A weekly roundup of public health news
U.S. pharmacy closures deepening inequities
As pharmacy closures surge across the U.S., communities of color are feeling the squeeze, new findings show.
Published October 1 in JAMA Network Open, the research found communities with greater proportions of white residents had more pharmacies operating as of 2023 than those with high rates of people of color. Predominantly white neighborhoods had about 15% more pharmacies per 10,000 residents.
The findings come amid a nationwide wave of pharmacy closures that has left millions of Americans without convenient access to prescription medications and other pharmacy services. Nearly one-third of U.S. pharmacies closed from 2010 to 2021, with more than 7,000 closures since 2019, previous research has found. Higher rates of closures have been documented in communities with primarily Black and Hispanic residents.
Financial pressures have contributed to the nationwide pharmacy closures, including low profit margins, reduced payments for prescription drugs and health workforce shortages, the new study said.
Disparities in access extend beyond the number of pharmacies. Neighborhoods with more older residents, greater vehicle ownership and higher proportions of single-family homes also tended to have more pharmacies per resident. Areas with larger shares of residents born outside the U.S. tended to have fewer pharmacies.
The loss of neighborhood pharmacies can have health consequences, particularly for people who depend on medications to manage chronic conditions. Pharmacy closures have been linked to declines in people taking prescribed heart and seizure medications, for example.
Deadly heat takes unequal toll on American workers
Heat is taking a deadly toll on U.S. workers, with some industries facing much greater risks than others, new research finds.
People working in the military, construction, and natural resources and mining industries face the highest rates of heat-related deaths, according to the October 5 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Rates in the three categories were substantially higher than the national average.
Of nearly 2.5 million deaths among working-age U.S. adults from 2021 to 2023, about 2,030 were heat related, researchers determined. Nationally, 0.3 heat-related deaths occurred per 100,000 working-age adults.
The study used national death records to identify heat-related deaths both inside and outside the workplace, including deaths that could be connected to occupational heat exposure. Traditional workplace surveillance can miss deaths from heat-related illnesses, including heart attacks, that occur after workers leave their jobs, researchers said.
People who worked in the U.S. military had the highest heat-related death rate by industry, at about one per 100,000 people annually. Military personnel are often at higher risk from heat because of training requirements, high physical exertion, the locations they serve in and the uniforms and gear they wear.
People who worked outside also faced higher rates of heat-related deaths. Construction workers — who include roofers, engineers and carpenters — died at a rate of 0.83 deaths per 100,000 people annually. Workers in the natural resources and mining category — which includes farmworkers, people in animal food production, and oil and gas workers — died at a rate of 0.78 deaths per 100,000 people annually.
Hispanic and Black workers faced particularly high risks in some industries. In construction and natural resources and mining, Hispanic workers had more than twice the odds of dying from heat-related causes compared with other workers in those industries. Black workers in natural resources and mining faced similarly elevated risks, with more than twice the odds of a heat-related death compared with other workers in the industry.
Heat-related death rates were considerably lower in industries such as education and health services, financial activities and government, where employees are more likely to work indoors.
About 78% of the people who died from heat-related causes were male, researchers reported.
Wildfire pollution weakens rainforest’s ability to fight global warming
Wildfire pollution is making it harder for the Amazon rainforest to absorb carbon, amplifying concerns about global warming.
A new study, published October 7 in Communications Earth & Environment, finds ozone pollution from wildfires in the Amazon is interfering with the ability of plants in the region to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
For every 100 tons of carbon released by wildfires, related ozone pollution prevents the forest from absorbing another 24 tons of carbon, the study estimated. The effect becomes especially pronounced during severe droughts, when fires spread more widely.
The research examined wildfire pollution and forest conditions from 1997 to 2024, including major droughts associated with El Niño, a recurring climate pattern that can bring unusually dry conditions to the Amazon. Ozone damage during a 2023 to 2024 drought nearly doubled compared with the previous decade’s average, with exceptionally high fire activity in 2024.
The Amazon stores an estimated 120 billion metric tons of carbon, playing an important role in slowing global warming.
Climate change is expected to bring more intense droughts and fires to the Amazon region, increasing the risks to forests already impacted by deforestation and rising temperatures.
Other recent public health news of note:
• More hospitals across the U.S. are closing than opening, a new study in JAMA finds. From 2010 to 2025, about 430 hospitals closed, while just under 220 opened, resulting in a loss of more than 24,000 beds. Smaller, for-profit and safety-net hospitals were more likely to close, particularly in communities with high rates of poverty and other social and economic challenges. While hospital closure rates were similar in rural and urban areas, they had a greater impact on rural residents, who had to travel farther for hospital care.
• Climate change could lead to higher levels of an environmental toxin in seafood worldwide, researchers warn in a new article in Science. Researchers from the Spanish National Research Council said that warming temperatures could encourage microorganisms to convert mercury into methylmercury, a highly toxic substance that builds up in fish and other seafood. Melting ice, wildfires and thawing permafrost could also release mercury stored in the environment. Methylmercury exposure can damage the nervous system and harm cardiovascular and reproductive health.
• Smog containing minute traces of lead and zinc poses higher risks for respiratory illness in children than air pollution with other metals, according to new research in BMC Public Health. The study linked higher concentrations of lead and zinc in fine-particle air pollution, known as PM2.5, to increased visits for respiratory illnesses among children in China. The metals typically enter the air through industrial activities, burning of fossil fuels and wear on vehicles. Arsenic, calcium, chromium, iron, potassium and manganese in PM2.5 were also linked to higher rates of respiratory-related medical visits for children, but to a lesser degree.
The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public health journalist.re than two decades of experience as a public health journalist.
