JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Gabapentin for the symptomatic treatment of painful neuropathy in patients with diabetes mellitus: a randomized controlled trial.
Pain is the most disturbing symptom of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. As many as 45% of patients with diabetes mellitus develop peripheral neuropathies. ⋯ Gabapentin monotherapy appears to be efficacious for the treatment of pain and sleep interference associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy and exhibits positive effects on mood and quality of life.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Gabapentin for the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia: a randomized controlled trial.
Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a syndrome of often intractable neuropathic pain following herpes zoster (shingles) that eludes effective treatment in many patients. ⋯ Gabapentin is effective in the treatment of pain and sleep interference associated with PHN. Mood and quality of life also improve with gabapentin therapy.
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Hospitals that treat a relatively high volume of patients for selected surgical oncology procedures report lower surgical in-hospital mortality rates than hospitals with a low volume of the procedures, but the reports do not take into account length of stay or adjust for case mix. ⋯ These data support the hypothesis that when complex surgical oncologic procedures are provided by surgical teams in hospitals with specialty expertise, mortality rates are lower.
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Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a common and serious disease in the United States, but one third of those affected are unaware they have it. ⋯ Early diagnosis and treatment through opportunistic screening of type 2 diabetes may reduce the lifetime incidence of major microvascular complications and result in gains in both life-years and QALYs. Incremental increases in costs attributable to screening and earlier treatment are incurred but may well be in the range of acceptable cost-effectiveness for US health care systems, especially for younger adults and for some subpopulations (eg, minorities) who are at relatively high risk of developing the major complications of type 2 diabetes. Although current recommendations are that screening begin at age 45 years, these results suggest that screening is more cost-effective at younger ages. The selection of appropriate target populations for screening should consider factors in addition to the prevalence of diabetes.
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Although blacks receive lower doses of hemodialysis than whites, their survival when receiving dialysis treatment is better than that for whites. Previous studies of the relationship between the dose of dialysis and patient survival have not controlled for differences in patient characteristics. ⋯ Using URR, the usual measure of hemodialysis dose, the assumption that the association between dialysis dose and survival is uniform across demographic groups appears incorrect. Comparisons of the quality of dialysis patient care should not rely on URR alone to predict patient survival.