Table of Contents
From the Editor
- Recognizing a common disease hiding in plain sight
Clinicians often fail to diagnose celiac disease promptly. They don’t realize how common it is, and they don’t recognize its many manifestations other than diarrhea.
Im Board Review
- An elderly woman with severe anemia
Her hemoglobin level is 7.7 g/dL, and a peripheral blood smear shows hypochromic microcytic erythrocytes. What is the most likely cause?
Current Drug Therapy
- Update on hormonal contraception
The trends are for lower estrogen doses, newer progestins, longer cycles, and non-oral options. A review of the latest products.
Review
- Metabolic syndrome: Controversial but useful
The cluster of obesity, impaired fasting glucose, elevated triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and hypertension may not be a “real” syndrome in the strict sense, but it can still be a useful concept if it helps persuade patients to undertake healthy lifestyle changes.
Celiac disease: More common than you thinkThe disease is underrecognized because about half of people who have it do not have the classic gastrointestinal symptoms. Instead, they may present with nonspecific manifestations of nutritional deficiency or have no symptoms at all.
Patient Information
Medical Problems in Pregnancy
- Managing genital herpes infections in pregnancy
Primary care physicians can improve the mother’s health and reduce the chance of transmission from mother to neonate by diagnosing and managing genital herpes before or during pregnancy—or better yet, by helping to prevent it.
Interpreting Key Trials
- Interpreting the African American Heart Failure Trial(A-HEFT)
This placebo-controlled trial was the first to evaluate a therapy in a specific racial group, and it points the way to a more individualized approach to heart failure therapy.
