F. Perry Wilson, MD, looks at the data on how patients get hooked
Source: How Much Are Docs Responsible for Patients’ Opioid Abuse? | Medpage Today
And if you’re having trouble falling asleep one night here’s the link to the source study.
Source: Incident and long-term opioid therapy among patients with ps… : PAIN
An estimated 76,380 new cases of invasive melanoma were diagnosed in 2016, and an additional 68,480 Americans had new diagnoses of in situ melanoma. Melanoma-associated mortality increased by about 1.5% a year during the study period, exceeding the statistical trajectory angle for incidence.
Source: Melanoma Incidence, Mortality Still Rising | Medpage Today
Adult problems occurring in kids is rare, but not impossible. Kids can get strokes (CVAs) and one issue that can cause CVA is Moyamoya.
Source: Moyamoya — Pediatric EM Morsels
Summary: Immigration from Mexico was a hot issue in Campaign 2016. An equally serious danger was ignored — contagion to the US from the insurgency of drug cartels against Mexico. (Graphic copyright Stratfor 2016)
Source: Stratfor looks at the drug cartel’s insurgency against Mexico | Fabius Maximus website
With increasing legalization of marijuana in the US the cartels are now selling more heroin and methamphetamine. It’s been a while since I read up on this issue.
Still looking to buy that beachfront bargain in Mexico?
It was only after it settled down that we realised what we had achieved. In a 24 hour period our emergency department would typically see around 200 patients. During “Thunderstorm Asthma,” over a 12-hour period between 7pm and 7 am we treated 296 patients; 208 of them had respiratory symptoms. Of these patients 170 went home, 36 were admitted including four that went to the intensive care unit. The peak occurred at 9pm, when 43 patients arrived in an hour. It wasn’t until 2am before our numbers dropped below 20 an hour.
Source: Thunderstorm asthma: ‘It was like a war zone,’ emergency doctor says
Here`s why.
Source: Thunderstorm asthma – Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA)
Diabetes is a chronic disease associated with increased morbidity and mortality (1), mainly from cardiovascular disease (2–6). Treatment of diabetes includes normalizing hyperglycemia to attain glycemic targets and treatment of cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension and dyslipidemia. This multifactorial intervention strategy has been shown to decrease cardiovascular and all-cause mortality among patients with type 2 diabetes (7). Nevertheless, mortality in diabetes remains elevated (2,5). A number of epidemiological studies have quantified the risk of death among patients with diabetes and assessed the causes of death (2–6), with highly varying results (Table 1). The South Tees Diabetes Mortality Study (2) found an over threefold increase in all-cause mortality, mainly attributed to increased cardiovascular deaths, but found no increased risk of cancer mortality. The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab) (3) of over 10,000 individuals reported a little over twofold increase in the risk of all-cause mortality, with the majority due to cardiovascular causes. The Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration (ERFC) study (6), involving over 800,000 individuals, reported a little under twofold increase in the risk of all-cause mortality associated with diabetes. It also found that diabetes was associated with an increased risk of death from cancer (hazard ratio [HR] 1.25 [95% CI 1.19–1.31]), from vascular disease (HR 2.32 [95% CI 2.11–2.56]), and from nonvascular and noncancer etiologies (HR 1.73 [95% CI 1.62–1.85]).
Epidemiology – Venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurs in pregnant women at 7-10 times the incidence in age-matched controls. Pregnant women who get VTE have deep venous thrombosis (DVT) approximately 3 times as often as pulmonary embolism (PE). The increased risk is similar during all three trimesters, starts to diminish after delivery, and returns to baseline by six weeks post-partum. The left leg is affected in 85% of pregnancy-associated DVT, possibly from compression of the left iliac vein. Isolated pelvic DVT is also more common in pregnancy. In the developed world, pregnancy-associated VTE is the leading cause of maternal mortality.
Source: Diagnosing PE in Pregnant Women — Brown Emergency Medicine
The good news: fewer hungry people around the world. The bad news: Increased consumption of processed foods is pushing up global rates of overweight and obesity.
Source: Across The Globe, Our Diets Are Making Us Sicker, Report Finds : The Salt : NPR
Diagnosing Chagas disease in patients with cardiomyopathy, however, can allow cardiologists to implement the aggressive treatment regimens recommended for this subset of patients, who have 4-fold higher morbidity and mortality than do typical patients with cardiomyopathies, Meymandi noted.
Source: Chagas Heart Disease an Emerging Concern in the United States | Circulation
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