Specialty drug use for autoimmune conditions varies by race and wage among employees with employer-sponsored health insurance.

Background: The relationship between race and ethnicity, wage status, and specialty medication (SpRx) use among employees with autoimmune conditions (AICs) is poorly understood. Insight into sociodemographic variations in use of these medications can inform health equity improvement efforts.

Objective: To assess the association of race and ethnicity and wage status on SpRx use and adherence patterns among employees with AICs enrolled in employer-sponsored health insurance.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on treatment for mental health needs: a perspective on service use patterns and expenditures from commercial medical claims data.

Objective: To examine changes in use patterns, cost of healthcare services before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and their impacts on expenditures for patients receiving treatment for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and substance use.

Methods: This cross-sectional study employed statistical tests to analyze claims in MarketScan® Commercial Database in March 2020-February 2021 and quarterly from March 2020 to August 2021, compared to respective pre-pandemic periods. The analysis is based on medical episodes created by the Merative™ Medical Episode Grouper (MEG).

Specialty drug and health care utilization vary by wage level in employer-sponsored health plans.

Expenditures on specialty medications for autoimmune conditions (SpRx-AIC) have increased considerably in recent years, raising affordability concerns for employers and other plan sponsors and resulting in greater patient cost-sharing. Among those commercially insured, prior studies have shown differential patterns of health care utilization in association with wage, though no data are available for SpRx-AIC. Notably, out-of-pocket costs associated with SpRx-AIC have been shown to impact medication adherence, particularly for low-income households.

Multidisciplinary meeting on male breast cancer: summary and research recommendations.

Male breast cancer is a rare disease, accounting for less than 1% of all breast cancer diagnoses worldwide. Most data on male breast cancer comes from small single-institution studies, and because of the paucity of data, the optimal treatment for male breast cancer is not known. This article summarizes a multidisciplinary international meeting on male breast cancer, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health Office of Rare Diseases and the National Cancer Institute Divisions of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics and Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis.

Trial assessing individualized options for treatment for breast cancer: the TAILORx trial.

Novel genetic profiling tests of breast cancer tissue have been shown to be prognostic for overall survival and predictive of local and distant rates of recurrence in breast cancer patients. One of these tests, Oncotype DXtrade mark, is a diagnostic test comprised of a 21-gene assay applied to paraffin-embedded breast cancer tissue, which allows physicians to predict subgroups of hormone-receptor-positive, node-negative patients who may benefit from hormonal therapy alone or require adjuvant chemotherapy to attain the best survival outcome. The results of the assay are converted to a recurrence score (0-100) that has been found to be predictive of 10- and 15-year local and distant recurrence in node-negative, estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer patients.

Twin studies in behavioral research: a skeptical view.

We review in detail two major ongoing research projects that employ samples of twins reared apart (and in one case, twins reared together). The studies attempt, via model fitting, to estimate proportions of genetic and environmental variance for many human traits. We discuss problems concerning the representativeness of samples, the accuracy and reliability of the data, the extent of contact of nominally separated twins, the measurement of selective placement effects, and the particular model-fitting procedures.

Transfusion syndrome and the heritability of IQ.

The recent analysis of transfusion syndrome effects by Munsinger (1977) suggests that there is literally no effect of social environment on IQ variation in the population. The detailed analysis of Munsinger's report, however, indicates that his conclusions cannot be supported. Though Munsinger assigned birthweights to separated MZ twin pairs described in the literature, there do not in fact exist birthweight data for most pairs.

Comment on Munsinger's adoption study.

The recent adoption study reported in this journal by Munsinger appears to provide clear and powerful evidence for a large genetic determination of IQ. The study has been cited as methodologically superior to all other adoption studies. With the repudiation of Burt's data, the Munsinger study has taken on particular importance.

Teamwork: a multidisciplinary pediatric-liaison service.

Psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers are often consulted about the same hospitalized patient. Since each may differ in their training, orientation and experience, the opinions expressed by them to the consultee may differ. The authors have described a multidisciplinary liaison team operating within a pediatric teaching hospital.