Featured Articles
The articles listed below have been chosen by the editor-in-chief as featured articles.
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Featured Article
From in vivo to in vitro: How the Guatemala STD Experiments Transformed Bodies Into Biospecimens
This study sheds light on the US Public Health Service’s Guatemala STD experiments of the 1940s. The 1,300 people who had been intentionally exposed to pathogens in the experiments also played a role as unknowing secondary research subjects in biospeciman experiments that continued until at least 1957, write study authors Kayte Spector-Bagdady and Paul A. Lombardo from the University of Michigan and Georgia State University College of Law, who analyzed historical documents from that period. Read more
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Featured Article
The Effect of Medicaid on Management of Depression: Evidence From the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment
This study takes advantage of Oregon’s 2008 Medicaid lottery to gauge the causal effects of Medicaid coverage on mental health care using a randomized-controlled design and drawing on primary and administrative data sources. Medicaid coverage was found to reduce the prevalence of undiagnosed depression by almost 50% and untreated depression by more than 60%. Read more
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Featured Article
Barriers to Care Among Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Adults
Using data from a large multistate sample to compare barriers to care between cisgender, transgender, and gender nonconforming adults, researchers found that transgender and gender nonconforming adults experience barriers to health care for a variety of reasons, including discrimination, health insurance policies, employment, and public policy, or lack of awareness among health care providers on transgender-related health issues. Read more
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Featured Article
Consumers’ Response to an On-Shelf Nutrition Labelling System in Supermarkets: Evidence to Inform Policy and Practice
Does nutrition labelling on the grocery store shelf help consumers make healthier food choices? Researchers looked at aggregated supermarket transaction data in three supermarket chains in Ontario and conducted exit interviews with shoppers from both intervention and control supermarkets to assess shoppers’ attitudes toward labelling. They found shoppers made small but significant shifts toward purchasing food with higher nutritional ratings, including foods with slightly less trans fat and sugar and more fiber and omega-3 fatty acids. Read more
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Featured Article
Timing and Characteristics of Cumulative Evidence Available on Novel Therapeutic Agents Receiving Food and Drug Administration Accelerated Approval
What is the clinical evidence on therapeutic agents that treat serious conditions and are eligible for Food and Drug Administration accelerated approval? This study is the first to provide a systematic evaluation of the evidence on drugs receiving this type of approval between 2000 and 2013. These drugs often quickly become part of standard treatment, despite shortcomings in their evidence base. Read more
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Featured Article
Beyond Health Insurance: Remaining Disparities in US Health Care in the Post-ACA Era
While the Affordable Care Act reduced the number of uninsured Americans to historic lows and has particularly benefited lower-income families and minorities, insurance expansion on its own was not enough to bring about health care equity. Researchers found that lack of health insurance only explains a small to moderate portion of the disparities in health care access, affordability, and quality. Read more
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Featured Article
The Evolving Dynamics of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance: Implications for Workers, Employers, and the Affordable Care Act
Employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) is the predominant form of health insurance coverage in the United States, but little is known about transitions into and out of ESI or whether turnover has increased over time. The authors found that, between 2005 and 2013, adults who transitioned off ESI became likely to enroll in a non-group plan and were twice as likely to become uninsured. Read more
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Featured Article
The Mass Production of Redundant, Misleading, and Conflicted Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses
This article investigates the mass production of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, many of which are suboptimal and can be harmful given the prestige and influence these types of studies have acquired. The author proposes several ways to realign biases and vested interests and to better integrate these publications with the primary production of evidence. Read more
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Featured Article
The International Health Regulations: The Governing Framework for Global Health Security
This article presents a clear and comprehensive description of the International Health Regulations (IHR), evaluates recent global commission reports evaluating them, and offers proposals for fundamental reform and strengthening of the IHR. Read more
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Featured Article
Knowledge of and Attitudes Toward Evidence-Based Guidelines for and Against Clinical Preventive Services: Results from a National Survey
A survey was developed to study consumers’ knowledge of and attitudes toward evidence-based guidelines for and against clinical preventive services, including those developed by the US Preventive Services Task Force. Read more
Commentary
Mass Production of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses: An Exercise in Mega-silliness?
Matthew J. Page, David Moher
In a Commentary accompanying the lead article, the authors explain why “‘mega-silliness’ may be an appropriate characterization of what the meta-analysis literature has become.” Read more