Clinical Care & Research

(05/07/2008)  --  Evidence from the U.S. Public Health Service's 2008 update of the Clinical Practice Guideline: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence indicates that both counseling and medication for tobacco dependence in adults are effective, especially when combined. Moreover, suggests the AAFP-endorsed guideline update, health systems, insurers and purchasers should help clinicians make such treatments available. (Discuss this story on the AAFP News Now bulletin board.) More

(04/30/2008)  --  Beginning this month, the only oral agent recommended by the CDC for treatment of uncomplicated urogenital or rectal gonococcal infection is again readily available in the United States. According to a notice in the April 25 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Baltimore-based Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc. has begun manufacturing cefixime 400-mg tablets for distribution in the United States. More

(04/22/2008)  --  The AAFP National Research Network, or NRN, is renewing its call for participants for its Patient Sleep Problems and Alcohol Consumption Study. To date, the study has enrolled more than 70 clinicians and 1,200 patients. Researchers on the project are hoping to enroll a total of 100 clinicians by May 2008. More

(04/16/2008)  --  FDA officials recently gave the nod to a second live, oral vaccine designed to protect infants and young children from rotavirus gastroenteritis caused by the G1, G3, G4 and G9 viral strains. Rotarix, which is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, is a liquid that is given as a two-dose series to infants between ages 6 and 24 weeks. More

(04/02/2008)  --  It's a familiar scenario to most family physicians: A patient presents with symptoms of rhinosinusitis, but there is no way to know from that presentation whether the infection is viral or bacterial. Recently published guidelines on prescribing antibiotics for this condition are more stringent than those presented in the past, but many physicians continue to prescribe these antimicrobials in the absence of definitive evidence of the infection's etiology. More

(04/02/2008)  --  The AAFP, together with the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, recently moved one step closer to realizing a joint goal of universal immunization against seasonal influenza. On March 13, AAFP Board Chair Rick Kellerman, M.D., of Wichita, Kan., gave an official thumbs-up to a recommendation from the three groups that calls for expanding annual influenza immunizations to include all children ages 6 months to 18 years beginning no later than the 2009-2010 influenza season. More

(04/02/2008)  --  Primary care physicians, like all health care professionals, are encouraged to deliver patient-centered services that respond to what patients want and need. But what attributes do patients value most in primary care consultations? Researchers in the United Kingdom's National Primary Care Research and Development Centre at the University of Manchester and University of York explored that question in a study reported on in the March/April Annals of Family Medicine. More