Primary Care News and Research

Latest Primary Care News and Research

Quitting smoking with rimonabant

Using selective cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptor antagonists such as rimonabant at a dose of 20 mg per day can help people quit smoking, can help them to remain abstinent, and can help prevent the weight gain that so often accompanies attempts at stopping smoking.

18 Jul 2007

Review examines how well GPs treat anxiety, depression or substance abuse

When patients have psychosocial problems such as anxiety, depression or substance abuse, a general practice doctor is often the first healthcare professional they see.

18 Jul 2007

2 week wait rule for breast cancer patients questioned

The "two week wait rule" is failing breast cancer patients and needs to be reviewed urgently say the authors of a seven year study examining the impact of the target, published on bmj.com.

13 Jul 2007

New target for muscular dystrophy drug therapy

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report how the gene for utrophin, which codes for a protein very similar to dystrophin, the defective protein in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), puts the brakes on its own expression in muscle cells, thereby suggesting a new target for treatment.

13 Jul 2007

Some smokers have genetic predisposition to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Some people have a genetic variation that makes them more susceptible to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) if they smoke tobacco, according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues.

12 Jul 2007

Simple interventions may increase prostate cancer screening

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men, with an estimated incidence of 234,460 cases and 27,360 deaths in 2006. Screening for prostate cancer remains controversial due to insufficient evidence to recommend for or against screening.

12 Jul 2007

Impact of work-hour regulations on medical residents

Four years ago this month, new rules went into effect that restricted the long hours worked by many physicians in training.

12 Jul 2007

40% of community pharmacists don't tell parents they are dispensing off-label drugs to children

Forty per cent of community pharmacists have dispensed an off-label drug to a child in the last month, according to research published in the July issue of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

12 Jul 2007

Screening for behavioral health first step to getting treatment

Health plans seldom require screening for substance abuse and mental health in primary care even though it can improve detection, according to a new Brandeis University study published in the July issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

11 Jul 2007

Detecting cognitive impairment in primary care: Performance assessment of three screening instruments

A new study published in the June issue of Journal of Alzheimer's Disease demonstrates the accuracy and validity of a new mathematics-based memory assessment developed by Medical Care Corporation to detect early signs of memory impairment due to Alzheimer's disease and other related disorders.

11 Jul 2007

Prophylactic antibiotics for children with UTI not associated with reduced risk of recurrence

The use of prophylactic antibiotics, which involves daily administration of antibiotics to children after an initial urinary tract infection, is not associated with reduced risk of recurrent urinary tract infections, but is associated with an increased risk of resistant infections, according to a study in the July 11 issue of JAMA.

11 Jul 2007

Attitudes and experiences of community pharmacists towards paediatric off-label prescribing

11 Jul 2007

National study to treat addiction to prescription pain medications

Researchers funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, launched the first large-scale national study evaluating a treatment for addiction to prescription opioid analgesics (i.e., painkillers) such as Vicodin and OxyContin.

10 Jul 2007

Tips to help baby boomers exercise without injury

Sure, you remember the way you could stretch a single into a double, smash an unstoppable serve over the net or fast-break for an easy two points.

10 Jul 2007

Delays in cancer diagnosis for children remain poorly understood

Though delays in the diagnosis of cancer in children are short and attributable to clinical presentation and healthcare system complexity, the impact of such delays on prognosis remains unclear, according to a new study.

10 Jul 2007

Federal farm bill includes funds for critical access hospitals in rural areas

Rural Pennsylvania hospitals are "eagerly awaiting passage" of the federal 2007 Farm Bill (HR 2419), which would provide about $1.6 billion to critical access hospitals that serve rural populations across the U.S., the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

10 Jul 2007

Delays in cancer diagnosis for children remain poorly understood

10 Jul 2007

ICW America and Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island team up to offer an interoperable personal health record

ICW America (ICW), a leading international e-Health provider and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University's Center for Primary Care and Prevention (the Center) at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, a leading research and teaching institution, have reached agreement to enter into a strategic collaboration to "develop and test a 21st century patient-centered, e-Health model of care".

9 Jul 2007

QRISK score more accurate than Framingham or ASSIGN for heart attacks

A new score for predicting the risk of heart disease gives a more accurate measure of how many UK adults are at risk of developing the disease and which adults are most likely to benefit from treatment.

9 Jul 2007

Hospital operators may fail to steer people with stroke symptoms to call 9-1-1

Nearly a quarter of hospital or ,healthline, operators mistakenly routed a caller describing classic stroke symptoms to primary care doctors rather than to 9-1-1, according to a research project published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

9 Jul 2007