Search

'Long COVID'refers to the wide range of long-lasting symptoms experienced by some patients after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. The most common symptoms include fatigue, headache, brain fog, shortness of breath, hair loss, and pain. At this time, there are many knowledge gaps related to Long COVID, including the prevalence of the condition, the impact of the symptoms on survivors'ability to function, and the long-term course of the condition. While many individuals with Long COVID recover within one year, others experience little or no decrease in symptom severity over time. Long COVID symptoms can affect a person's ability to work and otherwise function in daily life, so people with the condition may need to utilize programs such as Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and the Supplemental Security Income Program (SSI). The Social Security Administration (SSA), which administers both of these programs, requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine host a public workshop to discuss research into the long-term health effects of COVID-19, their impacts on individuals and populations, and how the SSDI and SSI programs can support individuals who suffer disability as a result of Long COVID. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop.

The Board on Health Care Services of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine hosted a virtual workshop, funded by the Social Security Association, to examine disability associated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The workshop, held on November 15, 2021, included presentations on the functional outcomes for individuals who have received hematopoietic stem cell treatment, as well as medical advances, developments, and research in this area. This Proceedings of a Workshop highlights the presentations and discussions that occurred in the workshop.

Transplantation of a solid organ, such as a kidney, heart, or liver, is a lifesaving procedure and is sometimes the only viable treatment for patients experiencing end-stage organ failure as a result of illness or injury. A growing prevalence of solid organ diseases in the United States is contributing to more people needing a transplant and longer wait times on the national transplant waiting list. While transplantation can lengthen a person's life, the road to recovery is difficult and complex. Transplant recipients commonly experience considerable impairments related to health factors, medication side effects, organ rejection, or other setbacks that can cause functional limitations. A spectrum of services and supports can be beneficial to patient functioning and quality of life, but patient access is variable due to individual, system, and social factors. To gain an understanding of current scientific findings in the field of solid organ transplantation, the U.S. Social Security Administration asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Board on Health Care Services to organize a virtual public workshop to examine disability associated with organ transplantation. The workshop, held March 22-23, 2021, focused on kidney, heart, liver, and lung transplantation, and to a lesser extent intestine transplantation. Subject-matter experts presented on clinical aspects of post-transplantation recovery and described the implications for physical, cognitive, and psychosocial functioning in adults and children. This publication summarizes the presentations and panel discussions from the workshop.

Since the late 1960s, the survival rate in children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer has steadily improved, with a corresponding decline in the cancer-specific death rate. Although the improvements in survival are encouraging, they have come at the cost of acute, chronic, and late adverse effects precipitated by the toxicities associated with the individual or combined use of different types of treatment (e.g., surgery, radiation, chemotherapy). In some cases, the impairments resulting from cancer and its treatment are severe enough to qualify a child for U.S. Social Security Administration disability benefits. At the request of Social Security Administration, Childhood Cancer and Functional Impacts Across the Care Continuum provides current information and findings and conclusions regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of selected childhood cancers, including different types of malignant solid tumors, and the effect of those cancers on children's health and functional capacity, including the relative levels of functional limitation typically associated with the cancers and their treatment. This report also provides a summary of selected treatments currently being studied in clinical trials and identifies any limitations on the availability of these treatments, such as whether treatments are available only in certain geographic areas.

The 2006 Institute of Medicine (IOM) consensus study report From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition made recommendations to improve the quality of care that cancer survivors receive, in recognition that cancer survivors are at risk for significant physical, psychosocial, and financial repercussions from cancer and its treatment. Since then, efforts to recognize and address the unique needs of cancer survivors have increased, including an emphasis on improving the evidence base for cancer survivorship care and identifying best practices in the delivery of high-quality cancer survivorship care. To examine progress in cancer survivorship care since the Lost in Transition report, the National Cancer Policy Forum of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop in July 2017, in Washington, DC. Workshop participants highlighted potential opportunities to improve the planning, management, and delivery of cancer survivorship care. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Being deployed to a war zone can result in numerous adverse psychological health conditions. It is well documented in the literature that there are high rates of psychological disorders among military personnel serving in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq as well as among the service members'families. For service members'families, the degree of hardship and negative consequences rises with the amount of the service members'exposure to traumatic or life-altering experiences. Adult and child members of the families of service members who experience wartime deployments have been found to be at increased risk for symptoms of psychological disorders and to be more likely to use mental health services. In an effort to provide early recognition and early intervention that meet the psychological health needs of service members and their families, DOD currently screens for many of these conditions at numerous points during the military life cycle, and it is implementing structural interventions that support the improved integration of military line personnel, non-medical caregivers, and clinicians, such as RESPECT-Mil (Re-engineering Systems of Primary Care Treatment in the Military), embedded mental health providers, and the Patient-Centered Medical Home. Preventing Psychological Disorders in Service Members and Their Families evaluates risk and protective factors in military and family populations and suggests that prevention strategies are needed at multiple levels - individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and societal - in order to address the influence that these factors have on psychological health. This report reviews and critiques reintegration programs and prevention strategies for PTSD, depression, recovery support, and prevention of substance abuse, suicide, and interpersonal violence.