Dtsch Arztebl Int
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Cough is the most common complaint for which patients visit their primary care physician, being present in about 8% of consultations. A profusion of new evidence has made it necessary to produce a comprehensively updated version of the guideline on cough of the German College of General Practitioners and Family Physicians (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Allgemeinmedizin und Familienmedizin, DEGAM), which was last issued in 2008. ⋯ A specifically intended effect of these recommendations is to reduce the use of antibiotics to treat colds and acute bronchitis, for which they are not indicated. Further clinical trials of treatments for cough should be performed in order to extend the evidence base, which is now fragmentary.
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Preterm infants are at higher risk for developmental problems. The aim of this study is to quantify the relation between birth weight and special educational needs. ⋯ The risk of special educational needs increases already with moderately decreased birth weight. The most important factor other than birth weight is the family's social status. Although children of very low birth weight have a much higher rate of special educational needs than other children, they still make up only a small percentage of all children with special educational needs.
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Effective health promotion in the workplace is now essential because of the rising health-related costs for businesses, the increasing pressure arising from international competition, prolonged working lives, and the aging of the work force. The basic problem of prevention campaigns is that the target groups are too rarely reached and sustainable benefits too rarely achieved. In 2011, we carried out a broad-based health and fitness campaign to assess how many personnel could be motivated to participate in a model study under nearly ideal conditions. ⋯ Even under optimal conditions and with high use of staff resources, this model study (which cannot be universally implemented) did not lead to comprehensive and sustained personnel participation. This finding suggests that the currently available prevention instruments are insufficient for the effective and cost-efficient promotion of health and fitness in the workplace.
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Acne is the most common skin disease in adolescence, with a prevalence of nearly 100%. About 60% of affected adolescents have mild acne for which they use non-prescription preparations without consulting a physician. The remaining 40% constitute the population of acne patients seen in medical practice. The course of acne can be either acute or chronic; its manifestations can appear in waves, sometimes with dramatically severe inflammation leading rapidly to scarring. Acne often has adverse emotional consequences. Its treatment is markedly better than in the past because of new pharmacological and physicochemical approaches and because evidence-based guidelines are now available. ⋯ A variety of effective treatments for acne are available, depending on the severity of the condition.
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Theophylline is often used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Current evidence leaves the effectiveness and safety of this drug open to question. Thus, we evaluated the effectiveness of theophylline on the rate of hospitalizations and disease exacerbations by examining routine data from the ambulatory disease management program for COPD in the German state of Bavaria. ⋯ Treatment with theophylline is associated with an elevated incidence of exacerbations and hospitalizations. The therapeutic value of this drug should be reconsidered and investigated in further studies.