Short courses of oral corticosteroids (“steroid bursts”) are often prescribed for common ailments, such as skin disorders and upper or lower respiratory tract infections. This analysis of health care claims data from Taiwan describes the rates of 3 serious adverse events (acute gastrointestinal bleeding, sepsis, and heart failure) among patients who received a steroid burst.

Women who received chest radiotherapy at doses of 20 Gy or more in childhood have a risk for breast cancer similar to that of women with the BRCA1 mutation, and other treatments for childhood cancer also increase risk. This article estimates the benefit these women would realize if they received recommended screening.

Firearms are used in more than half of suicides and homicides. Extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs) may help prevent firearm-related injury and harm by restricting access to firearms among those at risk for injury to themselves or others. This statewide study evaluates the circumstances and characteristics of persons involved in ERPOs.

The clinicopathologic basis for morbidity and mortality from SARS-CoV-2 infection is not well understood. This prospective study reports the clinical and autopsy findings of 11 patients from a single pathology department who died of COVID-19.

SARS-CoV-2 has spread rapidly throughout the world. Infected persons who remain asymptomatic may play a role in the ongoing pandemic, but their relative number and effect have been uncertain. This article reviews the available evidence on asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.

This article describes a method for estimating treatment effects, the probability-of-being-in-response curve, which can be used to visualize how rapidly patients respond to therapy and how long the responses are sustained.

This article presents findings of recent research on the history of the German Society for Internal Medicine during the Nazi period, focusing on Jewish members who were persecuted by the Nazis and expelled from the society from 1933 onward.

In this commentary, the authors highlight the limitations of today's clinical note, which is often populated by information from electronic health record templates that emphasize billing over clinical care. They contend that clinicians should reclaim the clinical note and suggest 2 ways to do this.

Home infusion therapy can protect vulnerable patients who receive parenteral therapies on an outpatient basis from exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection. This article proposes changes to Medicare payment policy, which currently does not adequately reimburse for these services for many patients.

The authors of this commentary call for sex- and gender-specific and differentiating factors to be urgently included in the research, prevention, and therapeutics implementation response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sexual contact carries some risk for exposure to infection with SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic. This commentary provides clinicians with guidance on how to address sexual health and activity with patients in this context.

Yao and colleagues reported on potential harms of 14 or fewer days of oral corticosteroid exposure in a retrospective analysis of patients in Taiwan's National Health Insurance Program. The editorialists discuss the findings and the importance of physicians carefully considering how and why we prescribe corticosteroids to develop strategies that prevent avoidable harms.

Rowhani-Rahbar and colleagues described the initial 17-month experience of Washington's use of ERPOs to restrict firearm access among persons at risk for harming themselves or others. The editorialists discuss the findings and highlight the need for attention to how ERPOs are applied, perceived, and received.

Lax and colleagues reported the frequent occurrence of pulmonary thrombosis in a series of autopsies of patients with COVID-19. The editorialist discusses how these findings help to further inform our emerging understanding of thromboembolic disease in COVID-19.

Public health decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic involves tradeoffs, uncertainty, and values, and models have been developed to inform administrative and policy decision makers to forecast demand for hospital resources, understand hospital capacity constraints, and determine when peak demand occurs. This editorial discusses fundamental differences among 3 models in current use.

A little more of the patient's voice and a little more about the patient create an indelible picture of the patient as a person.

Every day since early March, I have stumbled over the paradox of whether one can die a good death in a pandemic.

Dr. Mom explores the challenges and ups and downs of juggling life as a hospitalist and mother. The feature appears monthly in Annals Graphic Medicine at Annals.org.

Annals Graphic Medicine brings together original graphic narratives, comics, animation/video, and other creative forms by those who provide or receive health care. They address medically relevant topics—whether they be poignant, thought-provoking, or just plain entertaining.

In this episode of Annals On Call, Dr. Centor discusses the potential use of regulatory T cells to treat patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with COVID-19 with Dr. Franco R. D’Alessio.