The Physician Workforce and Financing of Graduate Medical Education

Occupational and Environmental Medicine: The Internist's Role

Linking Physician Payments to Quality Care

Insurance Reform in a Voluntary System: Implications for the Sick, the Well, and Universal Health Care

Improving the Quality of Care: Clinical Research and Practice Guidelines. Draft - Physician Payment Review Commission. Background Paper for Conference

Health Care Needs of Inmates of Correctional Institutions.

Five Prescriptions for Ensuring the Future of Primary Care

Firearm Injury Prevention (Unabridged)

Ethical Considerations for Use of Patient Incentives to Promote Personal Responsibility for Health: West Virginia Medicaid & Beyond

Directing Change in an Evolving Health Care System: Positive Steps Physicians Can Take Now

Annals for Hospitalists Inpatient Notes - Mindfulness and Antibiotic Appropriateness—How Point-of-Care Stewardship Begins With Hospitalists

Effect of Physical Activity on Frailty: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial: Annals of Internal Medicine: Vol 168, No 5

Background: Limited evidence suggests that physical activity may prevent frailty and associated negative outcomes in older adults. Definitive data from large long-term randomized trials are lacking. Objective: To determine whether a long-term, structured, moderate-intensity physical activity program is associated with a lower risk for frailty and whether frailty status alters the effect of physical activity on the reduction in major mobility disability (MMD) risk. Design: Multicenter, single-blind, randomized trial. Setting: 8 centers in the United States. Participants: 1635 community-dwelling adults, aged 70 to 89 years, with functional limitations. Intervention: A structured, moderate-intensity physical activity program incorporating aerobic, resistance, and flexibility activities or a health education program consisting of workshops and stretching exercises. Measurements: Frailty, as defined by the SOF (Study of Osteoporotic Fractures) index, at baseline and 6, 12, and 24 months, and MMD, defined as the inability to walk 400 m, for up to 3.5 years. Results: Over 24 months of follow-up, the risk for frailty (n = 1623) was not statistically significantly different in the physical activity versus the health education group (adjusted prevalence difference, −0.021 [95% CI, −0.049 to 0.007]). Among the 3 criteria of the SOF index, the physical activity intervention was associated with improvement in the inability to rise from a chair (adjusted prevalence difference, −0.050 [CI, −0.081 to −0.020]). Baseline frailty status did not modify the effect of physical activity on reducing incident MMD (P for interaction = 0.91). Limitation: Frailty status was neither an entry criterion nor a randomization stratum. Conclusion: A structured, moderate-intensity physical activity program was not associated with a reduced risk for frailty over 2 years among sedentary, community-dwelling older adults. The beneficial effect of physical activity on the incidence of MMD did not differ between frail and nonfrail participants. Primary Funding Source: National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Treating Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: Annals of Internal Medicine: Vol 166, No 11

Background: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is frequently used to treat pain-related conditions, but its effects on low back pain are uncertain. Purpose: To assess the efficacy and safety of MBSR in patients with low back pain. Data Sources: Searches of MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO to 15 June 2016. Study Selection: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared MBSR with usual care or an active comparator and assessed pain intensity or pain-related disability as a primary outcome in patients with low back pain. Data Extraction: Two reviewers independently extracted data on study characteristics, patients, interventions, outcome measures, and results at short- and long-term follow-up. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. Data Synthesis: Seven RCTs involving 864 patients with low back pain were eligible for review. Compared with usual care, MBSR was associated with short-term improvements in pain intensity (4 RCTs; mean difference [MD], −0.96 point on a numerical rating scale [95% CI, −1.64 to −0.34 point]; standardized mean difference [SMD], −0.48 point [CI, −0.82 to −0.14 point]) and physical functioning (2 RCTs; MD, 2.50 [CI, 0.90 to 4.10 point]; SMD, 0.25 [CI, 0.09 to 0.41 point]) that were not sustained in the long term. Between-group differences in disability, mental health, pain acceptance, and mindfulness were not significant at short- or long-term follow-up. Compared with an active comparator, MBSR was not associated with significant differences in short- or long-term outcomes. No serious adverse events were reported. Limitation: The number of eligible RCTs was limited; only 3 evaluated MBSR against an active comparator. Conclusion: Mindfulness-based stress reduction may be associated with short-term effects on pain intensity and physical functioning. Long-term RCTs that compare MBSR versus active treatments are needed in order to best understand the role of MBSR in the management of low back pain. Primary Funding Source: None.

Sacubitril–Valsartan in Heart Failure: Why Are More Physicians Not Prescribing It?

Historical Perspective on the Rise and Fall and Rise of Antibiotics and Human Weight Gain

In recent medical and popular literature, audiences have been asked to consider whether antibiotics have contributed to the rising obesity epidemic. Prominent magazines have stated that weight may be adversely affected by antibiotics that destroy existing microbiomes and replace them with less helpful ones. However, there is a long history of efforts to investigate the relationship between antibiotics and human weight gain. In the early 1950s, amid initial findings that low doses of antibiotics served as growth promoters in animal livestock, investigators explored the role of antibiotics as magic bullets for human malnutrition. Nevertheless, early enthusiasm was tempered by controlled studies showing that antibiotics did not serve as useful, nonspecific growth promoters for humans. In subsequent decades, against the backdrop of rising concern over antibiotic resistance, investigators studying the role of antibiotics in acute malnutrition have had to navigate a more complicated public health calculus. In a related historical stream, scientists since the 1910s have explored the role of the intestinal microflora in human health. By the 2000s, as increasing resources and more sophisticated tools were devoted to understanding the microbiome (a term coined in 2001), attention would turn to the role of antibiotics and the intestinal microflora in the rising obesity epidemic. Despite scientific and commercial enthusiasm, easy answers (whether about antibiotics or probiotics) have again given way to an appreciation for the complexity of human growth. History encourages caution about our hopes for simplistic answers for presumed “fat drugs” and slimming probiotics alike.

The National Library of Medicine: Accelerating Discovery, Delivering Information, Improving Health

Low Risk of International Zika Virus Spread due to the 2016 Olympics in Brazil

Extracranial Carotid Disease and Effect of Intra-arterial Treatment in Patients With Proximal Anterior Circulation Stroke in MR CLEAN

Background: The presence of extracranial carotid disease (ECD) is associated with less favorable clinical outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke caused by intracranial proximal occlusion. Acute intra-arterial treatment (IAT) in the setting of extracranial and intracranial lesions is considered challenging, and whether it yields improved outcomes remains uncertain. Objective: To examine whether the presence of ECD modified the effect of IAT for intracranial proximal anterior circulation occlusion. Design: Prespecified subgroup analysis of a randomized clinical trial of endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke in the Netherlands. (Trial registrations: NTR1804 [Netherlands Trial Register] and ISRCTN10888758) Setting: 16 hospitals in the Netherlands. Patients: Acute ischemic stroke caused by proximal intracranial arterial occlusion of the anterior circulation. Extracranial carotid disease was defined as cervical internal carotid artery stenosis (>50%) or occlusion. Intervention: IAT treatment versus no IAT. Measurements: The primary outcome was functional outcome, as measured by the modified Rankin Scale at 90 days and reported as adjusted common odds ratio (acOR) for a shift in direction of a better outcome. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression analysis with an interaction term was used to estimate treatment effect modification by ECD. Results: The overall acOR was 1.67 (95% CI, 1.21 to 2.30) in favor of the intervention. The acOR was 3.1 (CI, 1.7 to 5.8) in the prespecified subgroup of patients with ECD versus 1.3 (CI, 0.9 to 1.9) in patients presenting without ECD. Both acORs are in favor of the intervention (P for interaction = 0.07). Limitation: The study was not powered for subgroup analysis. Conclusion: Intra-arterial treatment may be at least as effective in patients with ECD as in those without ECD, and it should not be withheld in these complex patients with acute ischemic stroke. Primary Funding Source: Dutch Heart Foundation, AngioCare BV, Medtronic/Covidien/EV3, MEDAC Gmbh/LAMEPRO, Penumbra, Stryker, and Top Medical/Concentric.

A Cinderella Tale: Can New Shoes Change the Life of a Person With Knee Osteoarthritis?

Association Between a Virtual Glucose Management Service and Glycemic Control in Hospitalized Adult Patients: An Observational Study: Annals of Internal Medicine: Vol 166, No 9

Background: Inpatient hyperglycemia is common and is linked to adverse patient outcomes. New methods to improve glycemic control are needed. Objective: To determine whether a virtual glucose management service (vGMS) is associated with improved inpatient glycemic control. Design: Cross-sectional analyses of three 12-month periods (pre-vGMS, transition, and vGMS) between 1 June 2012 and 31 May 2015. Setting: 3 University of California, San Francisco, hospitals. Patients: All nonobstetric adult inpatients who underwent point-of-care glucose testing. Intervention: Hospitalized adult patients with 2 or more glucose values of 12.5 mmol/L or greater (≥225 mg/dL) (hyperglycemic) and/or a glucose level less than 3.9 mmol/L (<70 mg/dL) (hypoglycemic) in the previous 24 hours were identified using a daily glucose report. Based on review of the insulin/glucose chart in the electronic medical record, recommendations for insulin changes were entered in a vGMS note, which could be seen by all clinicians. Measurements: Proportion of patient-days classified as hyperglycemic, hypoglycemic, and at-goal (all measurements ≥3.9 and ≤10 mmol/L [≥70 and ≤180 mg/dL] during the pre-vGMS, transition, and vGMS periods). Results: The proportion of hyperglycemic patients decreased by 39%, from 6.6 per 100 patient-days in the pre-vGMS period to 4.0 per 100 patient-days in the vGMS period (difference, −2.5 [95% CI, −2.7 to −2.4]). The hypoglycemic proportion in the vGMS period was 36% lower than in the pre-vGMS period (difference, −0.28 [CI, −0.35 to −0.22]). Forty severe hypoglycemic events (<2.2 mmol/L [<40 mg/dL]) occurred during the pre-vGMS period compared with 15 during the vGMS period. Limitation: Information was not collected on patients' concurrent illnesses and treatment or physicians' responses to the vGMS notes. Conclusion: Implementation of the vGMS was associated with decreases in hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. Primary Funding Source: National Institutes of Health, the Wilsey Family Foundation, and the UCSF Clinical & Translational Science Institute.