People over 65 make up a sizable portion of Americans on GLP-1 drugs. That might be trouble. By Daniel Engber A scale overlaid with a silhouette of an older adultIllustration by Ben Kothe / The Atlantic. Sources: Peter Dazeley; JakeOlimb / Getty.Imagine an older man goes in to see his doctor. He’s 72 years old...
Akshay B. Jain, MD It’s that time of the year, when social media is rife with many top 5 and top 10 lists. Perhaps the beginning of a new year is a good time to review how different medications can have side effects beyond the disease state they’re used to address. Among the most common...
Eugene Lucas, MD Semaglutide and tirzepatide have dramatically altered obesity treatment. Significant weight loss is now more achievable than ever before, and additional weight loss medications of similar or greater potency will probably become available in the coming years. Greater amounts of weight loss are not without potential for downsides, however, namely the potential for...
Anne L. Peters, MD The new American Diabetes Association Standards of Care-2024 is a really interesting, updated document. There aren’t any huge headlines, but there are many subtle changes. I think it’s important that people really understand what the guidelines say and how we can apply this to patients. The guidelines are long. There are...
by Adina Bresge, University of Toronto Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public DomainMuhammad Mamdani understands why people are wary of artificial intelligence having a say in their health care—but he’s even more concerned about the patients who are waiting to benefit from the potentially life-saving benefits of AI-assisted medicine. As vice-president, data science and advanced analytics at Unity Health...
Sara Novak With a number of large-scale clinical trials underway and researchers on the hunt for new therapies, long COVID scientists are hopeful that this is the year patients — and doctors who care for them — will finally see improvements in treating their symptoms. Here are five bold predictions — all based on encouraging...
Helen Branswell People standing in two different lines — one being a covid vaccine line and other a flu vaccine line. The flu vaccine line being much longer.America is over the Covid vaccine. Frantic lineups for scarce doses when Covid vaccines first became available have long since given way to widespread indifference. Each new round...
George Lundberg, MDDISCLOSURES I don’t rightly remember when I first learned of restless legs syndrome (RLS). It was many decades ago, and I recognized that once in a while, I would be restless during sleep, tossing and turning, seeking a favorable sleeping position. I felt like I just needed to move my legs around; my...
Sara Freeman When axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) is suspected, a “prompt referral to a rheumatologist” is in order. But with the referral possibly taking several weeks, if not months in some parts of the world, how can primary care practitioners manage patients with this type of chronic back pain in the meantime? And what is the...
Matthew F. Watto, MD; Paul N. Williams, MD Matthew F. Watto, MD: Welcome back to The Curbsiders. I’m Dr Matthew Watto, here with America’s primary care physician, Dr Paul Nelson Williams. Paul, are you ready to talk about some adrenal insufficiency? We had a great conversation with Dr Kargi, and I’d like you to start...
