Tue, August 15 – 10 Stories of The Day!

1 – Eliminating Creatine Kinase–Myocardial Band Testing in Suspected Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Value-Based Quality Improvement – JAMA Internal Medicine (free) (RT @EricTopol see Tweet)

Author interview: Eliminating Creatine Kinase–Myocardial Band Testing in Suspected ACS (free)

Commentaries: Eliminating CK-MB Testing in Suspected ACS – American College of Cardiology, Latest in Cardiology (free) AND Research review recommends eliminating widely ordered blood test for diagnosing heart attacks – Johns Hopkins Medicine, via Science Daily (free)

“Review is first publication from national consortium of academic medical centers working to eliminate unnecessary medical tests, treatments and procedures” (from Science Daily)

2 – Associations Between Midlife Vascular Risk Factors and 25-Year Incident Dementia in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Cohort – JAMA Neurology (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Commentaries: Midlife cardiovascular risk factors may increase chances of dementia – NIH News Releases (free) AND Midlife smoking, diabetes, and hypertension associated with late life dementia – 2 Minute Medicine (free) AND Heart-healthy middle age tied to lower risk of dementia – Medical News Today (free) AND Heart disease risk in middle age tied to dementia later – Reuters (free)

3 – Day-to-Day Blood Pressure Variability and Risk of Dementia in a General Japanese Elderly Population: The Hisayama Study – Circulation (free)

Commentaries: Fluctuations in home-monitored blood pressure may raise dementia risk – Circulation Journal Report (free) AND Fluctuations in Blood Pressure Linked to Vascular Dementia – MedPage Today (free registration required) AND Fluctuating Home Blood Pressure Linked to Dementia – Medscape (free registration required) AND Blood pressure fluctuations linked to dementia – Reuters (free)

4 – Self-management interventions including action plans for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) – Cochrane Library (free)

Full review: Self-management interventions including action plans for exacerbations versus usual care in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (link to summary – $ for full-text)

Related: Asthma self-management programmes can reduce unscheduled care – NIHR Signal (free)

Self-management interventions that include a COPD exacerbation action plan are associated with improvements in health-related quality of life and lower probability of respiratory-related hospital admissions.

5 – Delayed breastfeeding initiation and infant survival: A systematic review and meta-analysis – PLOS One (free)

This systematic review and meta-analysis mostly of observational studies suggests early breastfeeding initiation is associated with increased survival. The authors acknowledge that there are many reasons for delayed breastfeeding initiation that may confound the relationship between breastfeeding initiation and mortality, but remember that randomized trials would not be considered ethical, so we must rely on high quality observational data. Based on their analysis, the authors suggest the implementation of programs that emphasize the importance of early initiation of breastfeeding, in addition to promoting exclusive breastfeeding.

6 – State of the Art Review: Advances in the diagnosis and management of neck pain – The BMJ (free)

Related guideline: Neck Pain: Revision 2017 – Clinical Practice Guidelines Linked to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health from the Orthopaedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association (free)

7 – Neurologic Complications Associated With the Zika Virus in Brazilian Adults – JAMA Neurology (free)

Editorial: The Expanding Spectrum of Zika Virus Infections of the Nervous System (free)

Commentary: Brazilian study sheds new light on Zika neuro complications in adults – CIDRAP (free)

8 – Richard Lehman’s journal review, 14 August 2017 – The BMJ Blogs (free)

Richard Lehman reviews the latest research in the top medical journals.

9 – New, Occasional, and Frequent Use of Zolpidem or Zopiclone (Alone and in Combination) and the Risk of Injurious Road Traffic Crashes in Older Adult Drivers: A Population-Based Case–Control and Case-Crossover Study – CNS Drugs (free)

“Car crashes in older adult drivers: Zolpidem (aOR 2.27) > zolpidem + zopiclone combo (aOR 2.20)” (RT @psychopharmacol see Tweet)

10 – Risk of Stroke With Various Types of Menopausal Hormone Therapies: A National Cohort Study – Stroke (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Source: EvidenceAlerts

This large cohort confirms an increased stroke risk with oral hormone therapies, but suggests no increased risk of stroke with transdermal or vaginal estrogen application.