Health

The number of American babies who died before their first birthdays rose last year, significantly increasing the nation’s infant mortality rate for the first time in two decades, according to provisional figures released Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics.The spike is a somber manifestation of the state of maternal and child health in the United States. Infant and maternal mortality, inextricably linked, are widely considered to be markers of a society’s overall health, and America’s rates are higher than those in other industrialized countries.The rates are particularly poor among Black and Native American mothers, who are roughly three…

A panel of experts said on Tuesday that a groundbreaking treatment for sickle cell disease was safe enough for clinical use, setting the stage for likely federal approval by Dec. 8 of a powerful potential cure for an illness that afflicts more than 100,000 Americans.The Food and Drug Administration had previously found that the treatment, known as exa-cel and jointly developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals of Boston and CRISPR Therapeutics of Switzerland, was effective. The panel’s conclusion on Tuesday about exa-cel’s safety sends it to the F.D.A. for a decision on greenlighting it for broad patient use.Exa-cel frees patients from the…

A 58-year-old man with heart failure who received a new heart from a genetically modified pig died on Monday, nearly six weeks after receiving the pig organ, University of Maryland Medical Center officials announced on Tuesday.Lawrence Faucette, of Frederick, Md., was the second patient at the medical center to have had an ailing heart replaced with one from a pig that had been genetically modified so its organs would be more compatible with a human recipient and would not be rejected by the human immune system.The first patient, 57-year-old David Bennett, died last year, two months after his transplant. He…

As soon as the recommendations were announced, they were met with fierce criticism for their screening and treatment methods, especially drugs like semaglutide and the surgery Alexandra opted for. Critics claimed that these approaches are far too aggressive and subject children’s bodies to unnecessary scrutiny and manipulation, potentially distorting how they view themselves, and that treatments could lead to eating disorders that cause more damage than obesity itself. Some critics challenged B.M.I. — a controversial measurement — and argued that doctors should not be diagnosing obesity in children at all. But, Hampl emphasizes, “the decision for treatment is really in…