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Influenza rates are off to their earliest start in the post-pandemic era. The rate of influenza visits across office, emergency department, and inpatient settings reached 140.6 encounters per 100,000 patients the week of September 13, 2026, which is the highest mid-September level in the last five years and the earliest any of those seasons reached this rate.

The share of adults diagnosed with shingles between 2019 and 2026 rose steeply with age, from about 7 per 10,000 among those born between 2006 and 2008 to 182 per 10,000 among those born between 1968 and 1975.

For nearly every mental health condition we studied, rates of diagnoses were higher among patients with a diagnosed gambling disorder than among those without.

The intensity of heat-related illnesses peaks in the summer and has varied from year to year with a slight upward trend: in 2017, the summer rate was 24.4 per 100,000 patients and in 2025 reached a high of 36.5 per 100,000 patients.

Among adults aged 18–44 undergoing a first colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, a pre-screening AST below 14 U/L was associated with a 65% higher likelihood of an early-onset CRC diagnosis, and an ALT below 14 U/L with a 68% higher likelihood, each compared with patients whose values fell in the range of 14–29 U/L.

The self-pay share of encounters rose in all four care settings studied between early 2022 and early 2026, but unevenly: the increase was steepest in the emergency department (5.5% to 7.6%), more modest for inpatient admissions (1.9% to 2.6%) and births (0.8% to 1.3%), and moved just a little in primary care (1.8% to 1.9%).

Compared with patients who had no neurodevelopmental diagnosis, patients with autism (ASD), ADHD, or both were more likely to have a connective tissue disorder diagnosis.

Most Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) responses, which are primarily patient entered, were submitted during the day; submission volumes peaked mid-morning and were lowest overnight, with only about 2.5% of submissions between 11 p.m. and 5:59 a.m.

Among adults without diabetes who lost weight during their first year on a GLP-1 medication, most sustained that loss into the second year. At the two-year mark, 53.1% of semaglutide patients and 52.9% of tirzepatide patients had maintained their weight within a narrow band of their one-year weight, and a further 31.9% (semaglutide) and 39.3% (tirzepatide) had lost even more.

Among adults with diabetes who lost weight during their first year on a GLP-1 medication, most maintained or extended that loss when the GLP-1 was continued into the second year. At the two-year mark, 37.7% of semaglutide patients and 47.3% of tirzepatide patients had maintained their weight loss, and another 35.4% and 38.6%, respectively, had continued to lose weight.

Among patients newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, 90.2% were aged 60 or older at diagnosis, with a median diagnosis age of 73. Diagnoses before age 50 were rare, accounting for 2.6% of patients.

Under the 2026 cholesterol treatment guideline, 54.6% of adults aged 20–79 without established cardiovascular disease were eligible for lipid-lowering therapy, compared with 41.3% under the 2018 guideline, a 13.3 percentage-point increase in the treatment-eligible share.

Among women seen in outpatient care, the rate of hormone therapy (HT) use rose from 1.7% in January 2017 to 3.6% in April 2026, a near-doubling. The increase was modest through 2022 and then accelerated sharply from 2023 onward.

The share of male patients prescribed testosterone fell from 0.83% in 2013 to 0.64% by 2021. It then rose to 0.93% in 2025 and reached 0.95% in the partial first half of 2026.

Among patients newly eligible for cancer screening, those diagnosed with autism had a 35.6% lower likelihood of on-time screening overall compared to patients without autism. The gap was largest for cervical (50.7% lower likelihood) and breast (28.7% lower likelihood) cancer screening, and smaller but still significant for prostate cancer screening (14.9% lower likelihood).

COVID-19 visits fell to the lowest level of the post-pandemic era the week of June 14, 2026, reaching 48.5 encounters per 100,000 patients, roughly one-third of the prior seasonal lows seen in spring 2024 (~177 per 100,000) and spring 2025 (~156 per 100,000).

Concussion diagnoses among children show a strong seasonal pattern that is most pronounced in older adolescent age groups. Among children aged 14–18, the 2025 monthly rate peaked in October at 1,105 per 100,000 compared to 331 per 100,000 in July.

One-third of suzetrigine prescriptions (33.0%) were written in encounters with a diagnosis of chronic pain, compared with 6.7% of opioid prescriptions. Opioids were most often prescribed during encounters with evidence of surgery (48.8%) and acute pain (19.8%) compared to 10.2% and 31.8%, respectively, for suzetrigine.

Among adults who have had a documented substance overdose, those who started on a GLP-1 had a 39% lower risk of a repeat overdose within three years of their overdose compared to patients who were never prescribed a GLP-1. Patients who started and later discontinued a GLP-1 still had a 20% lower risk than patients who never used a GLP-1.

Among adults aged 40–79 with stage 1 hypertension, treatment eligibility rose modestly from 45.2% under the 2017 guideline to 47.0% under the 2025 guideline. Overall, 3.2% of patients would be treated differently under the new guideline (2.5% gained eligibility, 0.7% lost eligibility).