October 15, 2013

The aim of preconception care is to ensure the optimal health of women before pregnancy. Preconception care should be considered with every medical decision and treatment recommendation for women in their reproductive years, and includes providing family planning counseling…

Pertussis, or whooping cough, is an acute respiratory tract infection characterized by severe outbreaks of coughing that can produce significant complications. Both culture and polymerase chain reaction testing are used to confirm the diagnosis. First-line treatments include…

Ocular emergencies include retinal detachment, mechanical globe injury, and chemical burns. Family physicians should be familiar with the signs and symptoms associated with each condition and be able to perform a basic eye examination to assess the situation. The assessment…

When evaluating the returning traveler with fever, it is important to know which pretravel immunizations the patient received; which medications he or she took during travel; the likely pathogen exposures during travel; and the incubation interval between travel and onset of…

Recruitment Survey: Family Physicians Remain Top Choice Among Specialists | AAFP, Other Physician Groups Question Safeguards on Medicare Claims Data | More Medical Students Opt for Family Medicine | CDC Report Details Threat and Scope of Antibiotic-Resistant Microbes

Photo Quiz presents readers with a clinical challenge based on a photograph or other image.

When used with a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy, emtricitabine/tenofovir effectively prevents HIV-1 infection in high-risk patients. Adherence to daily dosing is important to maintain protection. The cost of therapy may limit access, and not all insurance companies…

For middle-aged or older adults with osteoarthritis and a meniscal tear, there seem to be no significant differences between arthroscopic surgery plus PT and PT alone. A subset of patients who do not respond well to PT alone will eventually have surgery, but if they cross over…

There appears to be no advantage to obtaining FIT more often than every three years.

In this retrospective analysis, chlorthalidone and HCTZ produced the same clinical outcomes in older adults. In general, chlorthalidone was more likely to be associated with hospitalization for hypokalemia and hyponatremia. When comparing equivalent doses, though, the rates of…

Guideline source: Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices

In patients who are presumed cured of organ-confined prostate cancer, what are the benefits of testosterone replacement therapy, and what is the risk of cancer recurrence?

Despite endorsement of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. (DSM-5) by the director of the National Institute of Mental Health and the president of the American Psychiatric Association,1 the largest psychiatric association in the world, the editor…

Most mental health treatment is provided in primary care, not by psychiatrists or in dedicated mental health services.1 Not surprisingly, most psychotropic drugs (87% of anxiolytics, 79% of antidepressants, 66% of stimulants, and 51% of antipsychotics) are prescribed by…