Annals of family medicine
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Annals of family medicine · Jan 2005
Women's perceptions of future risk after low-energy fractures at midlife.
Low-energy fractures experienced by women at midlife and beyond place them at increased risk of future fractures and may be early indicators of low bone density. We report here on women's postfracture narratives to provide insight into how family physicians might tailor their messages to patients in communicating risk. ⋯ Discovering whether patients have had an injury and, if so, how they perceive future risk is important because the invisibility of this health hazard calls for vigilance early on in women's lives. Family physicians can help patients move from perceiving the fractures as isolated accidents to understanding them as indicators of future risk by discussing the importance of bone health in the short and long term.
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Annals of family medicine · Jan 2005
Changes in age at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus in the United States, 1988 to 2000.
The prevalence of diabetes in the United States is increasing. There is also concern that diabetes may be occurring at a greater frequency in youth and in young adults. We describe US population trends in self-reported age at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. ⋯ The age at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus has decreased with time. This finding likely represents a combination of changing diagnostic criteria, improved physician recognition of diabetes, and increased public awareness. Younger age at diagnosis may also reflect a true population trend of earlier onset of type 2 diabetes.
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The risk of an injury increases exponentially with alcohol consumption on a given occasion, but the conclusion that alcohol-related injuries are attributable primarily to heavy drinking may or may not be correct. The prevention paradox states that a large number of people at small risk may contribute more cases of a particular condition than a smaller number of people who are individually at greater risk. We sought to determine the extent to which the prevention paradox applies in the relationship between alcohol consumption and injury. ⋯ Injury is associated more with an occasion of alcohol consumption than with alcohol dependence. A substantial proportion of the PAF that is due to an occasion of alcohol consumption is from what are usually considered low-risk quantities.
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Annals of family medicine · Jan 2005
The recognition of depression: the primary care clinician's perspective.
The purpose of this study was to explore the responses of primary care clinicians to patients who complain of symptoms that might indicate depression, to examine the clinical strategies used by clinicians to recognize depression, and to identify the conditions that influence their ability to do so. ⋯ The likelihood of accurately diagnosing depression and the timeliness of the diagnosis are highly influenced by the conditions within which clinicians practice. Productivity expectations in primary care will continue to undermine the identification and treatment of depression if they fail to take into consideration the factors that influence such care.
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To foster redesigning the work and workplaces of family physicians, this Future of Family Medicine task force was created to formulate and recommend a financial model that sustains and promotes a thriving New Model of care by focusing on practice reimbursement and health care finances. The goals of the task force were to develop a financial model that assesses the impact of the New Model on practice finances, and to recommend health care financial policies that, if implemented, would be expected to promote the New Model and the primary medical care function in the United States for the next few decades. ⋯ Family physicians could use New Model efficiency to increase compensation or to reduce work time. There are alternative reimbursement methodologies compatible with the New Model that would allow family physicians to share in the health care cost savings achieved as a result of effective and efficient delivery of care. The New Model of care should enhance health care while propelling the US system toward improved performance and results that are satisfying to patients, health care professionals, purchasers, and payers. The New Model needs to be implemented now. Given the recognized need for improvements in the US health care system in the areas of quality, safety, access and costs, there is no reason to delay.