February 3rd, 2012
Podcast 144: Hip fractures, PPIs, and smoking history in postmenopausal women — increased risks
PPIs are back on our radar, and this time it’s their regular use among postmenopausal women. A BMJ article examines data from the Nurses’ Health Study to show a significantly increased risk for hip fracture among postmenopausal women with any smoking history. Never-smokers showed no statistically significant increase. Now that proton pump inhibitors have been available over-the-counter […]
January 20th, 2012
Podcast 142: Really, why are you ordering that test?
The American College of Physicians wants to encourage high-value, cost-conscious care. And so they convened a consensus panel of physicians to list tests that they considered overused or inappropriately used in certain circumstances. One example would be the use of MRI for breast screening in normal-risk patients; another is the use of imaging studies in […]
January 13th, 2012
Podcast 141: Clinically apparent atrial fibrillation increases stroke risk; does subclinical afib do the same?
Yes, it apparently does. An international study in the New England Journal of Medicine monitored subclinical atrial fibrillation among some 2600 patients who’d just received an implanted pacemaker or cardioverter-defibrillator. After 3 months of monitoring, about 10% of the group showed subclinical episodes of afib lasting at least 6 minutes. Over an additional 2.5 years of follow-up the […]
January 6th, 2012
Podcast 140: A new edition of the ACP’s manual on ethics for clinicians is available online
The new edition of the American College of Physicians Ethics Manual has just been released, and at 30 pages, it’s well worth the reading time. It’s available free online as a supplement to the Annals of Internal Medicine. New or updated topics include social media and online professionalism, interrogation of prisoners, and allocation of medical resources. In […]
December 17th, 2011
Podcast 139: CPAP for obstructive sleep apnea seems to improve some measures of the metabolic syndrome
A double-blind crossover study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that 3 months of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in patients with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea ameliorates some components of the metabolic syndrome, which is present in about three quarters of such patients. The authors acknowledge the difficulty of motivating patients to […]
November 4th, 2011
Podcast 136: Aspirin lowers colorectal risks in Lynch syndrome — what are the implications for everyone else?
Last week’s Lancet article on the effect of aspirin on risks for colorectal cancer in patients with Lynch syndrome — a group at particularly high risk — may hold implications for preventing sporadic colon cancers. Our interview with Prof. Sir John Burn, the study’s first author, explores those implications as well speculations on why we human […]
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