The American journal of medicine
-
Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have been marketed in the United States since 2010. While numerous large-scale prospective phase 3 outcomes studies have documented the effectiveness of DOACs for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, the primary safety concern with all of these drugs-as it is with the more established oral anticoagulant warfarin-is the risk of major bleeding. Postmarketing surveillance studies (PMSS) provide the opportunity to evaluate the safety of these recently approved drugs across a spectrum of patients that may be broader than those included in randomized controlled trials. This review will summarize the safety findings of numerous recently performed, large-scale PMSS evaluations, and consider the currently available evidence regarding the risks for bleeding in patients treated with DOACs, in order to give providers and patients additional evidence regarding the safety of DOACs.
-
Idarucizumab is a monoclonal antibody fragment specifically targeted to dabigatran. It has demonstrated prompt and durable reversal of the anticoagulant effects of dabigatran in animal studies and phase 1 studies of young, elderly, and renally impaired volunteers. Although elective invasive procedures and most bleeding complications in dabigatran-treated patients can be managed by temporarily stopping dabigatran therapy and using supportive measures, there are rare clinical situations that require urgent reversal of the anticoagulant effect of dabigatran. ⋯ Supported by these interim results, idarucizumab has been approved in the United States and the European Union for use when reversal of the anticoagulant effects of dabigatran is needed for emergency surgery/urgent procedures or in patients with life-threatening or uncontrolled bleeding. Clinical use of idarucizumab should follow the same processes as patient enrollment in this study, which is projected to be completed in 2016. The outcomes achieved with this specific reversal agent are likely to be of continued interest to treating physicians.
-
Hypertension accounts for approximately 1 in 5 deaths in American women and is the major contributor to many comorbid conditions. Although blood pressure lowering reduces cardiovascular disease outcomes, considerable uncertainty remains on best management in women. Specifically, female blood pressure treatment goals have not been established, particularly among older and African American and Hispanic women, for whom hypertension prevalence, related adverse outcomes, and poor control rates are high. ⋯ Although confirming that a lower blood pressure goal is generally better, because female enrollment and event rates were low and follow-up shortened, outcomes differences in women were not statistically significant. Thus optimal blood pressure goals for women have not been established with the highest evidence. This review addresses SPRINT's significance and key remaining knowledge gaps in optimal blood pressure management to improve women's health.
-
Based on a collaborative symposium in 2014 hosted by the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), this paper presents a model for physical activity counseling for primary care physicians (PCPs). Most US adults do not meet national recommendations for physical activity levels. ⋯ However, PCPs have reported socioecological barriers to physical activity counseling and also patient barriers to physical activity, spanning from the individual to the environmental (eg, lack of safe spaces for physical activity), policy (eg, reimbursement policies), and organizational (eg, electronic medical record protocols, worksite norms/policies) levels. The aims of this paper are to: 1) discuss barriers to PCP counseling for physical activity; 2) provide evidence-based strategies and techniques to help PCPs address these counseling barriers; and 3) suggest practical steps for PCPs to counsel patients on physical activity using strategies and supports from policy, the primary care team, and other support networks.
-
Low back and lower extremity pain are among the most common complaints encountered by physicians. Distinguishing pain due to primary extremity pathology versus lumbar radiculopathy can be challenging. ⋯ In patients in whom surgical intervention is being considered by a spine or arthroplasty surgeon, intra-articular or epidural steroid injections may help to reveal the underlying cause of pain via short-term symptomatic relief. Additionally, patients presenting with vague lower extremity pain after recent or distant joint arthroplasty should be considered for potential failure or infection of their implant before assuming the symptoms are coming from the lumbar spine.