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60 years ago, the patient–doctor interaction was, at its best, about human beings connecting, engaging, listening, observing, and caring. Notes and letters were written by hand or typed afterwards, placed in an envelope, and sent by post. Later, notes were dictated into handheld tape recorders and typed up by medical secretaries, then by patchy automated dictation tools. Emails were introduced and patient data were entered into a multitude of poorly integrated systems. These developments occurred alongside important movements for patient safety, an increasingly litigious environment, the industrialisation and commercialisation of most health-care interactions, and the proliferation of medical evidence.

Estimates of cancer burden and comprehensive analyses of cancer trends, risk factors, and future projections are important for effective policy and planning. In The Lancet, the GBD 2023 Cancer Collaborators report the cancer burden for 47 cancer types and groups in 204 countries and territories in 1990–2023 with projections to 2050.1 The most recent data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2023 were used to estimate outcomes including cancer incidence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and the cancer burden attributable to 44 behavioural and other risk factors.

As health-care workers around the world will attest, infections are extremely common in children in primary care and community settings.1,2 In The Lancet, Jan Yvan Verbakel and colleagues' pragmatic, cluster-randomised, controlled trial (ARON),3 set in a high-income primary care system, reports the culmination of years of rigorous research by a team seeking what many said was impossible: to safely rule out serious infection in children who present with acute illness to primary care, where its incidence is around 1%,4 without giving children unnecessary antibiotics or increasing hospital referrals.

Treatment of multiple sclerosis has had extraordinary success in the past decade, with the availability of several disease-modifying treatments targeting different mechanisms involved in disease pathophysiology. Despite these advancements, approval of these drugs is largely limited to patients with relapsing-remitting disease given their proven efficacy on measures of inflammation (ie, annualised relapse rate or formation of inflammatory lesions at MRI) in phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials. Use of these treatments in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis has yielded largely negative results, contributing to the gap of treatment accessibility for these forms of the disease.

The 2019 EAT–Lancet Commission set out the urgent need for a great food transformation to feed a growing global population a healthy and nutritious diet while staying within planetary boundaries.1,2 More than 6 years later, the 2025 EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems further advances health and food systems knowledge with a deeper understanding of the science.3 This Commission addresses intractable issues, reiterates the planetary health diet with new global applications, and presents new and detailed quantification of food systems' role in driving planetary boundary transgressions.

In November, 2023, Argentina elected as President Javier Milei, a libertarian economist and self-described anarchocapitalist, marking a dramatic political shift. Milei won support from over half the population—particularly young, low-income, and marginalised voters—who expressed frustration with economic decline and limited opportunities for individual social progress. Campaigning on the message that “there is no more money”, he pledged sweeping public budget cuts while framing the state as an obstacle and distributive justice as harmful.

Are there too many people on the planet? Are you working with McDonald's? What's your big ask? The avalanche of questions following the launch of the 2025 EAT–Lancet Commission on Healthy, Sustainable, and Just Food Systems at the Stockholm Food Forum last week signalled, I think, the audience's strong motivation to see the Commission's findings implemented with urgency. EAT is not only an ironic play on a word associated with food. EAT means Engage, Act, and Transform. But the word sitting at the centre of this second EAT–Lancet Commission was justice.

The Government is attempting to replace and recreate diagnostic, testing, and support services cut following the cessation of US aid. Andrew Green reports from Malawi.

There is an absence of awareness, education, and diagnostics for melioidosis, a fatal but preventable infection. Why is it not classed as a Neglected Tropical Disease? Sophie Cousins reports.

A deep engagement with the sustainability of food systems and planetary health characterises the work of Line Gordon, the Curt Bergfors Professor in Sustainability Science and Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University, Sweden. One of the authors of the 2019 EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems in the Anthropocene, Gordon is now part of the leadership team and a coauthor of the new 2025 EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems.

Stapleton S, Adewale K, Arboleda Y, et al. Visualising relationships between the arts and health. Lancet 2025; published online Sept 23. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01918-X—In The Art of Healing photograph in this photo feature, additions and changes have been made to the main title of this photograph and the first sentence of the Project context. These corrections have been made to the online version as of Oct 14, 2025.

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) is a cornerstone in global health research and the evidence base for policy making.1 The new iteration, led by the GBD 2023 Disease and Injury and Risk Factor Collaborators,2 used the latest methodological advancements in health metrics to analyse data from GBD 2023. As a navigation chart, it tells us where we are. It helps the global health community to plot their course of action through the public health challenges we face in a world of polycrisis with dwindling resources available to address them.

The COVID-19 pandemic upended global mortality and morbidity. COVID-19 was ranked as the number one age-standardised cause of death globally in 2021 but by 2023 had dropped to the 20th cause of death among all leading global causes, replaced by ischaemic heart disease and stroke as the two leading causes of death. During the COVID-19 pandemic, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to infectious, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases all increased, but have since returned to pre-pandemic levels.

We examined global mortality patterns over the past three decades, highlighting—with enhanced estimation methods—the impacts of major events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to broader trends such as increasing NCDs in low-income regions that reflect ongoing shifts in the global epidemiological transition. This study also delves into premature mortality patterns, exploring the interplay between age and causes of death and deepening our understanding of where targeted resources could be applied to further reduce preventable sources of mortality.

In The Lancet, as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2023, the GBD 2023 Causes of Death Collaborators analysed cause-specific mortality and years of life lost for 292 causes by age and sex across 204 countries and territories and 660 subnational locations from 1990 to 2023.1 This analysis included a focus on premature death (defined as death before age 70 years), and assessed the correlation between mean age at death and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), building upon the use of SDI in previous GBD analyses.

Our findings underscore the complex and dynamic nature of global health challenges. Since 2010, there have been large decreases in burden due to CMNN diseases and many environmental and behavioural risk factors, juxtaposed with sizeable increases in DALYs attributable to metabolic risk factors and NCDs in growing and ageing populations. This long-observed consequence of the global epidemiological transition was only temporarily interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The substantially decreasing CMNN disease burden, despite the 2008 global financial crisis and pandemic-related disruptions, is one of the greatest collective public health successes known.

Data on who is dying, when they are dying, and what they are dying from are crucial for identifying vulnerable populations and targeting health interventions, as well as for resource planning and prioritisation. Comprehensive civil and vital registration systems (CVRS) provide data on all births and deaths, allowing countries to track levels and causes of mortality. These systems are generally considered the most reliable source of data on key demographic metrics such as life expectancy and mortality rates;1 however, in many settings, CVRS are either not fully functioning or not available at all, leaving a major data and intelligence gap.

This analysis identified several key differences in mortality trends from previous estimates, including higher rates of adolescent mortality, higher rates of young adult mortality in females, and lower rates of mortality in older age groups in much of sub-Saharan Africa. The findings also highlight stark differences across countries and territories in the timing and scale of changes in all-cause mortality trends during and following the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–23). Our estimates of evolving trends in mortality and life expectancy across locations, ages, sexes, and SDI levels in recent years as well as over the entire 1950–2023 study period provide crucial information for governments, policy makers, and the public to ensure that health-care systems, economies, and societies are prepared to address the world's health needs, particularly in populations with higher rates of mortality than previously known.

Vitale A, Abu Hilal M, Gumbs AA, Umberto Cillo, Isabella Frigerio. Gaza's healthocide: medical societies must not stay silent. Lancet 2025; 406: 1467–68—In this Correspondence, Amir Szold has requested to be removed as an author. This correction has been made to the online version as of Oct 10, 2025.

Established in 2022 by the independent, non-profit Virchow Foundation, the Virchow Prize honours individuals or organisations whose work has made outstanding contributions to global health.1 The prize embraces a holistic view and is aligned with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 3—good health and wellbeing for all.2–5 In an era marked by geopolitical tensions, erosion of multilateralism, and politicisation of global health, the Virchow Prize stands as a beacon of solidarity and equity.

Firewall architectures have been changing for 35 years, sometimes to accommodate better technology and hardware, but just as often to handle different network architectures, such as zero-trust network access and the move to cloud. Here’s how to ensure a state-of-the-art approach. Click the banner below to read the recent CDW Cybersecurity Research Report.

For certain sectors and employees, remote work has been a reality for years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, more staffers got to experience working outside of a physical office for the first time, and it changed the workplace landscape. Still, despite a growing acceptance of remote and hybrid work over the past five years, organizations have room to grow. In healthcare, remote work has opened the talent pool for recruitment, especially in roles that might have otherwise gone unfilled. Continuous mergers and acquisitions mean organizations must standardize work across multiple locations....

The Indian Health Service plans to pilot its Patients at the Heart (PATH) electronic health record system at Lawton Indian Hospital in Oklahoma starting summer 2026. The launch will mark the federal government’s first cloud-based EHR deployment and represents what IHS CIO Mitchell Thornbrugh calls a “generational opportunity” to modernize Native American healthcare delivery. The Lawton pilot site — which includes the main hospital and two adjoining clinics in Carnegie and Anadarko — is in the enterprise design phase, with configuration workshops running through December 2025. User training...

With the high demands of software development and a shortage of developers, healthcare organizations need a fast and easy way to build software applications. Low-code and no-code software tools can speed up workflows while keeping applications HIPAA compliant. No-code includes methods such as drag-and-drop, while low-code incorporates a small amount of coding. Gartner had forecast that 70% of new enterprise applications would be built using low-code or no-code platforms by 2025, an increase from less than 25% in 2020. “LCNC platforms allow clinicians, administrators and operational staff to...

A nurse reaches for her phone to check a patient's latest lab results. The app won’t load. She tries again. Still nothing. Now, she must walk to a workstation, losing precious minutes while a patient waits for time-sensitive medication. This isn’t a rare occurrence. It’s a daily reality in hospitals with struggling network infrastructure. Networking infrastructure is one of those areas that, when it’s running well, is out of sight and mind. If it’s underperforming even a little, however, it can completely disrupt workflows and operations. For midsized to smaller health systems, there may be...

Healthcare’s intrusion frequency is up 23% year-over-year, according to the CrowdStrike 2025 Threat Hunting Report, and artificial intelligence is only making it easier for bad actors to gain access to an organization’s network. With patient outcomes and data at risk, health systems need all the resources and support they can get to protect their environments from malicious attacks. There are several proposed guidelines and regulations seeking to bolster cybersecurity in the healthcare sector, including the Healthcare Cybersecurity Act of 2025, America’s AI Action Plan and an updated HIPAA...

An enterprise master patient index (EMPI) serves as the foundational architecture for healthcare interoperability by creating a centralized identity resolution system that eliminates duplicate patient records. As healthcare data continues to proliferate across electronic health records (EHRs), medical imaging platforms and third-party applications, the EMPI ensures accurate patient attribution regardless of data source or generation method. Tech leaders must evaluate EMPI solutions not only on their technical performance but also on their ability to integrate with existing infrastructure and...

There are nearly 2,000 rural community hospitals, which make up just a bit over a third of all hospitals in the U.S., according to the American Hospital Association. These hospitals are serving millions of Americans who are in critical need of healthcare, which is why the risk of more closures is a major concern as it further limits care access for vulnerable communities. The financial health of many rural hospitals is largely precarious because they operate on thin margins, have limited revenue sources and rely heavily on government funding. And with recent legislative changes, including...

When a healthcare organization’s mission-critical systems go down, it can leave patients at risk and potentially harm the hospital’s reputation within the community. That’s why it’s critical for the organization’s leadership teams to have a well-defined response and recovery plan in place so that the organization can resume operations quickly and with minimal disruption to patients and clinicians. To recover quickly, healthcare systems must have a robust and continuously tested business continuity and disaster recovery plan in place. Not only that, but leadership teams must also ensure that...

Artificial intelligence can help clinicians and administrative staff work more efficiently. It can even assist in healthcare customer service. What’s more, AI tools are now considered necessary for a strong security posture. Unfortunately, AI is just as useful for cybercriminals. At this year’s Black Hat USA conference in Las Vegas, experts shared some of the specific ways threat actors are using AI to become faster and more sophisticated, making them more dangerous to healthcare organizations. “Their favorite initial access vectors remain simply exploiting internet-facing, publicly known,...

RCGP Wales has called on the next Welsh government to set up a new 'opt-in' central general practice estates body to take on existing GP partnerships' premises liabilities.

Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting has accused the BMA of showing a ‘complete disregard’ to patients and fostering an environment that has encouraged LMCs to make 'rash interventions' over online access changes.

GP leaders have raised serious concerns about plans to open 15 new walk-in centres across Scotland, arguing the best way to improve access to primary care is to address underinvestment in general practice.

Almost a quarter of GP practices have warned they are facing unsustainable demand following changes to online access introduced this month, an LMC survey has revealed.

Plaid Cymru has pledged to almost double the proportion of NHS funding general practice receives and increase the GP workforce if it wins next year's Senedd elections.

ICBs should support practices to become visa sponsors so that international medical graduate (IMG) GPs have more options for finding work, which in turn would help boost the workforce in underdoctored areas, a GP educator has said.

The GP partnership model has enabled NHS general practices to become 'world experts at responding to change', the outgoing RCGP president has said.

GP consultations for flu-like illness have more than doubled in the past fortnight as flu and COVID-19 cases continue to rise - raising fresh concerns that the UK could be in line for a severe flu season.

Talking General Practice looks at what health minister Stephen Kinnock had to say at the RCGP annual conference and speaks to the college's vice chairs Professor Margaret Ikpoh and Dr Thomas Patel-Campbell, RCGP Wales chair Dr Rowena Christmas and outgoing RCGP president Dr Richard Vautrey.

There is a danger that the importance of continuity of care is 'slipping from collective memory' as governments and media focus on rapid access to general practice, the RCGP conference has heard.

Listen to the JAMA Editor’s Summary for an overview and discussion of the important articles appearing in JAMA.

Publicity is a potent factor for good in more than one walk of life. Even in such seemingly remote byways as clinical diagnosis and therapy, the heralding of unsuspected facts relating to disease may bring unanticipated benefits. Thus it sometimes happens that accurate description of supposedly rare human abnormalities serves to stimulate the memory of the less critical practitioner and help him recognize the real significance of pathologic entities that he may often have encountered without appreciation of their possible import. The record of a disease syndrome supposed to be novel sometimes elicits evidence that it has long been familiar to physicians who have not suspected its possible larger meaning. This seems to be true of acrodynia, a train of symptoms affecting infants and young children and described with considerable precision a few years ago by Byfield. The clinical features of the disorder are manifold. There are general symptoms, such as anorexia, loss of weight and weakness. Nervous manifestations include hyperirritability, sleeplessness, paresthesia and photophobia. Dermatologic symptoms are especially conspicuous in such forms as hyperhidrosis, miliaria, desquamation, erythema and alopecia. The term acrodynia, referring to the painful extremities, describes one of the most typical symptoms of the complex, although it gives no indications of nutritional or neurologic involvements in the etiology.

This Viewpoint discusses the dearth of women’s health research at the National Institutes of Health and proposes investment in a national chronic disease research agenda that promotes the science of gynecology.

Each year in the US, an estimated 48 000 new cases of cancer-associated human papillomavirus (HPV) are diagnosed, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite this high incidence, a new study published in JAMA Oncology suggests many people in the US remain unaware of the virus, its link to cervical and oral cancers, or the HPV vaccine.

A human case of New World screwworm has been confirmed in the US, according to an August 26 press release from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The patient, a Maryland resident, returned from travel in Central America, where infestations of the flesh-eating parasitic larvae are on the rise in livestock.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) has published new immunization guidance for adults with cardiovascular disease. Synthesizing prior ACC and American Heart Association guidelines and evidence-based recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the new consensus statement also discusses barriers to immunization and includes answers to common patient questions about vaccines.

Hormone therapy can help alleviate menopause symptoms, but systemic therapies such as oral estrogen are not recommended for patients with a history of ischemic stroke because they may increase risk of subsequent stroke. Vaginal estrogen tablets could be a safer alternative for these patients, according to a new study published in Stroke, the journal of the American Stroke Association (ASA).

Addressing hearing loss early on with hearing aids might lessen the condition’s association with dementia risk, according to a new analysis published in JAMA Neurology. Starting with a subset of almost 3000 participants tested for hearing loss at age 60 years or older, the researchers tracked how hearing aid use might have shaped all-cause incident dementia rates for up to 20 years.

Obesity is a risk factor for several forms of cancer that comprise 40% of annual cancer diagnoses in the US. New findings published in JAMA Oncology suggest that glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists may help protect against some of these cancer types.

In the Research Letter titled “Spectrum of Cancers and Their Prognosis Among Patients With Myotonic Dystrophy,” published August 13, 2025, the Figure contained a reporting error; in panels A and B, the numbers at risk at 300 months for the myotonic dystrophy group were mistakenly reported below the approved threshold for reporting. Those values have been changed to <11. This article has been corrected.

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This cohort study examines trends in the use of heated tobacco products and their association with hospitalizations for acute coronary syndrome among Japanese adults from 2013 to 2022.

This cohort study compares mortality trends among adults aged 25 to 44 years in the US and Germany.

This cohort study investigates the association between social adversity and incidence of triple-negative breast cancer among US Black women.

This randomized clinical trial compares the safety and effectiveness of rapid induction and standard induction onto extended-release buprenorphine in high-risk patients with opioid use disorder.

This systematic review uses data from qualitative studies to identify motivations, facilitators, and barriers of prosocial behavior for donation-based interventions in HIV and sexually transmitted infection research.

This cohort study evaluates the quality of cancer care received by people with a history of incarcaration compared with those who have not been incarcerated in the US.