Atencion primaria
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Vaccines constitute one of the main foundations of the public health system, improving the quality and life expectancy of people. The vaccination calendar must be extended to the whole life of a person and in recent years the vaccination of the adult has become more complex and requires a greater knowledge of it. ⋯ It is important to know the recommendations on vaccination for reasons of age, underlying pathology, work circumstances or any other factor that may endanger health and be preventable by vaccination and at the same time have clear criteria of what should not be done in this countryside. An excess in vaccination can pose a risk to the health of the patient and a waste of resources.
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Cardiovascular risk factors, specifically arterial hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes, represent a very important part in relation to the emerging problem of overdiagnosis and overtreatment in primary health care. The reasons that support this threat are diverse. ⋯ These recommendations have also been modified in recent years by virtue of professional consensus, with great potential for overtreatment and risk of undesirable effects on health. Therefore, it is essential to adequately evaluate the diagnostic criteria, inform of existing doubts and insist on the importance of changes in healthy habits such as diet and physical exercise, as well as actively reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of pharmacological treatment.
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In dementia, specific drugs and psychotropic drugs used for psychotic and behavioral symptoms have limited efficacy. Adverse effects may be important given the age and comorbidity of the patients. It is necessary, frequently, its withdrawal, planned together with the family, monitoring the response and offering non-pharmacological treatment alternatives. ⋯ The treatment is multidisciplinary, establishing realistic objectives, individualizing it, starting with lower doses of drugs and continuously reevaluating to control side effects and to get the correct level of analgesia. The prevalence of atrial fibrillation increases with age and is underdiagnosed. ACO is recommended with dicoumarin or direct oral anticoagulants not antagonists of vitamin K, in patients with AF older than 65 years unless contraindicated, to reduce embolic risk, confirming subgroup analyzes similar efficacy in prevention of stroke.
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This paper presents some concepts about overdiagnosis and its consequences: overtreatment and the medicalization of the society. It recalls the origin of the term, that comes from the screening and diagnosis of cancer, and it reviews the strategies to overdiagnose. ⋯ It shows some strategies to confront overdiagnosis at the time of medical consultation, including the management of uncertainty and the shared decision making through the right interpretation of the diagnosis results and treatment estimators. Finally, it shows the minimally disruptive medicine as the best strategy to face the disease burden induced by the overtreatment in patients suffering from multimorbidity.
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Overdiagnosis of cancer is the detection of asymptomatic cancers that do not grow or they are growing with such slowness, that they would never have caused medical problems in the patient during the course of their life. Often they are tumours that are detected through population screenings but also in the clinical context due to incidental findings from image tests with advanced technology. ⋯ For that reason, the diagnosis of these tumours is an important cause of over-treatment, which can include serious risks and toxicity. Although overdiagnosis can occur in any disease, it is more relevant in the case of cancer.