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MD Consult’s News section featured a dispatch from the complementary and alternative medicine realm; the results of a trial presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine suggested that hypnosis may be an effective treatment for severe postmenopausal hot flashes. It was noted that the reduction in symptoms was stronger than that seen in many pharmacological approaches, and the lack of side effects was another positive. However, there are challenges involved in making the strategy widely-available, so further steps would be needed in that regard. Reports also issue from the Society of Hospital Medicine’s meeting, with talks on hospital readmissions, recertification issues and an exploration of the possible effects of statins on pneumonia mortality.
This week also saw a new issue of Chest appear in the Journals, and it covers a wide array of pulmonology-related topics. The impact of ischemic heart disease on COPD was analyzed; patients with both conditions frequently exhibited worse health status, lower exercise capacity, and more dyspnea compared to other COPD patients. And while the many risks of smoking during pregnancy are well-known, another paper looked at the relationship between maternal smoking and subsequent wheezing among preschool children; unsurprisingly, the association was not a positive one. Another study examining children’s health looked at pediatric obesity-associated asthma and noted that it was significantly different from atopic asthma, and considerably less well-understood. Another article looked at chronic mountain sickness – a public health issue for communities at altitude, and not simply a disease of mountaineers – and role of exercise in rapid interstitial lung fluid accumulation in CMS sufferers. The authors suggests that it is a contributing factor for exercise intolerance in these populations. Also new in the Journals is the May 1 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology. It features a twin study comparing obese and non-obese siblings and their rates of cardiovascular disease – the extra epicardial fat seemed to make quite a difference. Another article looked at an unusual group of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients – those over 90 years of age. While still noting its well-known dangers in younger patients, the authors found that it was quite different in this elderly population. Of course, there is much more to discover beyond these articles.
New in the Clinics is Clinics in Geriatric Medicine, which focuses on polypharmacy. Factors leading to this often excessive use of drugs are examined in one article, while another looks at the role of chronic diseases and the variety of medications that are often employed as a result. One paper describes issues associated with polypharmacy in nursing home residents, and another looks at their outcomes. Techniques and tools to reduce polypharmacy are also discussed. The May issue of Clinics in Liver Disease has also arrived. Topics include drug-induced liver disease, hepatic encephalopathy and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, among others.
Check back next week for more of what’s new on MD Consult.
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