Antidepressants Not Clinically Useful for Back Pain
While professional guidelines recommend antidepressants for back pain, researchers point out the lack of evidence for their usefulness. More
VIDEO: New research on hospital overuse
We're excited to share our new research on hospital overuse just published in JAMA Network Open! More
3 Decades After Approval, Still on the Balancing Beam
The adoption of expensive medical technology by individual providers to compete for patients is one of the reasons that U.S. healthcare is the world’s most expensive on a per capita basis. Many experts see proton beam as a classic example of an American-style medical arms race. “There’s real harm in spending money on something that’s not better and is more expensive. That harm is a hospital not investing in something else that could improve its community or improve the health of more patients,” Shannon Brownlee, special adviser to the president of the Lown Institute, wrote in a recent blog post about proton beam therapy. More
The Covid-19 Plasma Boom Is Over. What Did We Learn From It?
The U.S. government invested $800 million in plasma when the country was desperate for Covid-19 treatments. A year later, the program has fizzled. More
Clinicians consistently overestimate disease risk, study finds
Clinicians should know the rough probability of a patient having a certain disease based on their symptoms and test results. Yet health care practitioners are not as good as you might expect at predicting patients' disease risk, a new study finds. More
Why USPSTF Still Finds Insufficient Evidence to Support Screening for Vitamin D Deficiency
Over the past 7 years, many randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have evaluated vitamin D supplementation for improving primary or secondary outcomes of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, bone health, and falls, necessitating a reevaluation of whether screening for vitamin D insufficiency might be worthwhile. More
Overdiagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents
In this systematic scoping review of 334 published studies in children and adolescents, convincing evidence was found that ADHD is overdiagnosed in children and adolescents. For individuals with milder symptoms in particular, the harms associated with an ADHD diagnosis may often outweigh the benefits. More
Hospitals vary widely in reducing C-section rates, but some progress in other maternal health metrics
A survey of more than 2,200 hospitals finds that despite progress in reducing C-section rates, there's a long way to go. More
Doctor group advises shorter antibiotic course for common infections
The ACP guidelines apply to inpatients and outpatients who have uncomplicated infections. More
Lessons from Lown: How the Levine Chair changed heart attack treatment forever
In the early 1950s, Dr. Bernard Lown made what he called his greatest contribution to medicine, saving 100,000 lives each year and changing the standard of care for heart attack patients forever--simply by getting people out of bed and into a chair. How did this happen? Watch the video and read the blog below to hear the story in Dr. Lown's own words. More
Assessment of Patient-Preferred Language to Achieve Goal-Aligned Deprescribing in Older Adults
This survey study examines older adults’ preferences regarding different rationales a clinician may use to explain why a patient should stop an unnecessary or potentially harmful medication. More
Why Long COVID Worries Me
Researchers and clinicians focused on long-haul COVID or postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection should remember our oath to first, do no harm. More
From trials to real world: Implementing deprescribing
Stopping harmful medications sounds simple, but it can be much harder in practice. How can we take what we've learned from deprescribing trials and scale them up? Dr. Justin Turner explains in a webinar hosted by the US Deprescribing Research Network. More
Evaluation of Aducanumab for Alzheimer Disease: Scientific Evidence and Regulatory Review Involving Efficacy, Safety, and Futility
This Viewpoint details the development and regulatory path of aducanumab, a human IgG1 monoclonal antibody to treat Alzheimer disease. More
Many hospitalized Covid-19 patients are given antibiotics. That’s a problem
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues, using existing antibiotics appropriately and finding new ones has never been more urgent. More
Updating Our Thinking on Troponin Use and Interpretation
Drs Allen and deSouza present the case of a middle-aged man with palpitations and chest pain in the setting of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). The symptoms resolved when the tachycardia stopped, but a troponin test ordered as part of the initial workup returned elevated results. More
To stop overuse, we have to focus on and measure the harms
In a recent piece in the BMJ, Shannon Brownlee and Deborah Korenstein argue that if we want to move the needle overuse, we have to make overuse an issue of preventable harm, not just waste. More
Building back better requires strengthening primary care
The U.S. must strengthen primary care, the platform on which achieving better, more equitable, and more affordable care depends. More
Assessment of a Risk-Based Approach for Triaging Mammography Examinations During Periods of Reduced Capacity
This cohort study assesses strategies to triage patients for mammogram cancer screening during times of reduced capacity. More
Is Estrogen Deficiency Really a Thing?
The catchall term plays into a cultural notion that estrogen is what makes a woman a woman. More