Read AMA Morning Rounds®’ most popular stories in medicine and public health from the week of Aug. 4, 2025–Aug. 8, 2025.
Experts from medical associations removed from CDC vaccine workgroups
The AP (8/1, Stobbe) reported a federal health official confirmed last week that experts from “more than a half-dozen of the nation’s top medical organizations” were “disinvited from the workgroups that have been the backbone of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The organizations include the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.” In a joint statement Friday, the AMA and several organizations said: “To remove our deep medical expertise from this vital and once transparent process is irresponsible, dangerous to our nation’s health, and will further undermine public and clinician trust in vaccines.”
Presence of CV risk factors may cause heart to “age” faster than a person’s chronological age
Healio (8/4, Buzby) reports, “Presence of CV risk factors may cause the heart to “age” faster than a person’s chronological age, and social determinants of health may exacerbate this heart age discordance, researchers” found. The data indicated that “for both men and women, a high proportion of people of Hispanic or Black race or with low educational attainment or low income had a heart age to chronological age discordance of 10 years or more.” The findings were published in JAMA Cardiology.
You may also be interested in: To prevent heart disease, intervene early and often.
USPSTF issues draft recommendation advising health care professionals to screen all adults for unhealthy alcohol use
Healio (8/5, Rhoades) reports the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said in a draft recommendation statement (PDF) that health care professionals should screen all adults for unhealthy alcohol use and also provide counseling to those who engage in such use. A USPSTF press release warns that unhealthy alcohol use can range from risky or hazardous drinking to alcohol use disorder. The recommendation “is a B grade and aligns with the task force’s 2018 recommendation on the topic. The USPSTF also issued an I-grade recommendation, stating there is insufficient evidence to recommend for or against screening for unhealthy alcohol use in adolescents.”
Studies link Maui and Los Angeles wildfires to additional deaths
The Washington Post (8/6, Mellen) reports a study published in JAMA suggests the death toll of the “January fires that consumed entire swaths of Los Angeles” could be much higher than the official count of at least 30 people. The researchers “compared recorded deaths in Los Angeles County between Jan. 5 and Feb. 1 with figures from past years—excluding 2020 through 2023 because of the coronavirus pandemic—and estimated that 440 more deaths in that time could be attributed to the fires. In total, 6,371 deaths were recorded, compared with 5,931 expected, according to their models.”
The AP (8/6, Stobbe) adds that two additional studies published Wednesday “explore what happened after the Hawaii fire in August 2023.” The first study, published in JAMA Network Open, “looked at more than 1,100 adults six to 14 months after the Maui fire. It found lower lung function in people in areas close to the fire compared with those in lower-exposure areas. Overall, about 22% had below-normal lung function.” The second study, published in JAMA, “calculated rates of suicide and overdose deaths in Maui and Hawaii’s four other counties. That research team found a 97% increase in suicides and overdose death rates on Maui during the month of the wildfires. The total number of suicide and overdose deaths was 13 that month—most of them suicides.”
Automatically mailing stool test kits may be most effective way to boost colon cancer screening
HealthDay (8/7, Thompson) reports a study found that “automatically mailing a stool test kit to people’s homes might be the best way to boost colon cancer screening among younger adults, a new study says.” Researchers observed that “more 45- to 49-year-olds went ahead with cancer screening when they received an unsolicited stool test kit in the mail, rather than having to actively opt into screening or choose a test.” They found that “sending an unsolicited stool test wound up producing the best results, with a screening rate of more than 26%.” In comparison, “only 17% got screened when asked to opt in with their choice of test, 16% to opt in with a mailed stool test, and under 15% to opt in with colonoscopy.” The study was published in JAMA.
You may also be interested in: FIT test or colonoscopy? Catching colon cancer earlier.
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