Opinion | ‘Is This an Underestimate of the Harm?’: What We Heard This Week

“Is this an underestimate of the harm?” — Martin J. Landray, PhD, of the University of Oxford in England, on preprint data from the RECOVERY trial showing higher corticosteroid doses raised the risk of death in non-ventilated COVID-19 patients with hypoxia.

“I was talking to some other doctors about it online, and there was a question about how can we use this to our advantage.” — Clifford Stermer, MD, of One Rheumatology in Florida, on using the new artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, to write an insurance denial letter.

“You know, there’s a lot of sick kids right now.” — Zachary Rubin, MD, of Oak Brook Allergists in Illinois, discussing the “tripledemic” of flu, RSV, and COVID that has led to a wave of pediatric hospitalizations in the past few weeks.

“The pendulum is starting to swing.” — Naval Daver, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Cancer in Houston, on more equitable response rates between intensive chemotherapy with newer, lower-intensity therapy options for treating acute myeloid leukemia.

“You can be exclusionary for the right reasons, or bad reasons.” — Maxwell Smith, PhD, of the University of Western Ontario, commenting on the magnitude of prejudice and aversion against individuals refusing COVID-19 vaccination.

“This report seems unfamiliar with the idea that what we seek in medicine is net benefit.” — Jeremy Faust, MD, editor-in-chief of MedPage Today, detailing the methodology flaws behind the new study claiming up to 250,000 people die in the U.S. annually due to emergency department misdiagnoses.

“I’ve transplanted [with bone marrow transplant] over 30 patients with Artemis deficiency, and it’s night and day.” — Morton Cowan, MD, of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco, on an early trial of a gene therapy for a rare type of severe combined immunodeficiency.

“I think especially for urban planners and policymakers, that’s something important to see.” — Jochem O. Klompmaker, PhD, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, on how greater exposure to natural environments may help protect older adults against hospitalization for neurodegenerative diseases.

“It is therefore important for clinicians to be aware of this potential side effect when prescribing these medications.” — Miguel Garcia-Argibay, PhD, of Örebro University in Sweden, on the heightened depression risk for men taking 5α-reductase inhibitors like finasteride and dutasteride commonly used to treat hair loss and benign prostatic hyperplasia.