Approximately 1.2 million people in the UK experience severe–to–profound hearing loss, for which cochlear implants are an effective treatment. However, only a small proportion of potentially eligible individuals receive cochlear implantation in the UK. In this issue, Chloe Swords and colleagues explore how referral patterns for cochlear implantation vary across the UK according to ethnicity and socioeconomic measures, in a multi-centre study including over 6000 participants.
Image Credit: Brett Sayles, Pexels
Perspectives
Climate change: A driver of increasing vector-borne disease transmission in non-endemic areas
PLOS Medicine: published April 4, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004382
More research is needed on how to prevent vaping among young people
PLOS Medicine: published April 15, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004391
Mixed progress in global tobacco control
PLOS Medicine: published April 16, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004392
Policy Forum
Paucity of intellectual property rights information in the US biologics system a decade after passage of the Biosimilars Act
PLOS Medicine: published April 25, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004381
Research Articles
Cardiovascular outcomes 50 years after antenatal exposure to betamethasone: Follow-up of a randomised double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
PLOS Medicine: published April 1, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004378
Positive affect during adolescence and health and well-being in adulthood: An outcome-wide longitudinal approach
PLOS Medicine: published April 2, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004365
Long-term outcomes of hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 with and without neurological involvement: 3-year follow-up assessment
PLOS Medicine: published April 4, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004263
Socioeconomic and ethnic disparities associated with access to cochlear implantation for severe-to-profound hearing loss: A multicentre observational study of UK adults
PLOS Medicine: published April 4, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004296
Long-term variations of urban–Rural disparities in infectious disease burden of over 8.44 million children, adolescents, and youth in China from 2013 to 2021: An observational study
PLOS Medicine: published April 12, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004374
A novel electronic health record-based, machine-learning model to predict severe hypoglycemia leading to hospitalizations in older adults with diabetes: A territory-wide cohort and modeling study
PLOS Medicine: published April 12, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004369
Potential impact of annual vaccination with reformulated COVID-19 vaccines: Lessons from the US COVID-19 scenario modeling hub
PLOS Medicine: published April 17, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004387
Association between particulate air pollution and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy: A retrospective cohort study
PLOS Medicine: published April 26, 2024 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004395