Clinical Practice Guidelines and Recommendations
High-Intensity Statins Benefit High-Risk Patients: Why and How to Do Better
Review of the US and European literature indicates that most patients at high risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD are not treated with high-intensity statins, despite strong clinical-trial evidence of maximal statin benefit. High-intensity statins are recommended for 2 categories of patients: those with ASCVD (secondary prevention) and high-risk patients without clinical ASCVD. Most patients with ASCVD are candidates for high-intensity statins, with a goal for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol reduction of 50% or greater.Synopsis of the 2020 US Department of Veterans Affairs/US Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guideline: The Non-Surgical Management of Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis
In July 2020, the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and US Department of Defense (DoD) approved a new joint clinical practice guideline for the non-surgical management of hip and knee osteoarthritis. This synopsis highlights some of the recommendations. In February 2019, the VA/DoD Evidence-Based Practice Work Group convened a joint VA/DoD guideline development effort that included clinical stakeholders and conformed to the National Academy of Medicine’s tenets for trustworthy clinical practice guidelines.The International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health Process of Care for the Identification of Sexual Concerns and Problems in Women
Sexual problems are common in women of all ages. Despite their frequency and impact, female sexual dysfunctions (FSDs) are often unrecognized and untreated in clinical settings. In response, the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health convened a multidisciplinary, international expert panel to develop a process of care (POC) that outlines recommendations for identification of sexual problems in women. This POC describes core and advanced competencies in FSD for clinicians who are not sexual medicine specialists and serve as caregivers of women and, therefore, is useful for clinicians with any level of competence in sexual medicine.Clinical Practice Guidelines: A Primer on Development and Dissemination
Trustworthy clinical practice guidelines should be based on a systematic review of the literature, provide ratings of the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations, consider patient values, and be developed by a multidisciplinary panel of experts. The quality of evidence reflects our certainty that the evidence warrants a particular action. Transforming evidence into a decision requires consideration of the quality of evidence, balance of benefits and harms, patients' values, available resources, feasibility of the intervention, acceptability by stakeholders, and effect on health equity.Pharmacokinetic Pharmacogenetic Prescribing Guidelines for Antidepressants: A Template for Psychiatric Precision Medicine
Antidepressants are commonly prescribed medications in the United States, and there is increasing interest in individualizing treatment selection for more than 20 US Food and Drug Administration–approved treatments for major depressive disorder. Providing greater precision to pharmacotherapeutic recommendations for individual patients beyond the large-scale clinical trials evidence base can potentially reduce adverse effect toxicity profiles and increase response rates and overall effectiveness.Should Committees That Write Guidelines and Recommendations Publish Dissenting Opinions?
Medical guidelines tend to convey a sense of unanimity of opinion that may not reflect the deliberations of the experts who wrote them. Using, as an example, an analysis of the recently published recommendations on administering pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to adults, the present article raises the question of whether official recommendations and guidelines should include dissenting opinions, analogous to decisions issued by the US Supreme Court. The argument that such a policy would lead to confusion in our profession is addressed in 2 ways: (1) the current system, in which different professional societies publish conflicting recommendations, as in the case of breast or prostate cancer screening, can be far more confusing, and (2) in the long run, greater transparency will lead to more thoughtful and higher-quality medical care.Pathways Forward in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention One and a Half Years After Publication of the 2013 ACC/AHA Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Guidelines
The 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines represent an important step forward in the risk assessment and management of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in clinical practice. Differentiated risk prediction equations for women and black individuals were developed, and convenient 10-year and lifetime risk assessment tools were provided, facilitating their implementation. Lifestyle modification was portrayed as the foundation of preventive therapy.Critical Update of the 2010 Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guidelines for Male Hypogonadism: A Systematic Analysis
“Testosterone Therapy in Men With Androgen Deficiency Syndromes: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline” (Guidelines), published in 2010, serves as an important guide for the treatment of hypogonadal men. Using the Guidelines as a basis, we searched for the most recent level 1 evidence that continues to support the recommendations or provide an impetus to modify all or some of them. We performed a systematic analysis with a PubMed query from January 1, 2010, through March 2, 2015, using the following key words: testosterone/deficiency, testosterone/therapeutic use, cardiovascular, morbidity, mortality, screening, sexual function, lower urinary tract symptoms, obstructive sleep apnea, prostate cancer, fertility, bone mineral density, osteoporosis, quality of life, cognitive, erectile dysfunction, and adverse effects.The Inadmissibility of What We Eat in America and NHANES Dietary Data in Nutrition and Obesity Research and the Scientific Formulation of National Dietary Guidelines
The Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee was primarily informed by memory-based dietary assessment methods (M-BMs) (eg, interviews and surveys). The reliance on M-BMs to inform dietary policy continues despite decades of unequivocal evidence that M-BM data bear little relation to actual energy and nutrient consumption. Data from M-BMs are defended as valid and valuable despite no empirical support and no examination of the foundational assumptions regarding the validity of human memory and retrospective recall in dietary assessment.Thinking Beyond New Clinical Guidelines: Update in Hypertension
Hypertension is one of the most common conditions managed by generalists and is a major risk factor for multiple conditions. Surrounded by great debate, the committee appointed to the Eighth Joint National Committee published their suggestions for new hypertension treatment guidelines in early 2014. We suggest a new target blood pressure (BP) for the general population older than 60 years of less than 150/90 mm Hg, up from less than 140/90 mm Hg as recommended by the Seventh Joint National Committee, and in diabetic patients, a goal of less than 140/90 mm Hg, up from the Seventh Joint National Committee recommendation of less than 130/80 mm Hg.A Summary and Critical Assessment of the 2013 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Adults: Filling the Gaps
The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Task Force on Practice Guidelines has recently released the new cholesterol treatment guideline. This update was based on a systematic review of the evidence and replaces the previous guidelines from 2002 that were widely accepted and implemented in clinical practice. The new cholesterol treatment guideline emphasizes matching the intensity of statin treatment to the level of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk and replaces the old paradigm of pursuing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol targets.A Perspective on the New American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiovascular Risk Assessment
The recently published American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines for cardiovascular risk assessment provide equations to estimate the 10-year and lifetime atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk in African Americans and non-Hispanic whites, include stroke as an adverse cardiovascular outcome, and emphasize shared decision making. The guidelines provide a valuable framework that can be adapted on the basis of clinical judgment and individual/institutional expertise.Succinct Review of the New VTE Prevention and Management Guidelines
Venous thromboembolism is a major source of morbidity and mortality in the United States. The American College of Chest Physicians Antithrombotic Guidelines, 9th edition, includes a large number of clinical practice recommendations regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of venous thromboembolism. This succinct clinical review of these guidelines specifically focuses on the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of venous thromboembolic disease.Rhinosinusitis Diagnosis and Management for the Clinician: A Synopsis of Recent Consensus Guidelines
Rhinosinusitis (RS) affects approximately 1 in 7 adults in the United States, and its effect on quality of life, productivity, and finances is substantial. During the past 10 years, several expert panels from authoritative bodies have published evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and management of RS and its subtypes, including acute viral RS, acute bacterial RS, chronic RS (CRS) without nasal polyposis, CRS with nasal polyposis, and allergic fungal RS. This review examines and compares the recommendations of the Rhinosinusitis Initiative, the Joint Task Force on Practice Parameters, the Clinical Practice Guideline: Adult Sinusitis, the European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps 2007, and the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology.Management of Newly Diagnosed Symptomatic Multiple Myeloma: updated Mayo Stratification of Myeloma and Risk-Adapted Therapy (mSMART) Consensus Guidelines
Multiple myeloma is a malignant plasma cell neoplasm that affects more than 20,000 people each year and is the second most common hematologic malignancy. It is part of a spectrum of monoclonal plasma cell disorders, many of which do not require active therapy. During the past decade, considerable progress has been made in our understanding of the disease process and factors that influence outcome, along with development of new drugs that are highly effective in controlling the disease and prolonging survival without compromising quality of life.Managing Asthma in Primary Care: Putting New Guideline Recommendations Into Context
Many patients with asthma are treated in the primary care setting. The primary care physician is therefore in a key position to recognize poorly controlled asthma and to improve asthma management for these patients. However, current evidence continues to show that, for a substantial number of patients, asthma control is inadequate for a wide variety of reasons, both physician-related and patient-related. The most recently updated treatment guidelines from the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program were designed to help clinicians, including primary care physicians, manage asthma more effectively with an increased focus on achieving and maintaining good asthma control over time.Treating Tobacco Dependence in Light of the 2008 US Department of Health and Human Services Clinical Practice Guideline
Cigarette smoking is the most important preventable cause of morbidity, mortality, and excess health care costs in the United States. From 2000 through 2004, cigarette smoking caused an estimated annual average of 443,595 deaths and cost $193 billion per year in smoking-attributable productivity losses and smoking-related health care expenditures. Preventing smoking and providing effective treatment to help smokers quit will remain a public health priority for the foreseeable future. In support of this goal, the US Department of Health and Human Services recently published the clinical practice guideline entitled Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 Update.Clinical Practice: American College of Physicians Guidelines and U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations
A compilation of evidence-based American College of Physicians (ACP) guidelines for management of chronic diseases, ACP guidelines for antibiotic use in adult upper respiratory tract infection, and U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines for screening for common conditions.Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders: Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines for the Practicing Physician
Type of Book: A multiauthored hardbound textbook on Parkinson disease and other movement disorders.Current Guidelines for the Management of Small Cell Lung Cancer
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for 20% to 25% of cases of bronchogenic carcinoma and results in pronounced morbidity and mortality in the United States. More than 90% of cases of SCLC are caused by cigarette smoking. Common pulmonary manifestations are dyspnea, persistent cough, hemoptysis, and postobstructive pneumonia. At the time of diagnosis, patients usually have extensive disease. To date, therapeutic approaches have made only modest advances in outcome. Combined modality approaches, such as radiotherapy administered con-comitantly with the initiation of chemotherapy, induction chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy administered during the subsequent courses of chemotherapy, sequential chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and courses of radiotherapy split between cycles of chemotherapy, are important for improving survival in patients with SCLC.Handbook of Venous Disorders: Guidelines of the American Venous Forum
Type of Book: A comprehensive multiauthored text on venous and lymphatic disorders.A Practical Guideline for Management of Hypertension in Patients With Diabetes
Hypertension is common in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and is also an early sign of diabetic nephropathy in those with insulin-dependent diabetes. Hypertension contributes to the progression of both macrovascular disease and nephropathy in patients with diabetes. Certain antihypertensive agents can adversely affect carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and calcium channel blockers may slow the progression of renal complications in patients with diabetes.The Ocular Fundus: A Photographic Documentation Atlas With Diagnostic and Therapeutic Guidelines
Because of the rapid expansion of scientific information in many medical specialties, primary-care physicians, as well as medical students, have found it difficult to glean a basic understanding of many disease processes from the increasingly complex subspecialty literature. Recently, numerous atlases and textbooks have been published to aid the busy medical student or clinician in attaining this basic knowledge. Any specialist who wishes to enlighten others about his specialty, however, faces the difficult assignment of determining which facts at his disposal are of interest and value to his primary-care colleagues and which will only burden or bore them.Cancer in Pregnancy: Therapeutic Guidelines
Older statistics indicated that cancer occurred in approximately 1 in 1,000 pregnant women; because women now often wait until later years to have children, an increase in the number of pregnant women with cancer might be expected. This book deals with the problems of most of the common malignant lesions seen during pregnancy.
