The American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology just published new guidelines for screening and treating cholesterol. In some ways these guidelines are more like the British guidelines. Instead of setting up doctors and patients to fail by calling for certain cholesterol number targets as in the old U.S. guidelines (LDL level...
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Dr. Oz is back at it again, spreading ignorance across our fine land. But before I get to the most recent example …. A story about the good doctor that appeared earlier this year in the New Yorker included some fine quotes about his medical statements that have little to no...
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It’s not too late. If you haven’t had a flu shot yet you can still get one. But what does it do for you? A Cochrane review in 2010 looked at all influenza vaccination trials in adults. In the background of the report, the authors reminded us that even if the...
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Several physicians contribute regularly to BMJ. One of my favorites is a GP in Glasgow named Des Spence. Through their writings, I have gained a glimpse of the challenges faced by GPs in the UK, and the broader culture in which they work. In two of his columns this summer, he...
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We now have even more proof that the annual physical, health check, health maintenance visit, or whatever else you want to call it, is essentially useless. The Cochrane Collaboration recently published a review of the topic. They performed a meta-analysis of 14 randomized controlled trials of annual checkups of 180,000 adults...
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The GIMeC (Government Industrial Medical Coalition) ignorance fairy has been busy lately, flying around waving her crooked wand at the unsuspecting public. The claim this time is that efforts to prevent diabetes save money. Two articles making this claim were published at nearly the same time. The first was an article...
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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently recommended that most women only undergo a Pap smear every 3 years starting at age 21, and even less frequently after age 30 if they also are tested for the human papillomavirus with the Pap smears. A few weeks ago, the OB/Gyns published guidelines...
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The state of Oregon and the Obama administration just announced the approval of a federal waiver to allow innovation in the state’s Medicaid program. The feds agreed to chip in $1.9 billion over five years to get the program off the ground. The AP reporter covering this story wrote, “Gov. John...
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In a recent statement published by the journal Pediatrics, an advisory panel sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the NIH recommended universal cholesterol screening for all children ages 9 to 11. I’m sure they meant well, but this statement means important people in leadership positions have officially...
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I confess that I feel slightly guilty for writing this post. As a general rule, I don’t like overly critical people who create an ideal past world in their head, compare their forefathers (and mothers) to that world, then complain that the previous generation’s leaders did not live up to the...
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