Read AMA Morning Rounds®’ most popular stories in medicine and public health from the week of Feb. 16, 2026–Feb. 20, 2026.
James Van Der Beek’s death spotlights rise in colorectal cancer among younger adults
NBC News (2/15, Sullivan) reports, “The recent death of the 48-year-old actor James Van Der Beek is again highlighting how colorectal cancer is increasingly killing younger people.” Since 1990, “cancer death rates in people younger than 50 have dropped by 44%.” However, “after increasing for decades, colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death in people under 50.” According to NBC, “federal cancer screening guidelines and the American Cancer Society recommend that people who have an average risk for colorectal cancer should begin screening at age 45 with a colonoscopy every 10 years, or a stool test every one to three years.”
Opinion: Federal action needed to protect patients, physicians from deepfakes
AMA CEO John Whyte, MD, MPH, writes in STAT (2/17, Subscription Publication), “On Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms, highly respected doctors are endorsing a wide variety of medical products—and racking up millions of views in the process.” But “there’s just one problem. The videos aren’t authentic. They’re the work of scammers, who use artificial intelligence to clone the faces and voices of real, credentialed physicians without their knowledge or consent.” He argues, “Unless regulators crack down on these deepfakes, the videos threaten to steer even more patients toward wasteful, potentially dangerous purchases—while further undermining the public’s already faltering trust in medical institutions.” Whyte concludes, “Patients deserve to trust that medical advice comes from a real, qualified professional acting in their best interest. Federal action is necessary to protect both patients and doctors—and prevent new technologies from eroding the time-tested foundations of medical care.”
You may also be interested in: What physicians should know about AI in medicine.
South Carolina measles cases climb to 962 as outbreak spreads
Reuters (2/17, Kulkarni) says, “South Carolina reported a surge to 962 measles cases on Tuesday, state health data showed, including 12 additional infections since Friday, as officials warned the widening outbreak could last weeks or months amid lagging vaccine uptake.” The outbreak, which started “in October, has been centered in the northwest part of the state, which includes Greenville and Spartanburg, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Health.” Of the people “infected, 893 were unvaccinated, 20 were partially vaccinated with one of the recommended two-dose measles-mumps-rubella vaccines, 26 were fully vaccinated and 23 had unknown vaccination status.”
You may also be interested in: What doctors wish patients knew about measles.
Cumulative lead exposure may be a dementia risk factor
HealthDay (2/18, Gotkine) reports, “Cumulative lead exposure is suggested as a potential dementia risk factor, according to a study.” One researcher said, “Once lead enters the body, it can remain stored in the bones for decades. ... As individuals age, lead may be released from the bones and migrate to organs such as the brain.” The investigator continued, “This underscores the importance of assessing cumulative lead exposure when studying long-latency brain diseases, including dementia.” The findings were published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
You may also be interested in: How to screen for, reduce risk of and treat Alzheimer’s disease.
Fewer US pregnant women began prenatal care during first trimester between 2021-2024
The AP (2/19, Ungar) reports that the CDC released data on Thursday showing a decline in early prenatal care in the U.S. The data show that the “share of U.S. births to women who began prenatal care in the first trimester dropped from 78.3% in 2021 to 75.5% in 2024. Meanwhile, starting care later in pregnancy or getting no care at all has been on the rise.” The data indicated that “prenatal care beginning in the second trimester rose from 15.4% to 17.3%, and starting care in the third trimester or getting no care went from 6.3% to 7.3%.”
The Hill (2/19, Rego) adds that the CDC report “found that the largest decrease in the percentage of mothers who received prenatal care in the first trimester was for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women, followed by Black women, Hispanic women, American Indian and Alaska Native women, Asian women and white women. In 2024, less than half of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander expectant mothers received prenatal care in the first trimester.”
NBC News (2/19, Edwards) reports that 36 states and Washington, DC, “had increases in women either delaying their first OB-GYN visits or going without prenatal care.”
AMA Morning Rounds news coverage is developed in affiliation with Bulletin Healthcare LLC. Subscribe to Morning Rounds Daily.
