June 15, 2018

The geriatric assessment evaluates medical, social, and environmental factors that influence overall well-being in older patients. Assessments should be tailored to the individual's goals of care and life expectancy, and should target patients who can most benefit. A…

Recurrent abdominal pain in children is episodes of pain, occurring over at least three months, that affect the child's ability to perform normal activities. Although it is most often considered functional or nonorganic, organic causes are sometimes found. Further workup is…

Because prostate cancer is often slow-growing, with only one in 39 men dying from the disease, and treatment can cause adverse effects, some patients may choose active surveillance over curative treatment. Curative treatment options include radiation therapy and surgery. Each…

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This editorial updates and adds to previous reports on statistics for American Family Physician (AFP),1,2 including our print circulation, website visits, social media engagement, AFP Community Blog views, podcast downloads, video views, social media followers, continuing…

Oxymetazoline cream has been shown to be safe and effective at reducing erythema in a small portion of treated patients, but research showing its effectiveness relative to other options is lacking.

Standard management of acute PE includes five days of inpatient treatment with parenteral anticoagulation, followed by long-term oral anticoagulation as an outpatient. However, guidelines from the American College of Chest Physicians state that early discharge before five days…

A 61-year-old woman presents to your office for a well-woman examination. She had a normal Papanicolaou (Pap) test last year and has no medical problems. She quit smoking 10 years ago, reports a family history significant only for cardiovascular disease, and is sexually active…

A man presented in late fall with a progressive rash on his hands, arms, back, chest, and feet after a hiking trip.

FIT is more sensitive and specific than the older guaiac-based fecal occult blood tests (gFOBTs) when screening for colorectal cancer. We now know that it is also more acceptable to patients and increases uptake in a centrally administered screening program.

Injectable extended-release naltrexone administered every four weeks is similar in efficacy to daily oral buprenorphine/naloxone for the treatment of opioid use disorder. Patients using extended-release naltrexone reported higher satisfaction with treatment and were more likely…

If nondrug measures are unsuccessful for chronic idiopathic constipation, the choice of a pharmacologic agent should be based on cost, tolerability, and long-term adherence rather than efficacy, because the efficacy is similar among drugs and drug classes.

The BMJ Rapid Recommendations team, a collaboration between BMJ and the MAGIC group, issued a weak recommendation to give a single dose of oral corticosteroids to most patients with acute sore throat.

This meta-analysis concludes that the risk of a prolonged course of antibiotics was twice as high for children younger than two years with bilateral acute otitis media than for children two years and older with unilateral acute otitis media, indicating that antibiotics might be…

The USPSTF recommends against screening for ovarian cancer in asymptomatic women.

Corticosteroid injections are no better than thumb spica orthoses for decreasing pain in patients with de Quervain tenosynovitis. When combined with orthoses, corticosteroid injections and acupuncture are equally effective for improving function and decreasing pain.

Prostate cancer is usually found early in the disease, when it can be cured. Some men have more aggressive (or faster-spreading) cancer. In these men, treatment can be lifesaving. However, treatment can also cause side effects, like urinary, sexual, and bowel problems.