The website you should look at if you take a drug

http://www.thennt.com/

In Summary, for those who took the statin for 5 years:

As %

Benefits in Percentage

• 96% saw no benefit
• 1.2% were helped by being saved from death
• 2.6% were helped by preventing a repeat heart attack
• 0.8% were helped by preventing a stroke

Harms in Percentage

• 2% were harmed by developing diabetes**
• 10% were harmed by muscle damage

*The development of diabetes is one such unanticipated harm found in a recent large study and it seems likely therefore that this applies to the data above, although this is a best guess.

As NNT 

Benefits in NNT

• 1 in 83 were helped (life saved)
• 1 in 39 were helped (preventing non-fatal heart attack)
• 1 in 125 were helped (preventing stroke)

Harms in NNT

• 1 in 50 were harmed (develop diabetes*)
• 1 in 10 were harmed (muscle damage)

Functional CT as PET scans reduces the burden of unnecessary surgery in lung cancer

Preoperative PET and the Reduction of Unnecessary Surgery Among Newly Diagnosed Lung Cancer Patients in a Community Setting

1. Steven B. Zeliadt1,2, 
2. Elizabeth T. Loggers3,4,
3. Christopher G. Slatore5,6, 
4. David H. Au1,7,8, 
5. Paul L. Hebert1,2,
6. Gregory J. Klein2, 
7. Larry G. Kessler2 and 
8. Leah M. Backhus9,10

-Author Affiliations

1. 1Health Services Research and Development, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Seattle, Washington
2. 2Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
3. 3Group Health Research Institute, Seattle, Washington
4. 4Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington
5. 5Pulmonary and Critical Care Section, and Health Services Research and Development, Portland VA Medical Center, Portland, Oregon
6. 6Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon
7. 7Pulmonary and Critical Care Service, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington
8. 8University of Washington, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Seattle, Washington
9. 9Surgery Service, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington; and
10. 10University of Washington, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Seattle, Washington

1. For correspondence or reprints contact: Steven B. Zeliadt, Health Services Research and Development, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 1660 S. Columbian Way, Seattle, WA 98108. E-mail: steven.zeliadt@va.gov

Abstract

The goals of this study were to examine the real-world effectiveness of PET in avoiding unnecessary surgery for newly diagnosed patients with non–small cell lung cancer. Methods: A cohort of 2,977 veterans with non–small cell lung cancer between 1997 and 2009 were assessed for use of PET during staging and treatment planning. The subgroup of 976 patients who underwent resection was assessed for several outcomes, including pathologic evidence of mediastinal lymph node involvement, distant metastasis, and 12-mo mortality. We anticipated that PET may have been performed selectively on the basis of unobserved characteristics (e.g., providers ordered PET when they suspected disseminated disease). Therefore, we conducted an instrumental variable analysis, in addition to conventional multivariate logistic regression, to reduce the influence of this potential bias. This type of analysis attempts to identify an additional variable that is related to receipt of treatment but not causally associated with the outcome of interest, similar to randomized assignment. The instrument here was calendar time. This analysis can be informative when patients do not receive the treatment that the instrument suggests they “should” have received. Results: Overall, 30.3% of patients who went to surgery were found to have evidence of metastasis uncovered during the procedure or within 12 mo, indicating that nearly one third of patients underwent surgery unnecessarily. The use of preoperative PET increased substantially over the study period, from 9% to 91%. In conventional multivariate analyses, PET use was not associated with a decrease in unnecessary surgery (odds ratio, 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.66–1.16; P = 0.351). However, a reduction in unnecessary surgery (odds ratio, 0.53; 95% confidence interval, 0.34–0.82; P = 0.004) was identified in the instrumental variable analyses, which attempted to account for potentially unobserved confounding. Conclusion: PET has now become routine in preoperative staging and treatment planning in the community and appears to be beneficial in avoiding unnecessary surgery. Evaluating the effectiveness of PET appears to be influenced by potentially unmeasured adverse selection of patients, especially when PET first began to be disseminated in the community.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/LungCancer/44674?

We need to walk so we need to walk and work...

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0081098

La variabilité et l'excès des prescriptions d'antibiotiques à l'hôpital met les patients en danger

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/wk/mm63e0304.pdf

http://www.medpagetoday.com/HospitalBasedMedicine/GeneralHospitalPractice/44595?

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304585004579419493198620498

http://www.tufts.edu/med/apua/

http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/


Evolution in action in the micro-organism world!

Vous connaissez l'EN3S?

http://www.strategie.gouv.fr/blog/2014/02/les-laureats-du-prix-2013-de-lecole-nationale-superieure-de-securite-sociale-en3s/

The Bangladesh paradox

http://www.thelancet.com/series/bangladesh

Freedom and subsidies are not in keeping!

https://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/Collier's%20page.htm

Cancer: the wave

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-26014693

http://www.lequotidiendumedecin.fr/actualite/sante-publique/3e-plan-cancer-17-objectifs-et-15-milliard?

Toujours cette volonté égalisatrice dans le planisme français. Pour en fait dissimuler l'échec du monopole et de ses bureaucrates.
Le but d'un investissement est bien évidemment de mieux soigner les cancéreux pour qu'ils vivent plus longtemps.
L'accès aux soins à 11% du PIB de dépenses de soins devraient être largement assuré par les institutions existantes.

Cannabis does not work better than usual pain killers

Fitzcharles M, et al "The dilemma of medical marijuana use by rheumatology patients" Arthritis Care Res 2014; DOI: 10.1002/acr.22267.

More on ASD

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