The American journal of medicine
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Several online calculators estimate colorectal cancer risk, but their consistency is unknown. Our objectives were to quantify the variation in predicted risk and to determine which calculators are best used in the clinical setting. ⋯ Online colorectal cancer risk models are more consistent in predicting colorectal cancer risk for 5- and 10-year time frames compared with lifetime. For a US population, the National Cancer Institute's Colorectal Cancer Risk Assessment Tool is a rigorously developed calculator that can be used in the clinical setting to provide 5-year and lifetime risk estimates.
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Individual attitudes and behavior related to health and disease are major components of clinical encounters. These factors shape lifestyle, presentation of symptoms, access to patient care, interactions between patients and physicians, adherence to medical advice, and response to treatment. Health attitudes and behavior may range from anxiety and worry about illness to various forms of denial, such as delay of seeking care and lack of adherence to treatment. ⋯ Devising appropriate responses by health care providers may contribute to improving final outcomes and decrease health care costs. In particular, health behavior is likely to play a major role in the process of convalescence, in self-management of chronic conditions, in determining a state of recovery, and whenever a rehabilitation process is involved. Understanding the spectrum of health attitudes and behavior is also crucial for motivating people to make beneficial changes (lifestyle medicine), as well as for implementing safety procedures in the community.
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Obesity is associated with a high risk of heart failure. However, the contribution of regional fat distribution evaluated using bioimpedance analysis toward heart failure risk in the general population without cardiovascular disease has rarely been studied. ⋯ Regional fat measurement other than BMI can improve heart failure risk stratification; leg fat plays a protective role, yet arm and trunk fat do not, in the general population without cardiovascular disease.