Articles related to Family Medicine/General Practice

In a prospective study following the diet and activity records of more than 100,000 individuals in France, artificial sweeteners were positively correlated with cardiovascular diseases. Analyzing 900,000 person-years of data showed: Total artificial sweetener intake was associated with CVD risk Artificial sweeteners were more strongly associated with cerebrovascular disease Aspartame was associated with increase cerebrovascular events Acesulfame K and sucralose were associated with increased coronary heart disease risk

According to experts, one of the most important strategies for tackling the psychiatrist shortage is to assist primary care physicians in treating patients with mental illness, as the US anticipates a projected shortfall of 14,280 to 31,109 psychiatrists due to the fact that over 150 million people reside in places where there is a nationally acknowledged lack of mental health professionals.

Questions run across a host of topics, and in September you can challenge yourself in mortality risk, myocardial infarction (MI), insomnia, liver cancer, lipids, and Parkinson’s disease guidelines. Each question is worth 4 points with bonuses for quick response. Speed matters in this quiz. Why not give it a try and see if you can get on the leaderboard of the Smartest Doc?

To assess short-term risk for severe cardiovascular events (excluding myocarditis and pericarditis) after COVID-19 vaccination, adults younger than 75 years hospitalized for PE, acute MI, hemorrhagic stroke, or ischemic stroke (73,325 events) were reviewed in relation to a 1st or 2nd COVID vaccine dose. No association was found between the Pfizer–BioNTech or Moderna vaccine and severe cardiovascular events. The first dose of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine was associated with acute MI and PE in the second week after vaccination. An association with MI in the second week after a single dose of the Janssen vaccine could not be ruled out.

The USPSTF comes to the conclusion that statin use has at least a moderate net benefit for adults aged 40 to 75 who have no prior history of CVD, at least one CVD risk factor, and an estimated 10-year CVD event risk of 10% or greater. There is at least a marginal net benefit from using statins to prevent CVD events and all-cause mortality in adults aged 40 to 75 who have no prior history of CVD, at least one of these risk factors, and an estimated 10-year CVD event risk of 7.5% to less than 10%. Still, is the evidence enough?

The founding editor of Comprehensive Clinical Nephrology teases out for us our physiologic response to salt, sugar, fat, and water that creates a recipe for obesity – a recipe being used daily by many Americans with obvious results. His recommendation? “Drinking more water and reducing salt intake offer cheap, easy and healthy strategies that may prevent or treat obesity.” Click to see the evidence behind the conclusion.