/17, Nix, Subscription Publication) says these exemptions “exceeded 5% in 24 states in the most recent school year.”
Reuters (8/17, Erman, Steenhuysen) reports the data show vaccine “coverage ranged from 92% for the diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) to 92.4% for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) and the polio vaccine.” The CDC “said coverage for the MMR, DTaP, polio and varicella vaccines decreased in more than half the states from the previous year.”
You may also be interested in: Pediatric vaccines: Questions parents will ask—and how to answer
Majority of patients view test results before hearing from clinician
Medical Economics (8/18, Littrell) reports 68.6% “of U.S. adults who had a medical test in the past year read the results in a patient portal before hearing from anyone on their care team,” and 6.6% “said they did not really understand what they were looking at, according to” findings from a nationally representative study published in JAMA Network Open. The data also show that 26.8% of patients said they understood the results fairly well, while 31.7% understood them well and 34.9% very well.
Most types of physical activity are associated with lower dementia risk, but not all
MedPage Today (8/19, George) reports that researchers who conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis found that “high physical activity levels were linked to a 20% lower risk of all-cause dementia (relative risk [RR] 0.80, 95% CI 0.75-0.86) over 10 years compared with the lowest level of physical activity.” Investigators found that “leisure-time activities like walking, running, swimming, cycling, or playing sports followed a similar pattern and were tied to lower dementia risk (RR 0.76, 95% CI 0.65-0.88).” Meanwhile, “household physical activity also appeared beneficial, but evidence was from a single study.” However, “occupational activity was associated with an increased dementia risk (RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.01-1.42).” Additionally, “active commuting was tied to higher dementia risk based on two studies.” The findings were published in The Lancet Public Health.
Data show uptick in COVID-19 test positivity rate
CNN (8/20, Christensen) reports, “Although the autumn respiratory illness season hasn’t kicked off, and flu and RSV activity remain low, there’s a growing summer wave of COVID-19.” Infection rates “aren’t especially high, and the United States isn’t recording many hospitalizations or deaths,” but CDC data “puts the test positivity rate for the week ending August 8 above 3% for the first time since March, with numbers climbing in every state.”
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