July 2025

Monitoring progress in immunization coverage is essential for refining equity-oriented health programmes. However, monitoring progress towards immunization targets has been challenging. In this spatiotemporal Bayesian analysis, Nguyen and colleagues use data from Demographic and Health Surveys to provide estimations for childhood immunization trends for 38 African countries between 2000 and 2030. Assessing immunization coverage for key indicators (BCG, MCV1, DPT3, Polio3, and Full immunization), it was found that immunization coverage has improved in many settings. However, substantial gaps persist within and between countries, and projections suggest that 12 of the countries are unlikely to achieve global targets for full immunization by 2030. Notably, several high-Socio-Demographic Index countries are projected to miss these immunization targets. Nguyen et al. 2025

Image Credit: modified from Adrian Vieriu, Pexels

Editorial

Charting the future of PLOS Medicine: Priorities for evidence, impact, and equity

Helen Lumbard, Till Baernighausen

PLOS Medicine: published July 30, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004691

Research Articles

Long-term outcomes after unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy: A registry-based retrospective cohort study

Huan Yi, Naiqi Zhang, Jan Sundquist, Kristina Sundquist, Xiangqin Zheng, Jianguang Ji

PLOS Medicine: published July 7, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004639

Passive immunotherapy for adults hospitalized with COVID-19: An individual participant data meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials

Kirk U. Knowlton, Lianne K. Siegel, Christina E. Barkauskas, Sanjay Bhagani, Nila J. Dharan, Edward M. Gardner, Robert L. Gottlieb, Marie Helleberg, Helene C. Highbarger, Thomas L. Holland, Christian Kjer Heerfordt, Susana Lazarte, Lindsey M. Leither, Joseph Lutaakome, Magdalena Ardelt, Eleftherios Mylonakis, Sean W. X. Ong, Jeffrey Scott Overcash, Hassan Taha, Phyllis C. Tien, Barbara W. Trautner, David Vallee, Amy C. Weintrob, Giota Touloumi, Abdel G. Babiker, for the STRIVE ACTIV-3/TICO Study Group

PLOS Medicine: published July 7, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004616

Trastuzumab in early curative breast cancer: A target trial emulation benchmarked against two randomized clinical trials

Vanessa Voelskow, Xabier Garcia-Albeniz, Anita Berglund, Maria Feychting, Tobias Kurth, Anthony A. Matthews

PLOS Medicine: published July 21, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004661

Absolute risk-based versus individualized benefit approaches for determining statin eligibility in primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases in Chinese populations: A modeling study

Qiuping Liu, Chao Gong, Tianjing Zhou, Minglu Zhang, Xiaofei Liu, Xun Tang, Pei Gao

PLOS Medicine: published July 22, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004556

Analysis of inter-hospital transfer on clinical outcomes after primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: A secondary analysis of the BRIGHT-4 trial

Xiaolin Su, Miaohan Qiu, Chengqi Gu, Xiuhui Yang, Bin Liu, Fanbo Meng, Bin Ning, Wei Li, Zhixiong Zhong, Zhengzhong Wang, Bei Shi, Zhuo Shang, Zhenyang Liang, Yi Li, Yaling Han, Gregg W. Stone

PLOS Medicine: published July 23, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004679

Inpatient psychiatric bed capacity within CMS-certified U.S hospitals, 2011–2023: A cross-sectional study

Zoe Lindenfeld, Jonathan H. Cantor, Colleen M. McCullough, Jemar R. Bather, Ryan K. McBain

PLOS Medicine: published July 23, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004682

Intra-arterial selective hypothermia for acute ischemic stroke neuroprotection: A multicenter pilot trial in China

Zhi-Xin Huang, Miaomiao Hu, Pan Zhang, Xuying He, Xinan Ma, Quanlong Hong, Ping Chen, Huanhuan Luan, Zongyi Wu, Chaolai Liu, Wei Li, Yongkun Li, Yongtao Yu, Min Li, Yajun Li, Dezhi Liu, Zhongkui Han, Weiliang Shi, Jilong Yi, Liang Liu, Guoqiang Xu, Haike Lu, Lizhi Zhou, Xinfeng Liu, Wen Sun, For the ISOLATION Group

PLOS Medicine: published July 24, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004668

Rapid molecular testing or chest X-ray or tuberculin skin testing for household contact assessment of tuberculosis infection: A cluster-randomized trial

Menonli Adjobimey, Anete Trajman, Mayara Lisboa Bastos, Chantal Valiquette, Diana Gibson, Frimege Djohoun, Olivia Oxlade, Federica Fregonese, Dissou Affolabi, Valentin Kouchade, Elisa Aguiar, Renata Spener-Gomes, Marcelo Cordeiro-Santos, Renato T. Stein, Marcelo Scotta, Andrea Benedetti, Dick Menzies

PLOS Medicine: published July 28, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004666

Progress and inequality in child immunization in 38 African countries, 2000–2030: A spatio-temporal Bayesian analysis at national and sub-national levels

Phuong The Nguyen, Ryota Nakamura, Hideyasu Shimadzu, Aminu Kende Abubakar, Phuong Mai Le, Huy Van Nguyen, Hoa L. Nguyen, Motohiro Sato, Ayako Honda, Stuart Gilmour

PLOS Medicine: published July 29, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004664

Preconception hypoglycemia and adverse pregnancy outcomes in Chinese women aged 20–49 years: A retrospective cohort study in China

Hanbin Wu, Ying Yang, Chuanyu Zhao, Xinyi Lyu, Jiaxin Li, Jueming Lei, Meiya Liu, Xuan Hu, Yuzhi Deng, Yuan He, Yuanyuan Wang, Zuoqi Peng, Ya Zhang, Hongguang Zhang, Qiaomei Wang, Haiping Shen, Yiping Zhang, Donghai Yan, Ronald Ching Wan Ma, Chi Chiu Wang, Xu Ma

PLOS Medicine: published July 29, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004667

Effect of a pay-it-forward strategy on reducing HPV vaccine delay and increasing uptake among 15- to 18-year-old girls in China: A randomized controlled trial

Jing Li, Yifan Li, Chuanyu Qin, Yu He, Haidong Lu, Yewei Xie, Jason J. Ong, Yajiao Lu, Ying Yang, Fan Yang, Heng Du, Wenfeng Gong, Fei Zou, Heidi J. Larson, Mark Jit, Leesa Lin, Jennifer S. Smith, Elvin H. Geng, Dong Xu, Weiming Tang, Shenglan Tang, Joseph D. Tucker, Dan Wu

PLOS Medicine: published July 31, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004535

Dalpiciclib combined with pyrotinib and endocrine therapy in women with ER-positive, HER2-positive advanced breast cancer: A prospective, multicenter, single-arm, phase 2 trial

Jian Zhang, Yanchun Meng, Biyun Wang, Xinhong Wu, Hongmei Zheng, Jing Hu, Wei Liu, Wenyan Chen, Leiping Wang, Jun Cao, Zhonghua Tao, Ting Li, Sujie Ni, Zhengyan Yu, Lichun Sun, Yun Wang, Qiang Peng, Song Wang, Xin Hu, Jianfei Wang, Yijia Wu, Xichun Hu

PLOS Medicine: published July 31, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004669

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