Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

HMPV Seems To Peak In April

As every urgent care clinician knows, acute respiratory illnesses (ARIs) often present with many of the same symptoms, such as cough, fever, and rhinitis. A recent outpatient study of 7,143 patients with ARI published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases found that human metapneumovirus (HMPV) accounted for 4.7%–7.3% of cases during the 5 influenza seasons the authors examined (from 2016–2022), compared with 11.3%–13.6% for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and 30.2%–37.1% for influenza. HMPV circulated later in …

New Daily Oral Medication Treats Plaque Psoriasis

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the oral medication icotrokinra for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in adults and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older, according to a press release. An interleukin-23 receptor antagonist, the once‑daily medication is a uniquely targeted oral peptide for patients who weigh at least 40 kg and who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy. New guidance from the International Psoriasis Council clarifies when clinicians …

Hot, Humid Days Drive ED Visits Among Medicaid Beneficiaries

A large study of 55,200 emergency department (ED) visits among adults aged 65 years and older found that heat-related risk varies by population, and higher-than-average “feels like” temperatures in the summer months are associated with greater all-cause ED use for EDs with predominantly Medicaid-covered populations. Researchers analyzed visits from May 1 to September 30 between 2022 to 2024 at 2 New York hospitals and compared the data, as published in JAMA Network Open. At a …

Rapid Tests for RSV Reduce Unnecessary Antibiotic Prescribing

A retrospective cohort study of 256 children aged 9–36 months found rapid antigen testing for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) reduced unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in primary care, as published in JAMA Network Open. Among tested children, 30.86% were RSV positive. Antibiotic prescribing was substantially lower when RSV was detected: 20.25% of RSV-positive cases received antibiotics compared with 39.55% of RSV-negative cases. The prescription rate was 0.18 vs 0.29 per 10 person-days, corresponding to about a 48% …

RSV and Flu Tied to Severe Pediatric Respiratory Illness

In a cohort study of 516 children with viral respiratory infections who were hospitalized, researchers found 34 (6.6%) developed severe disease—defined as a clinical severity score greater than 3 (on a scale of 1-6), as published in JAMA Network Open. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza were strongly associated with worse outcomes. In multivariable analysis, RSV diagnosis (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 4.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.80–10.10) and influenza diagnosis (AOR, 4.13; 95% CI, 1.88–9.04) …

How To Improve Pediatric Hypertension Detection

Pediatric hypertension affects approximately 3-5% of children, yet fewer than 25% of cases are diagnosed and more than 60% do not receive recommended follow-up. In a study presented in JAMA Network Open including 25 clinicians across 10 pediatric primary care clinics, researchers in Delaware and Pennsylvania identified 5 major barriers that could affect the detection of kids’ hypertension. In semistructured qualitative interviews, clinicians cited the absence of standardized clinical pathways (endorsed by 80%), inconsistent training …

Remind Parents To Avoid Inclined Sleepers For Their Infants

Sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUIDs) associated with the use of “inclined sleepers”—baby seats that are not firm or flat, which also do not align with the established recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)—kept rising even after such products were recalled in 2019, according to a study published in Pediatrics. From 2009 to 2023, there were 158 SUIDs in inclined sleepers, and 50 deaths (32%) occurred after 2019. An additional 108 deaths (68%) occurred …

POC Viral Testing and Stewardship Reduces Antibiotic Prescribing in UC

Researchers found combining a 15-pathogen point-of-care (POC) respiratory viral panel with an antimicrobial stewardship intervention program resulted in reduced antibiotic prescribing in an urgent care setting in Louisiana, as published in Microbiology Spectrum. Alongside the stewardship program—which included patient education and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s MITIGATE tool kit—the POC panel was used for 296 adult patients, and results were compared with 600 seasonally matched historical controls. Overall antibiotic prescribing decreased from 38.2% …

Antivirals Underprescribed For Older Adults

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found low use of COVID-19 antiviral drugs among individuals age 65 and older, even though it’s a population at high risk of severe illness and COVID-19–related hospitalization, according to the recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Researchers examined cases in outpatient settings with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result or COVID-19 diagnosis during June 1, 2023–September 30, 2025. A total of 482,456 patient encounters with a COVID-19 diagnosis …

It’s Hard To Predict Who Might Be At Risk For Food Allergies

An analysis of 190 studies including 2.8 million children published in JAMA Pediatrics found that approximately 4.7% of children develop food allergy by age 6. The strongest risk factors for food allergy include several prior allergic conditions: atopic dermatitis in the first year of life (odds ratio [OR] 3.88, risk difference [RD] 12%); allergic rhinitis (OR 3.39, RD 10%); and wheeze (OR 2.11, RD 5%). Markers of skin barrier dysfunction, including elevated transepidermal water loss, …

Login to JUCM