Falling Short
In a new report , the Association of American Medical Colleges ( AAMC ) projects that the U . S . could see an estimated shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 physicians by 2034 .
The shortfalls will be seen in both primary care ( 17,800 to 48,000 ) and specialty care ( 21,000 to 77,100 ).
While the COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in the health care system , the AAMC researchers noted that the primary driver of increasing demand is population growth and aging .
Source : Association of American Medical Colleges , “ The Complexities of Physician Supply and Demand : Projections from 2019-2034 ,” June 11 , 2021 .
A Change of Screen
In results from the final Circulating Cell-free Genome Atlas ( CCGA ) substudy , a cancer screening test using a simple blood draw successfully detected signals from more than 50 different cancer types , according to research published in Annals of Oncology .
The validation cohort included 2,823 patients newly diagnosed with cancer and 1,254 patients without cancer . The blood test had an overall specificity of 99.5 % and an overall sensitivity of 51.5 %.
Sensitivity for cancer signal detection increased with disease stage :
Sensitivity for cancer signal detection
100 %
80 %
60 %
40 %
20 %
0 %
STAGE 1
16.8 %
STAGE 2
40.4 %
STAGE 3
77 %
STAGE 4
90.1 %
Third Time ’ s the Charm ?
A French study of COVID-19 vaccine response in patients undergoing solid-organ transplant suggests that some immunocompromised patients would benefit from a third dose of the vaccine .
A total of 101 transplant recipients received a third dose of vaccine ( following recommendations of French regulators ).
Four weeks after the third dose ,
“ These data suggest that , if used alongside existing screening tests , the multi-cancer detection test could have a profound impact on how cancer is detected and , ultimately , on public health ,” lead author Eric Klein , MD , said in a press release . the proportion of antibodies rose to
68 %, up from
40 % after the second dose .
Source : Klein EA , Richards D , Cohn A , et al . Clinical validation of a targeted methylation-based multi-cancer early detection test using an independent validation set . Ann Oncol . 2021 ; S0923-7534 ( 21 ) 02046-9 .
Still , some patients did not have an antibody response – these patients tended to be older and have lower immune cell counts .
Source : Kamar N , Abravanel F , Marion O , et al . Three doses of an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in solid-organ transplant recipients [ published online ahead of print , 2021 June 23 ]. N Engl J Med . doi : 10.1056 / NEJMc21088612021 .
40 ASH Clinical News August 2021