Articles related to Family Medicine/General Practice

In contradistinction to recent reports that showed increased risk of death and no clinical benefit with escalation of allopurinol for progressive CKD, this 5-year population-based review found no increased mortality risk in escalating allopurinol dose and achieving target serum urate levels.

Vitamin D supplementation for five years, with or without omega-3 fatty acids, reduced autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis by 22%, according to the findings of a new study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation with or without vitamin D reduced the autoimmune disease rate by 15%, which was not statistically significant. Both treatment arms showed larger effects than the reference arm (vitamin D placebo and omega-3 fatty acid placebo).

Although there now exist many safe and approved therapeutics for non-hospitalized patients who have COVID-19 or one of its variants, these therapies are often distributed in an ineffective and unequitable manner, according to an article published by JAMA Network. The article highlights many of the available therapies and how to distribute them fairly to patients when demand exceeds available supply.

A study published in the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine puts forward a new and systematic approach to diagnosing and managing orthostatic hypotension. The article notes that current approaches to evaluating and managing the disease are based on limited data, but that patients would benefit from more consistent diagnosis and treatment methods.

Thinking of starting the new year off with a diet? According to U.S. News and World Report, the Mediterranean diet is the best overall diet for adults. The diet was ranked first in the categories of best diets for healthy eating, easiest diets to follow, and best diets for diabetes, among other measurable categories.

A new study has found that people with osteoporosis may experience less protection and be subject to more bone fractures when treated with the drug risedronate. Patients who were treated with risedronate during a drug holiday experienced more hip and other fractures than patients given other medications. Drug holidays are recommended after three to five years on therapy for most people taking bisphosphonates for osteoporosis. Risedronate, with its shorter half-life compared with alendronate, is associated with a somewhat higher risk of hip fracture during a drug holiday.