If you are wondering what health care disparities might look like in medication use for chronic diseases, a new study published in JAMA Network Open can serve as just one example. Among patients with diabetes in the United States, researchers found that lower rates of SGLT2 inhibitor use, a medication with substantial cardioprotective and kidney protective benefits, is associated with Black race, Asian race, female gender, and lower household income.

Certain blood pressure-lowering medications that cross the blood–brain barrier may be linked to less memory decline in older adults, suggests new research published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension.

Older adults increasingly are taking medications that are prescribed for valid reasons but that also elevate their risks for falls, results from a new study indicate. In their analysis of government data, researchers found that the share of patients matching this profile surged from 57% in 1999 to a staggering 94% in 2017.

In a new analysis, CDC said there was a large decline in essential childhood vaccinations in the early months of the pandemic last year, but rates did not return to pre-pandemic levels with the lifting of the stay-at-home orders.

In the United States, 77% of all UTIs and 79% of all community acquired pneumonias (CAP) are treated inappropriately in the hospital setting, according to an expert panel convened by the Pew Charitable Trust in 2018 to evaluate antibiotic use in hospitals. The panel’s findings, which were published in a March 18, 2021, report, revealed that fluoroquinolones were used inappropriately 47% of the time, and vancomycin was used inappropriately 27% of the time.