Journal of general internal medicine
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Comparative Study
African Americans' perceptions of physician attempts to address obesity in the primary care setting.
Obesity disproportionately affects African Americans and leads to several major co-morbidities. While guidelines recommend physicians identify obese patients and counsel them on weight management, little is known about how these efforts are received by patients. ⋯ Physicians must be cognizant of the potential unintended consequences of the techniques they use to educate and counsel African-American men and women on obesity, particularly those that may be perceived as negative and act to further alienate obese patients from seeking the care they need.
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Successful management of chronic pain with opioid medications requires balancing opioid dependence and addiction with pain relief and restoration of function. Evaluating these risks and benefits is difficult among patients with chronic pain and pre-existing addiction, and the ambiguity is increased for patients on methadone maintenance therapy for opioid dependence. Providers treating both chronic pain and addiction routinely make diagnostic and therapeutic decisions, but decision-making strategies in this context have not been well described. ⋯ Providers delivering integrated medical care and substance abuse treatment to patients in a methadone maintenance program found tremendous ambiguity in the management of chronic pain. Most providers adopted one of the two divergent heuristic frameworks we identified, which resulted in significant variations in pain management. To reduce variation and determine best practices, studies should examine clinically relevant endpoints, including pain, illicit drug use, prescription drug abuse, and functional status. Until then, providers managing chronic pain in patients with co-morbid addiction should attempt to reduce tension by acknowledging ambiguity and engaging in open discourse.
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The effects of smoking cessation on the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations.
Smoking cessation has been demonstrated to reduce the rate of loss of lung function and mortality among patients with mild to moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). There is a paucity of evidence about the effects of smoking cessation on the risk of COPD exacerbations. ⋯ Smoking cessation is associated with a reduced risk of COPD exacerbations, and the described reduction is dependent upon the duration of abstinence.
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Despite both parties often expressing dissatisfaction with consultations, patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) prefer to consult their general practitioners (GPs) rather than any other health professional. Training GPs to explain how symptoms can relate to psychosocial problems (reattribution) improves the quality of doctor-patient communication, though not necessarily patient health. ⋯ Improving GP explanation of unexplained symptoms is insufficient to reduce patients' concerns. GPs need to (1) help patients to make sense of the complex nature of their presenting problems, (2) communicate that attention to psychosocial factors will not preclude vigilance to physical disease and (3) ensure a quality of doctor-patient relationship in which patients can perceive psychosocial enquiry as appropriate.
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Comparative Study
The contribution of cancer incidence, stage at diagnosis and survival to racial differences in years of life expectancy.
African Americans have higher cancer mortality rates than whites. Understanding the relative contribution of cancer incidence, stage at diagnosis and survival after diagnosis to the racial gap in life expectancy has important implications for directing future health disparity interventions toward cancer prevention, screening and treatment. ⋯ In addition to breast and colorectal cancer screening, national efforts to reduce disparities in life expectancy should also target cancer prevention, perhaps through smoking cessation, and differences in survival after diagnosis among persons with breast and prostate cancer.