The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Review Meta Analysis
Telehealthcare for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Cochrane Review and meta-analysis.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is common. Telehealthcare, involving personalised health care over a distance, is seen as having the potential to improve care for people with COPD. ⋯ In COPD, telehealthcare interventions can significantly reduce the risk of emergency department attendance and hospitalisation, but has little effect on the risk of death.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Reviewing long-term antidepressants can reduce drug burden: a prospective observational cohort study.
Antidepressant prescribing continues to rise. Contributing factors are increased long-term prescribing and possibly the use of higher selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) doses. ⋯ Almost half of all people prescribed antidepressants were long-term users. Appropriate reductions in prescribing can be achieved by reviewing patients. Higher SSRI doses may be contributing to current antidepressant growth.
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Management of pharyngitis is commonly based on features which are thought to be associated with Lancefield group A beta-haemolytic streptococci (GABHS) but it is debatable which features best predict GABHS. Non-group A strains share major virulence factors with group A, but it is unclear how commonly they present and whether their presentation differs. ⋯ Non-group A strains commonly cause streptococcal sore throats, and present with similar symptomatic clinical features to group A streptococci. The best features to predict streptococcal sore throat presenting in primary care deserve revisiting.