Read AMA Morning Rounds®’ most popular stories in medicine and public health from the week of July 6, 2026–July 10, 2026.
U.S. Death rate falls to lowest point on record
The Washington Post (7/2, Roubein) reports, “The U.S. death rate fell to the lowest point on record last year, while flu and pneumonia rose to be one of the top 10 leading causes of death, according to provisional data released Thursday from the” CDC.
The Hill (7/2, Choi) reports the data indicated that “the death rate in 2025 was 689.2 per 100,000 people, representing a 4.6% drop from 2024 as well as the lowest recorded death rate in the country’s history.” The report indicated that “the top two underlying causes of death in the U.S. were heart disease and cancer, followed distantly by unintentional injuries, strokes, chronic lower respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.”
U.S. approaching last year’s measles case total
The Washington Post (7/6, Sun) reports the U.S. “is on the brink of surpassing last year’s total measles cases, putting the country on track to set a new record before summer’s end.” The U.S. last year “reported 2,288 measles cases, the highest since measles was eliminated in 2000 and the most in more than three decades,” and the country now is “poised to reach that level in roughly half the time, with 2,170 measles cases as of July 2, according to” CDC data. The expected “milestone underscores how the country has entered a new phase in its battle with measles, with repeated new infections of the deadly disease igniting sustained outbreaks in multiple states rather than staying concentrated in a few undervaccinated communities.”
Record number of Americans taking GLP-1 drugs for weight loss
The Washington Post (7/7, Rowland) reports, “A Gallup poll released Tuesday based on a web survey of 5,065 U.S. adults says that 15% of U.S. adults reported using GLP-1 medications to lose weight at some point, while 11% say they currently are taking them.”
The New York Times (7/7, Blum) reports, “That’s up from 3% who said they were taking an obesity drug in 2024.” Additionally, “the poll data...showed that the obesity rate in the United States is falling, dropping to 36.4% this year after a peak of 39.9% in 2022.”
Physicians largely unable to harness data from consumer wearables
Axios (7/8, Reed) reports, “Regulatory hurdles and the lack of insurer reimbursements are preventing doctors from harnessing data from consumer wearables to use in their practices,” according to findings from a new AMA survey “of 2,222 physicians in the U.S., Canada and Europe.” The survey shows that while “97% of the physicians said they’d review health information collected by a wearable, no more than 6% of the practitioners in any country had actually integrated data.” AMA CEO and Executive Vice President John Whyte, MD, MPH, said physicians are interested but health systems lack the tools to incorporate wearable data into workflows. According to Axios, “With the explosion of AI in healthcare, doctors have more opportunities than ever to mine continuous data – but only if the broader system supports it, Whyte said.”
Healthcare Dive (7/8, Olsen) reports physicians “often have limited time with patients, so they can’t spend an appointment digging through phones and devices to analyze wearable data, Whyte said.”
Editor’s Note: To read the AMA’s full statement on how wearable data adoption is stalled by system barriers, click here.
Cyclosporiasis infections continue to spread across Midwest
Bloomberg (7/9, Nix, Sirtori, Subscription Publication) reports cyclosporiasis infections continue to spread across the Midwest, “as federal health officials investigate the still-undetermined source of the outbreak.” Michigan, which has “the highest infection count, recorded 1,251 total cases of cyclosporiasis on Thursday, a 26% jump from the previous day. The infections are largely concentrated in the southeastern part of the state.” Meanwhile, “Ohio has reported more than 360 cases, according to a spokesperson for the health department.”
You may also be interested in: Stay informed with news and resources on Cyclospora
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