Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Feb 2021
ReviewSevere asthma assessment, management and the organisation of care in Australia and New Zealand: expert forum roundtable meetings.
Severe asthma imposes a significant burden on individuals, families and the healthcare system. Treatment is complex, due to disease heterogeneity, comorbidities and complexity in care pathways. New approaches and treatments improve health outcomes for people with severe asthma. ⋯ We recommend development of education and training activities, clinical resources and standards of care documents, increased stakeholder engagement and public awareness campaigns and improved access to infrastructure and funding. Further, we propose specific future research to inform clinical decision-making and develop novel therapies. A concerted effort is required from all stakeholders (including patients, healthcare professionals and organisations and government) to integrate new evidence-based practices into clinical care and to advance research to resolve questions relevant to improving outcomes for people with severe asthma.
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Internal medicine journal · Feb 2021
Impact of fast-food outlet density on incidence of myocardial infarction in the Hunter region.
There is an established association between fast-food consumption and metabolic diseases. Some studies also suggest that calorie-dense food promotes a proinflammatory response, which is itself linked with myocardial infarction (MI). Whether increased fast-food availability is a risk factor for MI remains unknown. ⋯ FFD was positively associated with incidence of MI in both rural and metropolitan areas of NSW. This relationship remained consistent after multivariate adjustment for standard cardiovascular risk factors, highlighting the importance of an individual's food environment as a potential contributor towards their health.
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Internal medicine journal · Feb 2021
Heterogeneity in patterns of progression of chronic kidney disease.
Progression of kidney disease is a deceptively simple word for a complex bio-clinical process, evidenced by the number of definitions in the literature. This has led to confusion and differences in interpretation of studies. ⋯ This is one of the first demonstrations of the great variations among and within individuals in the progression of CKD over even a period as short as 2 years. Findings suggest considerable potential for renal function recovery and stability while demonstrating the importance of using identical definitions for comparisons across datasets from different sources.