Picks of the Week: Chronic insomnia, NSAIDs, opioids for low back pain and more!

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Besides the 69th World Health Assembly in Geneva that saw the release of many reports and news, this was a week of  a plethora of other articles and evidence published worldwide. Fellow physicians selected the most important ones and shared them on the Among Doctors network:

Do you wish to comment on these news or share your own? Join Among Doctors here and start exploring the physician-exclusive social network right away!

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World No Tobacco Day 2016

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The World #NoTobacco Day is an annual awareness day organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 31st May, aiming at highlighting the health risks of tobacco use and prompting governments to take actions against smoking. According to the WHO, while tobacco use kills nearly 6 million people each year, approximately 1 country in 3 has minimal or no restrictions at all on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

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Over the last three years, the WHO has focused on the advertising ban, increased taxation and tackling the smuggling of tobacco products, all of which are actions based on evidence from epidemiological studies. This year, the World No Tobacco Day promotes the implementation of the standardized plain packaging of tobacco products.

Plain packaging is a proven measure that tackles consumption by making tobacco products less attractive to consumers, curbing the use of promotional material on the package, limiting misleading design techniques suggesting that some products are less harmful than others, and increasing the effectiveness of health warnings. The package should bear only the name of the brand and product name in standardized characters and dark colors.

World No Tobacco Day - Among Doctors

The measure was first adopted in Australia in 2012, where early evidence suggests that it has begun to achieve its public health objectives. Since then plain packaging laws have been passed in France, Ireland and the United Kingdom, while several other countries are evaluating the implementation of such a measure.

Join the AmongDoctors physicians-only professional network and discuss with us different topics on smoking cessation, public health policies and evidence on tobacco use!

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WHO establishes a Health Emergencies Programme, adds operational capabilities

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During the 69th World Health Assembly, the WHO announced the establishment of a new Health Emergencies Programme, which adds operational capabilities for outbreaks and humanitarian emergencies to complement the traditional technical and normative roles of the organisation. The programme aims at delivering support to contexts as they prepare for, face or recover from emergencies, whether disease outbreaks, natural or man-made disasters or conflicts.

Read the press release and comment the story on Among Doctors

Image credit: WHO/L. Cipriani

 

 

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A new report launched on NCDs and workplace wellness

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NCD Alliance and Bupa published a report on the potential of workplaces for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The report, launched in Geneva, where the 69th World Health Assembly currently takes place, examines the evidence for the effectiveness of existing policy and regulatory measures, presents a set of recommendations, and calls upon governments, civil society and private sector to take shared responsibility for health and wellbeing through innovative partnerships, with a commitment to share expertise and knowledge, and mobilise resources.

Read the report and comment the story on Among Doctors

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Picks of the Week: Medical error as one of the leading causes of death

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Over the last days fellow colleagues shared many articles, evidence, opinion papers and other noteworthy news on the Among Doctors network. Let’s have a look at the top picks of these news:

  • Association between rotating night shift work and risk of coronary heart disease among women
    Among women who worked as registered nurses, longer duration of rotating night shift work was associated with a statistically significant but small absolute increase in CHD risk.
  • Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US
    A recently published article in BMJ estimates that medical error is the third biggest cause of death in the US, after heart disease and cancer. The authors mention that medical errors leading to patient death may be under-recognised in many countries, such as the UK and Canada.
  • Systematic review of antibiotic treatment for acute calculous cholecystitis
    Antibiotics are not indicated for the conservative management of acute calculous cholecystitis or in patients scheduled for cholecystectomy.
  • Addition of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors to sulphonylureas and risk of hypoglycaemia
    Addition of DPP-4 inhibitors to sulphonylurea to treat people with type 2 diabetes is associated with a 50% increased risk of hypoglycaemia and to one excess case of hypoglycaemia for every 17 patients in the first six months of treatment.
  • Effects of a mindfulness-based weight loss intervention in adults with obesity
    Mindfulness enhancements to a diet-exercise program did not show substantial weight loss benefit but may promote long-term improvement in some aspects of metabolic health in obesity that requires further study.
  • Short-course oral steroids as an adjunct therapy for chronic rhinosinusitis
    There might be an improvement in symptom severity, polyps size and condition of the sinuses when assessed using CT scans in patients taking oral corticosteroids when these are used as an adjunct therapy to antibiotics or intranasal corticosteroids.
  • Is physician burnout a looming public danger?
    With over 50% of doctors feeling burned out, physician burnout should not be considered as a mere professional problem, as its repercussions may affect patients.

Do you wish to comment on these news or share your own? Join Among Doctors here and start exploring the physician-exclusive social network right away!

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More evidence on inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions in outpatient settings

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An annual antibiotic prescription rate of 506 per 1,000 population was estimated in the United States in 2010-2011 in a study published on JAMA. According to the authors, only 353 antibiotic prescriptions were likely appropriate, supporting the need for establishing a goal for outpatient antibiotic stewardship. Sinusitis, suppurative otitis media and pharyngitis were the diagnosis associated with the most antibiotic prescriptions. Only approximately half of the acute respiratory conditions were estimated to be appropriate for these conditions.

Read the article and comment the story on Among Doctors

Image credit: Bmramon at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9825471

 

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Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US

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A recently published article in BMJ estimates that medical error is the third biggest cause of death in the US, after heart disease and cancer. The authors mention that medical errors leading to patient death may be under-recognised in many countries, such as the UK and Canada, and call for a scientific approach and a revision of how national statistics are measured to enable a more appropriate recognition and a better understanding of the related deaths.

Read the article and comment the story on Among Doctors

Image credit: SSgt. Derrick C. Goode, U.S. Air Force – http://hq.afnews.af.mil

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Is Physician Burnout a Looming Public Danger?

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Physician burnout should not be considered as a mere professional problem, as its repercussions may affect patients. Dr Art Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University Langone Medical Center, noted in a recent video published on Medscape that over 50% of doctors feel burned out. They suffer from compassion fatigue, are unable to empathize with patients, and may commit more potentially harmfully errors as a result. What types of solutions can we propose to improve the conditions and healthcare environments in which physicians work?

Read the article and comment the story on Among Doctors

Image credit: Kilbosh CC BY-SA 3.0

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Picks of the Week: Stomach cancer, fluconazole, and a few systematic reviews!

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Sharing news within Among Doctors network is a way of appraising and curating evidence, contributing to the dissemination of knowledge with your trusted network. Let’s have a look at what news have been shared lately:

  • Diet, nutrition, physical activity and stomach cancer
    The World Cancer Research Fund released a new report on stomach cancer linking for the first time drinking alcohol, eating processed meat and being overweight to an increased risk of developing stomach cancers.
  • FDA evaluating study examining use of oral fluconazole in pregnancy
    FDA is evaluating the results of a Danish study that conclude there is a possible increased risk of miscarriage with the use of oral fluconazole for yeast infections.
  • Cochrane Systematic Review: A comparison of different antibiotic regimens for the treatment of infective endocarditis
    Limited and very low quality evidence suggested that there were no conclusive differences between antibiotic regimens in terms of cure rates or other relevant clinical outcomes.
  • Association between anticholinergic medication and cognition, brain metabolism, and brain atrophy in cognitively normal older adults
    Anticholinergic medication use was linked with risk for future progression to mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Cochrane Systematic Review: Mobile phone-based interventions for smoking cessation
    The current evidence supports a beneficial impact of mobile phone-based smoking cessation interventions on six-month cessation outcomes.
  • Exposure to advertisements and electronic cigarette use among US middle and high school students
    The odds of electronic cigarette use increased with greater exposure to electronic cigarette advertising, with Internet advertisements having the strongest effect.

Do you wish to comment on these news or share your own? Join Among Doctors here and start exploring the physician-exclusive social network right away!

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Alcohol, processed meat and being overweight linked to stomach cancer, report says

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The World Cancer Research Fund released a new report on stomach cancer. For the first time, drinking alcohol, eating processed meat and being overweight have been linked to an increased risk of developing stomach cancers. In particular:

  • There is strong evidence that consuming approximately three or more alcoholic drinks per day increases the risk of stomach cancer.
  • There is strong evidence that consuming foods preserved by salting increases the risk of stomach cancer. Research mainly relates to high-salt foods and salt-preserved foods, including pickled vegetables and salted or dried fish, as traditionally prepared in east Asia.
  • There is strong evidence that consuming processed meat increases the risk of stomach non-cardia cancer.
  • There is strong evidence that being overweight or obese increases the risk of stomach cardia cancer. Being overweight or obese was assessed by body mass index (BMI).

Read the report and comment the story on Among Doctors

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