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“First-line low-dose thiazides reduced all morbidity and mortality outcomes in adult patients with moderate to severe primary hypertension. First-line ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers may be similarly effective, but the evidence was of lower quality”.

Systematic Review: Transradial vs Transfemoral Approach for Coronary Angiography

20 Apr, 2018 | 01:33h | UTC

Transradial versus transfemoral approach for diagnostic coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention in people with coronary artery disease – Cochrane Library (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Summary: Radial artery versus femoral artery approach for performing coronary catheter procedures in people with coronary artery disease – Cochrane Library (free)

“Transradial approach for diagnostic coronary angiography or PCI (or both) in CAD may reduce short-term net adverse clinical events, cardiac death, all-cause mortality, bleeding, and access site complications”.

Meta-analysis: “Artificial Pancreas” Treatment for Outpatients with Type 1 Diabetes

20 Apr, 2018 | 01:35h | UTC

Artificial pancreas treatment for outpatients with type 1 diabetes: systematic review and meta-analysis – The BMJ (free)

Editorial: Closed loop systems in type 1 diabetes (free for a limited period)

Meta-Analysis: Baseline LDL Level and Total and Cardiovascular Mortality After LDL Lowering

20 Apr, 2018 | 01:31h | UTC

Association Between Baseline LDL-C Level and Total and Cardiovascular Mortality After LDL-C Lowering: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis – JAMA (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Commentaries: Patients With Highest LDL Levels Benefit Most From Lipid-Lowering Drugs – MedicalResearch.com (free) AND New Study Finds that Statins Prevent Cardiovascular Deaths – Science Based Medicine (free) AND Meta-Analysis: ‘Floor’ for Lipid-Lowering Mortality Benefits May Be Real – MedPage Today (free registration required)

“In meta-analyses of LDL-C lowering drug trials, we found that total and cardiovascular mortality were reduced only when the mean baseline LDL-C in the trial was >100 mg/dl” (from MedicalResearch.com)

Parenting of the future: Many embryos, each with DNA profile

20 Apr, 2018 | 00:57h | UTC

Parenting of the future: Many embryos, each with DNA profile – Associated Press (free)

Medication Errors 2018: The Year in Review

20 Apr, 2018 | 00:56h | UTC

Medication Errors 2018: The Year in Review – Pharmacy Practice News (free)

BTS Quality Standards for Acute Non-invasive Ventilation in Adults

20 Apr, 2018 | 01:32h | UTC

British Thoracic Society Quality Standards for acute non-invasive ventilation in adults – BMJ Open Respiratory Research (free)

Source: Critical Care Reviews Newsletter

Cohort Study: Racial/Ethnic Variation and Risk Factors for Allopurinol-Associated Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reactions

20 Apr, 2018 | 00:52h | UTC

Racial/ethnic variation and risk factors for allopurinol-associated severe cutaneous adverse reactions: a cohort study – Annals of Rheumatic Diseases (free)

Commentaries: Ethnicity Matters in Allopurinol Reactions – MedPage Today (free registration required) AND Allopurinol: Extra Caution Urged in High-Risk Groups – Medscape (free registration required)

Systematic Review: Lorazepam Confirmed as First-line Treatment for Prolonged Seizures in Children

20 Apr, 2018 | 00:55h | UTC

Lorazepam confirmed as first-line treatment for stopping prolonged seizures in children – NIHR Signal (free)

Original article: Drug management for acute tonic-clonic convulsions including convulsive status epilepticus in children – Cochrane Library (free)

Review: Rotavirus Infection

20 Apr, 2018 | 00:55h | UTC

Rotavirus infection – Nature Reviews Disease Primers (free)

Research: Estimation of The Percentage of Patients With Cancer Who Benefit From Genome-Driven Oncology

20 Apr, 2018 | 00:54h | UTC

Estimation of The Percentage of US Patients With Cancer Who Benefit From Genome-Driven Oncology – JAMA Oncology (free for a limited period)

Review: Analgesic Medications Used in the Management of Acute Dental Pain

20 Apr, 2018 | 00:49h | UTC

Benefits and harms associated with analgesic medications used in the management of acute dental pain: An overview of systematic reviews – The Journal of the American Dental Association (free)

Commentaries: Study: Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen More Effective Than Opioids in Treating Dental Pain – Case Western Reserve University, via NewsWise (free) AND NSAIDs and Acetaminophen Preferred Over Opioids for Dental Pain – RheumNow (free)

Research: ECMO versus Prone Position in ARDS

20 Apr, 2018 | 00:51h | UTC

Unproven and Expensive before Proven and Cheap: Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation versus Prone Position in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome – American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Commentary: Few patients with ARDS in ECMO trials undergo prone positioning, though it saves lives – Univadis (free registration required)

High Pevalence Rate of Digestive Tract Bacteria in Duodenoscopes: A Nationwide Study

20 Apr, 2018 | 00:48h | UTC

High prevalence rate of digestive tract bacteria in duodenoscopes: a nationwide study -Endoscopy (free)

Commentary: Cleaned endoscopes often contaminated – Reuters (free)

Fri, April 20 – 10 Stories of The Day!

20 Apr, 2018 | 00:30h | UTC

1 – The “Top 12” Recommendations That Are Reducing Overuse – Choosing Wisely (free) (via @kennylinafp)

Learn more on the Choosing Wisely Initiative and see other lists of low-value practices in Choosing Wisely U.S. / Choosing Wisely UK / Choosing Wisely Australia AND Choosing Wisely Canada

2 – Choosing Wisely Campaigns: A Work in Progress – JAMA (free for a limited period) (via @ChooseWiselyCA see Tweet)

3 – Association of Repeated Measurements With Blood Pressure Control in Primary Care – JAMA Internal Medicine (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Commentaries: Repeat BP Measurements in the Office Are Key, Study Highlights – TCTMD (free) AND Should Blood Pressure Measurement Be Repeated During Primary Care Visit? – MedicalResearch.com (free) AND Second BP Measurement Often Brings Better News – MedPage Today (free registration required) AND Repeated BP Measures Linked to Drop in Initially Elevated BP – Physician’s Weekly (free)

4 – Prospective International Randomized Phase II Study of Low-Dose Abiraterone With Food Versus Standard Dose Abiraterone In Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer – Journal of Clinical Oncology (free)

Commentaries: Taking a Standard Prostate Cancer Drug with Food Boosts Impact, Lowers Cost – University of Chicago Medical Center, via NewsWise (free) AND Low-Dose Prostate Drug Can Match Standard Dose, Cut Costs – Medscape (free registration required)

Related: Tackling the High Cost of Cancer Care (free commentaries issued when this paper was first presented at the 2017 ASCO annual meeting)

“Savings per patient could reach as high as $300,000” (from NewsWise)

5 – Cancer treatment in the last 6 months of life: when inaction can outperform action – eCancer Medical Science (free)

6 – Debate on systematic reviews and meta-analyses: (via @trished)

Viewpoint 1: Are systematic reviews and meta-analyses still useful research? We are not sure – Intensive Care Medicine (free)

Viewpoint 2: Are systematic reviews and meta-analyses still useful research? Yes (free)

News Release: New Recommended Standard Care for People with Suicide Risk Aims to Fundamentally Improve Suicide Care Delivered Nationwide (free PDF)

Commentary: First-Ever Suicide Prevention Recommendations Released – Medscape (free registration required)

8 – Report: Multimorbidity: a priority for global health research – The Academy of Medical Sciences (free) (via @equitylist)

News Release: Global burden of multiple serious illnesses must be urgently addressed (free)

Commentaries: Burden of patients with multiple diseases could sink health systems around the world, warn medical experts – Independent (free) AND People with multiple health conditions get raw deal, says report – OnMedica (free)

See also: related articles on the Caring for High-Need, High-Cost Patients (free reports, articles and commentaries)

9 – Association of Cannabis With Cognitive Functioning in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis – JAMA Psychiatry (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Commentaries: Marijuana’s effects on young brains diminish 72 hours after use, research says – CNN (free) AND ‘Poorer Cognitive Functioning’ of Marijuana Users Detailed in New Study – Inverse (free)

10 – British HIV Association Standards of care for people living with HIV 2018 (free)

Commentary: New care standards for HIV aim to boost quality despite funding pressures – OnMedica (free)

Wed, April 18 – 10 Stories of The Day!

18 Apr, 2018 | 01:28h | UTC

1 – Interventions to Prevent Falls in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement – JAMA (free)

Editorials: Preventing Fractures and Falls: A Limited Role for Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements? (free) AND New Prevention Guidelines for Falls and Fractures—Looking Beyond the Letters (free)

Author Interview: USPSTF Recommendation: Calcium and Vitamin D to Prevent Fractures and Interventions to Prevent Falls in Community-Dwelling Adults (free)

Commentaries: Exercise, not vitamins, urged to prevent falls in seniors – MedicalXpress (free) AND Older adults may not need vitamin D to prevent falls and fractures – Reuters (free)

“Many older adults should avoid taking vitamin D and calcium supplements to prevent falls and fractures, and focus instead on exercises to improve balance and coordination, U.S. doctors recommend” (from Reuters)

2 – Association Between Use of Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitors, Glucagon-like Peptide 1 Agonists, and Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4 Inhibitors With All-Cause Mortality in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes – JAMA (free)

Multimedia (2 minute video): Association Between Newer Antidiabetic Drug Classes and Mortality in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes (free)

Commentary: Diabetes drug may not reduce risk of death – Imperial College London (free)

3 – State of Global Air 2018 (free report and interactive website)

Commentaries: Over 7 Billion People Face Unsafe Air: State of Global Air 2018 – Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (free) AND More than 95% of world’s population breathe dangerous air, major study finds – The Guardian (free) AND More than 95% of world’s population breathing unhealthy air, says new report – CNN (free)

4 – Opinion: The Case Against Thrombolytic Therapy in Stroke – By John Mandrola, in Medscape (free registration required)

Related: For Many Strokes, There’s an Effective Treatment. Why Aren’t Some Doctors Offering It? – The New York Times (10 articles per month are free)

5 – Incremental Benefits and Harms of the 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association High Blood Pressure Guideline – JAMA Internal Medicine (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Commentaries: New blood pressure guidelines may make millions anxious that they’re at risk of heart disease – The Conversation (free) AND New blood pressure guidelines could put lives at risk – The University of Sydney (free)

6 – Nut consumption and incidence of seven cardiovascular diseases – Heart (free)

Commentary: Nuts May Be Good for the Heart, but Are Hardly a Miracle Food – The New York Times (10 articles per month are free)

7 – Clinical Guideline Synopsis: Management of Ventricular Arrhythmias and Sudden Cardiac Death Risk Related to Ischemic and Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy – JAMA (free for a limited period)

Original Guideline: 2017 AHA/ACC/HRS Guideline for Management of Patients With Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death – Circulation (free PDF)

8 – Exercise interventions and patient beliefs for people with hip, knee or hip and knee osteoarthritis: a mixed methods review – Cochrane Library (free)

9 – Smoking even one cigarette a day raises risk for coronary heart disease – The Washington Post (a few articles per month are free) (via @DrFrieden see Tweet)

See original article: Meta-Analysis: Just One Cigarette a Day Seriously Elevates Cardiovascular Risk (free article and commentaries)

10 – Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Emergency Department Visits Associated With Wildfire Smoke Exposure in California in 2015 – Journal of the American Heart Association (free for a limited period)

Commentaries: Air quality linked to cardiac ‘events,’ heart disease patients unaware – Reuters (free) AND Wildfire smoke associated with more ER visits for heart, stroke ailments among seniors – American Heart Association, via ScienceDaily (free)

Thu, April 19 – 10 Stories of The Day!

19 Apr, 2018 | 01:40h | UTC

1 – Relationship between Clinic and Ambulatory Blood-Pressure Measurements and Mortality – New England Journal of Medicine (free)

Editorial: The Value in an Ambulatory Blood-Pressure Registry (free)

Commentaries: Value of Ambulatory BP Monitoring Bolstered by Large Study – TCTMD (free) AND 24-hour ambulatory BP measurements strongly predict mortality – The Hospitalist (free) AND Expert reaction to study looking at blood pressure measurement method and predicting risk of heart disease – Science Media Centre (free)

2 – Gene Therapy in Patients with Transfusion-Dependent β-Thalassemia – New England Journal of Medicine (free)

Editorial: Gene Therapy as a Curative Option for β-Thalassemia (free)

Quick Take Video Summary: LentiGlobin Gene Therapy for β-Thalassemia (free)

Commentaries: Gene therapy could free some people from a lifetime of blood transfusions – MIT Technology Review (free) AND Gene Therapy For Inherited Blood Disorder Reduced Transfusions – NPR (free) AND Expert reaction to study on gene therapy for beta-thalassaemia – Science Media Centre (free)

3 – A randomized trial of normothermic preservation in liver transplantation – Nature (free PDF for a limited period)

Commentaries: Room temperature liver storage technique improves transplant success – University of Oxford (free) AND Keeping livers ‘alive’ boosts transplant success, trial finds – BBC (free) AND A ‘breakthrough in organ preservation’: Study shows keeping livers warm helps preserve them for transplant – STAT (free)

4 – Viewpoint: Another Nail in the Coffin for Fish Oil Supplements – JAMA (free for a limited period)

5 – Time to challenge the spurious hierarchy of systematic over narrative reviews? – European Journal of Clinical Investigation (free) (via @kennylinafp and @Abraham_RMI)

6 – Artificial pancreas treatment for outpatients with type 1 diabetes: systematic review and meta-analysis – The BMJ (free)

Editorial: Closed loop systems in type 1 diabetes (free for a limited period)

7 – First-line drugs for hypertension – Cochrane Library (free)

Summary: Thiazides best first choice for hypertension – Cochrane Library (free)

“First-line low-dose thiazides reduced all morbidity and mortality outcomes in adult patients with moderate to severe primary hypertension. First-line ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers may be similarly effective, but the evidence was of lower quality”.

8 – Transradial versus transfemoral approach for diagnostic coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention in people with coronary artery disease – Cochrane Library (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Summary: Radial artery versus femoral artery approach for performing coronary catheter procedures in people with coronary artery disease – Cochrane Library (free)

9 – British Thoracic Society Quality Standards for acute non-invasive ventilation in adults – BMJ Open Respiratory Research (free)

Source: Critical Care Reviews Newsletter

10 – Association Between Baseline LDL-C Level and Total and Cardiovascular Mortality After LDL-C Lowering: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis – JAMA (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Commentaries: Patients With Highest LDL Levels Benefit Most From Lipid-Lowering Drugs – MedicalResearch.com (free) AND New Study Finds that Statins Prevent Cardiovascular Deaths – Science Based Medicine (free) AND Meta-Analysis: ‘Floor’ for Lipid-Lowering Mortality Benefits May Be Real – MedPage Today (free registration required)