The American journal of the medical sciences
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Editorial Historical Article
2024 SSCI Founders' Medal Presentation and acceptance: Dr. Don Rockey.
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Review
The Role of Blood Testing in Prevention, Diagnosis, and Management of Chronic Diseases: A Review.
Blood tests are vital to prevention, diagnosis, and management of chronic diseases. Despite this, it can be challenging to construct a comprehensive view of the clinical importance of blood testing because relevant literature is typically fragmented across different disease areas and patient populations. ⋯ Thus, this review article synthesizes the recommendations for, and importance of, blood testing across several common chronic conditions encountered in primary care and internal medicine, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, vitamin D deficiency, iron deficiency, and rheumatoid arthritis. Future research is needed to continue improving chronic disease management through clearer dissemination and awareness of clinical guidelines among providers, and better access to blood testing for patients (e.g., via pre-visit laboratory testing).
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Patients with prior COVID-19 infections often develop chronic post-COVID symptoms, such as fatigue and dyspnea. Some patients have residual pulmonary disorders with abnormal pulmonary function tests and/or chest radiographs to explain their dyspnea. However, other patients appear to have dyspnea that is out of proportion to any measurable change in lung function. ⋯ Consequently, their control of breathing is impaired, and this may represent residual effects from prior COVID-19 infection involving the central nervous system. Alternatively, patients may have acquired "a memory" of respiratory symptoms during their infection which persists post-infection. These patients should participate in pulmonary rehabilitation and breathing retraining.