Communications medicine最新文献

{"title":"Healthspan-lifespan gap differs in magnitude and disease contribution across world regions.","authors":"Armin Garmany, Andre Terzic","doi":"10.1038/s43856-025-01111-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-025-01111-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Longevity gains have not been matched by equivalent advances in healthy longevity, giving rise to the healthspan-lifespan gap. This study maps, by world region, the healthspan-lifespan gap; identifies gap-associated demographic, economic, and health indicators; and deciphers disease burden patterns contributing to gap profiles.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory, United Nations World Population Prospects and Global Health Expenditure Database were interrogated. The healthspan-lifespan gap was quantified from estimates of life expectancy and health-adjusted life expectancy. Regression analysis evaluated healthspan-lifespan gap correlates with a spatial error model used to adjust for confounders arising from geographic proximity. Dimensionality reduction by principal component analysis and clustering by machine learning discriminated disease burden patterns linked to healthspan-lifespan gap identity. Supervised machine learning enabled validation of disease burden pattern distinctness.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Charted for six WHO-designated regions, comprising 183 member states, the healthspan-lifespan gap differs in size across regions. Life expectancy, gross domestic product, and noncommunicable disease burden most consistently correlate with the healthspan-lifespan gap. Unsupervised machine learning identifies three clusters delineating global morbidity patterns. Cluster-informed stratification discerns inter- and intra-regional gap heterogeneity. Africa, although exhibiting the narrowest healthspan-lifespan gap, is overrepresented in countries with larger than predicted healthspan-lifespan gaps and shows the greatest gap expansion and disease burden pattern restructuring. In contrast, Europe is overrepresented in countries with healthspan-lifespan gaps smaller than anticipated. Projections into 2100 forecast continuous widening of the healthspan-lifespan gap across regions.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The healthspan-lifespan gap is universal yet differs in magnitude and disease contribution among world regions. Gap identities imposed by distinct disease burden patterns caution against global generalization, necessitating region-informed solutions to maximize equitable healthy longevity.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":"381"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12402540/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144980740","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Leveraging electronic health records from two hospital systems identifies male infertility-associated comorbidities across time.","authors":"Sarah R Woldemariam, Feng Xie, Alennie Roldan, Jacquelyn Roger, Alice S Tang, Tomiko T Oskotsky, David K Stevenson, Ruth B Lathi, Aleksandar Rajkovic, Isabel E Allen, Nima Aghaeepour, Michael Eisenberg, Marina Sirota","doi":"10.1038/s43856-025-01071-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-025-01071-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Male infertility (MI) is the sole cause of 20-30% of infertility cases, and it is a contributing factor for an additional 15-20% of cases. However, the full breadth of potential MI risk factors and adverse health outcomes has not been explored.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used electronic health records (EHRs) from the University of California (UC) and Stanford to identify MI-associated comorbidities. We identified 6531 and 5551 MI patients at UC and Stanford, respectively, and 8353 and 2464 vasectomy control patients at UC and Stanford, respectively. Low-dimensional embeddings of patients' diagnosis profiles based on MI status, demographics, or hospital utilization were compared using either Kruskal-Wallis tests followed by post hoc Dunn's tests or Mann-Whitney U tests. We used logistic regression to identify MI-associated comorbidities prior to or after 6 months of a patient's first MI or vasectomy-related record. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to compare primary versus sensitivity logistic regression analyses as well as UC versus Stanford logistic regression analyses. Cox regression was used to assess whether patients had a higher risk of receiving diagnoses significantly associated with MI after the 6-month cutoff at UC.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Here, we identify 15 diagnoses that are positively associated with MI before the 6-month cutoff across both hospital systems and all analyses, including less expected comorbidities such as hypothyroidism and other anemias. Using Cox regression, we find that patients have a higher risk of receiving 11 out of 13 diagnoses positively associated with MI after the 6-month cutoff at UC.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings can set the groundwork for future studies to clarify the relationship between less expected comorbidities and MI.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":"380"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12402078/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144980673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Author Correction: Haplo-stem cell transplant post liver transplantation to cure sickle cell disease with related liver dysfunction: a case series.","authors":"Ali D Alahmari, Saad Alghamdi, Reem Alasbali, Sara Hisham Samarkandi, Saleh A Alqahtani, Hadeel Samarkandi, Syed Osman Ahmed, Dieter Broering, Hazzaa Alzahrani, Adetola Kassim, Mahmoud Aljurf, Fahad Almohareb, Waleed Al-Hamoudi","doi":"10.1038/s43856-025-01110-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-025-01110-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":"379"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12398598/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144980867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Harnessing an integrated glyco-nanovaccine technology for enhanced cancer immunotherapy.","authors":"Mayumi Niimura, Yasuhisa Sakamoto, Mayuko Shimoda, Narumi Harada, Ayato Maeda, Shiho Wada, Koki Murata, Chanida Thinyakul, Saisai Liu, Haruka Ohara, Asuka Iwamoto, Yohei Kanamori, Akihiro Nita, Masahiro Wakao, Yasuo Suda, Hiroyuki Oshiumi, Tomoko Hayashi, Dennis A Carson, Hiroyuki Shinchi, Toshiro Moroishi","doi":"10.1038/s43856-025-01102-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-025-01102-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Cancer immunotherapy, particularly using immune checkpoint inhibitors, has revolutionized cancer treatment; however, its efficacy remains limited to a subset of patients. Nanoparticles have potential in cancer treatment because they offer advantages such as biocompatibility, greater stability, and precise targeting capabilities.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>We synthesized an integrated glyco-nanovaccine (iGN) comprising gold nanoparticles conjugated with a synthetic Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) ligand, sugar chains, and peptide antigens for cancer immunotherapy. The potential of iGN was investigated using a therapeutic animal model.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In murine models, iGN effectively induces antigen-specific cytotoxic T cells, demonstrating prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy against tumor growth. iGN stimulates antigen-presenting cells via the TLR7-MYD88 pathway, enhancing antigen presentation and priming of cytotoxic T cells. Combination therapy with iGN and anti-PD-1 antibodies improves survival of tumor-bearing mice.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings underscore the potential of iGN as a strategy to enhance cancer immunotherapy, particularly when used in combination with immune checkpoint blockade, to bolster anti-tumor immune responses and improve therapeutic outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":"378"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12397435/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144980495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Estimating personal temporal symptom networks for childhood cancer survivors.","authors":"Yiwang Zhou, Samira Deshpande, Madeline R Horan, Jaesung Choi, Daniel A Mulrooney, Kirsten K Ness, Melissa M Hudson, Deo Kumar Srivastava, I-Chan Huang","doi":"10.1038/s43856-025-01105-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-025-01105-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Childhood cancer survivors experience persistent and evolving symptom burden post-therapy. Network analysis can help uncover the complex symptom patterns. However, current network analyses often rely on cross-sectional data and focus on average symptom patterns among survivors, overlooking individual heterogeneities.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We introduced an autoregressive logistic model with covariates to account for individual heterogeneities in network estimation and to construct personal temporal symptom networks. Simulation experiments were conducted to validate the robustness of this method in constructing personal temporal symptom networks. We also applied the autoregressive logistic model with covariates to longitudinal symptom data from a random sample of 2000 adult survivors of childhood cancer in the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study (SJLIFE).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed method reliably recovers personal temporal symptom network structures under various conditions. In the real data application, older age, female sex, lower educational attainment, annual personal income <$20,000, and receipt of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy are associated with stronger connections between symptoms at baseline and the first follow-up.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We demonstrate that the logistic autoregressive model with covariates effectively estimates personal temporal symptom networks for childhood cancer survivors, enabling personalized symptom monitoring and informing tailored symptom management strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":"377"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12394638/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144980900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development and evaluation of a clinical note summarization system using large language models.","authors":"Juliana Damasio Oliveira, Henrique D P Santos, Ana Helena D P S Ulbrich, Julia Colleoni Couto, Marcelo Arocha, Joaquim Santos, Manuela Martins Costa, Daniela Faccio, Fabio O Tabalipa, Rodrigo F Nogueira","doi":"10.1038/s43856-025-01091-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-025-01091-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Clinical notes are a vital and detailed source of information about patient hospitalizations. However, the sheer volume and complexity of these notes make evaluation and summarization challenging. Nonetheless, summarizing clinical notes is essential for accurate and efficient clinical decision-making in patient care. Generative language models, particularly large language models such as GPT-4, offer a promising solution by creating coherent, contextually relevant text based on patterns learned from large datasets.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study describes the development of a discharge summary system using large language models. By conducting an online survey and interviews, we gather feedback from end users, including physicians and patients, to ensure the system meets their practical needs and fits their experiences. Additionally, we develop a rating system to evaluate prompt effectiveness by comparing model-generated outputs with human assessments, which serve as benchmarks to evaluate the performance of the automated model.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Here we show that the model's ability to interpret diagnoses borders on humanlevel accuracy, demonstrating its potential to assist healthcare professionals in routine tasks such as generating discharge summaries.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This advancement underscores the potential of large language models in clinical settings and opens up possibilities for broader applications in healthcare documentation and decision-making support.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":"376"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12394402/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144980890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Flavored e-cigarettes modulate embryo development, fetal growth, and potentiate early fetal demise without nicotine.","authors":"Margeaux W Marbrey, Samuel M Cripps, Rennica Huang, Bryan M Kistner, Aanvi Somany, Elizabeth S Douglas, Kathleen M Caron","doi":"10.1038/s43856-025-01094-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-025-01094-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) function by aerosolizing a base liquid containing nicotine and flavoring, used by an estimated 15% of pregnant women as a supposed safer alternative to traditional cigarettes. Our previous studies demonstrated e-cigarettes can delay gestation. Limited studies have examined in vivo effects on the placenta.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We exposed adult pregnant C57BL/6J female mice to flavored e-cigarettes with and without nicotine (VAPE NIC & VAPE). We measured implantation success (N = 10 SHAM, N = 17 VAPE, N = 13 VAPE NIC), erythrocyte presence (N = 29 SHAM, N = 29 VAPE, N = 26 VAPE NIC) and embryo elongation (N = 25 SHAM, N = 29 VAPE, N = 22 VAPE NIC) per implant site at day 6.5 at 13-21 weeks of age. Fetal and placental weight (N = 11 SHAM, N = 14 VAPE, N = 12 VAPE NIC) was evaluated at day 12.5 in mice aged 15-39 weeks, while placental gene expression was separately analyzed by offspring sex (N = 7 total, N = 3 sex-specific).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Here we show that e-cigarettes cause similar embryo elongation and in the absence of nicotine, exhibit elevated implant site blood cell accumulation which may contribute to fetal demise. With nicotine, e-cigarettes elicit a reduction in embryo to placental weight ratios. Genes involved in hypoxia, reactive oxygen species response, and placental growth including hypoxia inducible factor 1, alpha subunit (Hif1a), prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (Ptgs2), glutathione peroxidase family members 2 and 3 (Gpx2/Gpx3), thioredoxin reductase 1 (Txnrd1), and mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (Mapk1) exhibit marked decreases in placental tissue depending on fetal sex and nicotine presence.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings conclude flavored e-cigarettes modulate in vivo implantation and placentation mechanisms depending on the presence of nicotine. This work presents a measure of concern for flavored e-cigarette use during pregnancy.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":"373"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12394398/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144980893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"PET/fMRI demonstrates that bariatric surgery may reverse striatal dopaminergic dysfunction in women with obesity.","authors":"Marta Lapo Pais, Joana Crisóstomo, Antero Abrunhosa, Miguel Castelo-Branco","doi":"10.1038/s43856-025-01079-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-025-01079-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Central mechanisms may play a role in the success of bariatric surgery (BS), the treatment of choice for refractory obesity. We hypothesize that central dopaminergic receptor function in striatal brain regions is a pivotal mechanism in the success of BS.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate central dopamine type 2 and 3 receptors (D2/3 R) within striatal brain regions in successful weight loss (WL) through BS. Positron Emission Tomography was used to map nondisplaceable binding potential (BP_ND) of D2/3 R in 48 women: 19 successful responders to BS, 12 with obesity (OB), and 17 normal-weight controls. Parametric maps were compared between-groups in regions of interest and at voxel-level. We also investigated brain blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) responses to food content using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and how key variables correlate with D2/3 R binding.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We find mean D2/3 R BP_ND significant differences between OB and controls in the ventral striatum (p = 0.042) and at voxel-level across striatum between OB and the other groups (p < 0.05). Food content (Food > Non-food, p = 0.05) reveals significantly higher neural activation in striatum also for OB compared to the other groups. Moreover, D2/3 R BP_ND values correlate with dysfunctional self-report measures of eating behaviors, incentive salience to food cue and high-calorie food preferences in obesity. Notably, BOLD responses (Food > Baseline) in striatum correlate positively with D2/3 R binding in ventral striatum.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Striatal dopaminergic dysfunction in obesity may enhance salience to food cues, driving cravings and compulsive eating. BS may reverse the striatal molecular and functional disruptions found in obesity.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":"375"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12394448/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144980811","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A genome-wide association between foveal thickness and arrhythmia.","authors":"Shin-Ya Nakao, Masahiro Miyake, Kohta Fujiwara, Eri Nakano, Yuki Mori, Kazuya Morino, Yoshikatsu Hosoda, Yasuharu Tabara, Masato Akiyama, Kenji Yamashiro, Hiroshi Tamura, Jun Hata, Toshiharu Ninomiya, Fumihiko Matsuda, Koh-Hei Sonoda, Akitaka Tsujikawa","doi":"10.1038/s43856-025-01087-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-025-01087-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The fovea is one of the most crucial parts of the visual system and has a special structure. We aimed to identify susceptibility single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for foveal thickness in a large Japanese cohort.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Genome-wide association study (GWAS) and replication studies were conducted in 9850 individuals from the Nagahama Study (from 2013 to 2016) and 935 individuals from the Hisayama Study. Genome-wide quantitative trait loci analyses and phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) were conducted using Biobank Japan Data for novel susceptibility SNPs. Finally, phenotypic associations were evaluated in the Nagahama Study.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Here we show that rs4903064, located in Double PHD Fingers 3 (DPF3), is genome-wide significantly associated with foveal thickness, which is confirmed by replication studies and meta-analysis (β = 2.18, standard error = 0.59, P = 2.93 × 10^-13). PheWAS identifies that the SNP was phenome-wide significantly associated with arrhythmia (β = -0.049, SE = 0.012, P = 2.50 × 10^-5). In the Nagahama Study, individuals with a thicker fovea have a significantly lower risk of premature atrial/ventricular contraction (odds ratio = 0.86, 95% confidence interval = 0.75 to 0.98, P-value = 0.022).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We identify a novel foveal thickness susceptibility gene that is also associated with arrhythmia. Individuals with premature atrial/ventricular contraction may be advised to undergo ophthalmological evaluation as necessary.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":"374"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12394555/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144980920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Equity and social justice perspectives on disability inclusion in healthcare services in Nigeria.","authors":"Precious Chidozie Azubuike, Temidayo Akinreni, Sefa George Adai, Chimankpam Kingsley Ogbonna, Matthew Ejeh Abba, Mark Daniel Udofia, Ogochukwu Jeremiah Odo, Miracle Nwadiche, Uchenna Frank Imo","doi":"10.1038/s43856-025-01070-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-025-01070-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This Perspective explores equity and social justice perspectives on disability inclusion in Nigerian health care services. We note the physical, economic, and cultural barriers that limit persons with disabilities (PWDs) access. While national laws such as the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act (2018) and international guidelines such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD,2006) are available, access to health care among PWDs remains low in Nigeria. We contrast equity and equality in health care, advocating for policies favoring marginalized populations, and apply social justice theory to argue for equitable health care in Nigeria. We examine successful equity-based models of health care in other low- and middle-income countries and make recommendations, including stronger policy enforcement, disability-awareness training for health workers, and more community-based interventions. This Perspective stresses the need for more empirical research to guide policymaking and support disability-inclusive health care in Nigeria. Achieving a firmly inclusive healthcare system in Nigeria necessitates both structural change and interventions that promote social justice.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":"371"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12381266/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144980944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}