Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 25.04.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_60348" align="alignleft" width="200"]Mahdi Fallah, MD, PhD Study and Group Leader Risk Adapted Prevention (RAD) Group Division of Preventive Oncology National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) Heidelberg, Germany Dr. Fallah[/caption] Mahdi Fallah, MD, PhD Study and Group Leader Risk Adapted Prevention (RAD) Group Division of Preventive Oncology National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) Heidelberg, Germany   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Breast cancer is a significant public health problem, being the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the US. Breast cancer screening from age 50 has been associated with a reduction in mortality and is recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force. However, there is a significant disparity in mortality rates between Black and White individuals, with Black women having a higher death rate, especially before age 50. The current one-size-fits-all policy for breast cancer screening may not be equitable or optimal, and risk-adapted starting ages of screening based on known risk factors, such as race and ethnicity, may be recommended to optimize the benefit of screening. Our study aimed to provide evidence for a risk-adapted starting age of screening by race and ethnicity.
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Electronic Records, Health Care Systems, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 07.03.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_60140" align="alignleft" width="112"]Dhruv Khullar, M.D., M.P.P.Director of Policy Dissemination Physicians Foundation Center for Physician Practice and Leadership Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Economics Weill Cornell Medicine, NYC Dr. Khullar[/caption] Dhruv Khullar, M.D., M.P.P. Director of Policy Dissemination Physicians Foundation Center for Physician Practice and Leadership Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Economics Weill Cornell Medicine, NYC   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: From prior research, we know that there are racial/ethnic differences in the acute impact of COVID-19, including higher rates of hospitalization and death among Black and Hispanic individuals compared to white individuals. Less is known about whether there are differences in the rates or types of long COVID by race and ethnicity.
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Gender Differences, Kidney Disease, NEJM, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 26.01.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_59955" align="alignleft" width="150"]Prof. dr. Hans Pottel Prof. dr. Pottel[/caption] Prof. dr. Hans Pottel KU Leuven Kulak Department of Public Health and Primary Care Belgium MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response:  The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is used to diagnose patients with chronic kidney disease and is also used to adjust the dose of drugs that are eliminated by the kidneys. An accurate estimation of GFR is considered of importance in the management of kidney health in patients. In 2021 we published a new serum creatinine based equation, called the European Kidney Function Consortium (EKFC) equation (Pottel H. et al, Development and Validation of a Modified Full Age Spectrum Creatinine-Based Equation to Estimate Glomerular Filtration Rate : A Cross-sectional Analysis of Pooled Data. Ann Intern Med (2021) 174: 183-191): EKFC-eGFR = 107.3 / [Biomarker/Q]a x [0.990(Age – 40) if age > 40 years] With a = 0.322 if Biomarker/Q is less than 1, and a = 1.132 if Biomarker/Q is 1 or more. The equation can easily be interpreted: the leading coefficient equals the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 107.3 mL/min/1.73m², which is the average GFR in healthy children (aged > 2 years), adolescents and young adults. The average healthy GFR remains constant until the age of 40 years, and starts decreasing beyond that age. The GFR is inversely related to the ‘rescaled’ biomarker. The rescaling factor (Q) is the average biomarker value for healthy people of a specific population (e.g. children, adult men, adult women, white people, black people, …). Biomarker/Q equals ‘1’ for the average healthy person, corresponding with eGFR = 107.3 mL/min/1.73m² (up to 40 years of age). It should be noted that for serum creatinine, the Q-value depends on sex and race. Our hypothesis was that the above equation is valid for any renal biomarker, on the condition that the biomarker is appropriately scaled. We showed that the same equation was able to estimate GFR from 2 years to oldest ages. In the current study we tested and validated our hypothesis by applying the above formula for appropriately ‘rescaled’ cystatin C.
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 16.02.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: https://vipstarnetwork.com/Johonniuss Chemweno CEO of VIPStarNetwork MedicalResearch.com:  What is the mission of VIP StarNetwork?  Response: VIP StarNetwork’s mission is to expand access to healthcare services and information, especially in underserved and underprivileged communities. Our comprehensive group of health experts, leading physicians, and healthcare executives are working to create a meaningful and safe environment to ensure that patients have equitable and streamlined access to vaccines and other forms of care.