Top stories in internal medicine

Healio.com/Internal Medicine presents the week’s top news stories, including cannabis for pain management, cost of women's health services and ICU outcomes for patients who receive acetaminophen for fever.

Medical cannabis reasonably safe for chronic pain management

Patients with previous cannabis use experienced significant improvement in chronic pain, according to findings published in the Journal of Pain. Mark A. Ware, MBBS, MRCP, MSc, and colleagues reported that their prospective cohort study also demonstrated a "reasonable" safety profile for quality-controlled cannabis. Read more.

Costs widely variable throughout US for women's health procedures

An analysis of the costs of several women's health procedures found significantly variable pricing, according to findings published by Castlight Health, Inc. Throughout the United States, mammogram prices ranged from $43 to $1,898. Prices also ranged within cities: the San Francisco area ranged from $129 to $860, Los Angeles from $86 to $954, New York City from $130 to $1,898 and Dallas from $50 to $1,045. Read more.

Hospitalization associated with functional impairment in older adults

Hospitalization, especially critical illness hospitalization, is a risk factor for persistent functional impairment in older adults, according to data published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. William J. Ehlenbach, MD, MSc, and colleagues assessed grip strength, gait speed and chair stand speed as well as dependence and difficulty in performing activities of daily living to identify any associations between hospitalizations and physical function. Read more.

Family physician HIV experience associated with ART receipt

A retrospective analysis of data from a population-based observational study demonstrated that the HIV experience of family physicians is associated with HIV-related quality of care outcomes. Claire E. Kendall, MD, MSc, and colleagues reported in the Annals of Family Medicine that patients who were HIV-positive were more likely to receive antiretroviral therapy (ART) from family physicians with more HIV experience. Read more.

Acetaminophen for fever did not affect ICU stays in critically ill patients

Early receipt of acetaminophen as a treatment for fever did not reduce ICU stays or mortality in patients who had probable infections, according to data recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Paul Young, MD, and colleagues conducted a binational, masked, randomized, controlled trial to investigate the effects of acetaminophen. Read more.