A new study supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, finds that while routine prenatal iron supplementation reduces the incidence of iron deficiency and related anemia during pregnancy, there is no significant effect on maternal or infant health outcomes. Study co-author Amy Cantor, M.D., says, "There’s a lot of marketing out there targeting various vitamins and supplements for pregnant people, and it can be overwhelming. It’s best to keep it simple: If you don’t have any risk factors outlined by your clinician, then a standard prenatal vitamin should be sufficient to ensure a healthy pregnancy."

In an Investigate NW piece on a lack of access to health care affecting Native Americans and Alaska Natives across Washington, David Radley, Ph.D., says, "If you don’t have health insurance, it doesn’t matter how good the quality of care in your particular state is — without health insurance, when people can’t get in the door, you guys can have the best health care in the world. But if everyone’s stuck outside, it doesn’t really matter.”

Continued coverage on an OHSU study that discovered potential impacts of poor air quality for patients undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment, or IVF. Molly Kornfield, M.D., says, "'Our hope is that this research informs preparedness measures that can ensure the best possible outcomes for our patients when we do face these serious air quality crises."

Travis Redd, M.D., says a potential benefit of using AI in ophthalmology care is increasing accessibility to care: "A lot of people have difficulty getting in to get a thorough eye exam by an expert, so if we have technology that can perform automated screening and help identify patients who actually really do need to come in and get more advanced care, versus people who can continue to go about their lives, that drastically decreases the number of patients who actually need to be seen in an optometry or ophthalmology office."

In response to a national study highlighting racial disparities in opioid overdoses and the lack of treatment access, Dan Hartung, Pharm.D., says, "While there have been notable policy changes over the past decade that have improved access to meds used for opioid use disorder and made headway against racial disparities, those efforts haven’t taken into consideration the issue of whether patients can actually get their prescription filled."

Portland stolen car rates continue to decline as the Portland Police Bureau champions taking a data-driven approach to the problem, in collaboration with researchers at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute.

Portland stolen car rates continue to decline as the Portland Police Bureau champions taking a data-driven approach to the problem, in collaboration with researchers at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute.

In an interview with KGW-TV, Ben Hoffman, M.D., discusses the idea of introducing later school start times for teens: “It's not just about shifting everyone's schedule by an hour or two. Kids need nine to 12 hours of sleep per night, and teens need eight to 10. Studies have shown that students who start school later don't tend to go to bed later to balance it out — they end up getting more sleep overall, and the results are highly positive.”

Amanda Redfern, M.D., discusses a wide range of eye health issues on HuffPost's "Am I Doing It Wrong?" podcast, including the benefits of wearing eye protection. She says, “I always wear eye protection if I’m doing a house project where I’m hammering, sawing — anything where something can fly at my eye. Always wear eye protection, because I actually spend half my time seeing hospital consults and the trauma that you see is just crazy."

Continued coverage on an OHSU study that discovered potential impacts of poor air quality for patients undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment, or IVF. Molly Kornfield, M.D., says, "'Our hope is that this research informs preparedness measures that can ensure the best possible outcomes for our patients when we do face these serious air quality crises."