JAMA Clinical Reviews

Breast cancer screening is debated passionately among those who advocate for very aggressive screening and other experts who believe that screening can be harmful. The arguments for all sides of the debate are best understood by knowing the numbers of women who will benefit or be harmed by breast cancer screening. Both sides of the debate are explained in this podcast by Nancy Keating, MD, and Lydia Pace, MD, both from the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Very few people who think they are allergic to penicillin actually are. Yet, even if someone reports a remote and vague history of penicillin allergy, these very useful medications will not be given. This forces many patients to use antibiotics that may be too broad spectrum, not very effective, or expensive. Three major societies have come together to agree on an approach for assessing if penicillin allergy is really present when a patient reports an allergy to these medications. Erica S. Shenoy, MD, PhD, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, author of a JAMA review on the topic, discusses this very important problem. Read the article: Evaluation and Management of Penicillin Allergy: A Review  

When flying and they call "Is there a licensed medical professional on board," should physicians respond? If so, what should they do? Are they liable if things go wrong? We interview Christian Martin-Gill, MD, MPH, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, who is an expert on in-flight emergencies and authored a JAMA review on the topic.

The statistical concept of Bayes comes up in clinical medicine all the time. It simply means that what you know about something factors into how you analyze it. This contrasts with the commonly used statistical approach called frequentist analysis of hypothesis testing, in which it is assumed that every situation is unique and not influenced by the past. Bayesian analysis accounts for how prior information gets factored into decision making and is important to understand when applying clinical research findings to the delivery of medical care. In this interview Anna E. McGlothlin, PhD, senior statistical scientist at Berry Consultants in Austin, Texas, explains these concepts for clinicians. Read the article: Bayesian Hierarchical Models

Within the last 2 years, major guidelines have been issued from US-based and European organizations that differ in their recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension. Experts from both sides of the Atlantic--Paul Whelton, MD, from the United States and Bryan Williams, MD, from Europe--discuss the similarities and differences in these guidelines and the basis for the differences. They were interviewed by JAMA editors Greg Curfman, MD, and Ed Livingston, MD. Part 1 [LINK] of this 2-part series, reviewed the similarities between the 2 guidelines and discussed issues regarding how to best treat hypertension in elderly individuals. In this Part 2 episode, the differences between the guidelines are reviewed and how clinicians should use this information to treat patients is presented. See also the JAMA website on hypertension guidelines at https://sites.jamanetwork.com/jnc8/.

What is it like to go through alcohol withdrawal at home? What is it like for a mother to sit by her son's side while he goes through withdrawal and supporting him? Why does someone who doesn't have any particular reason to drink misuse alcohol? The answers to these questions can be found by listening to a narrative from one patient and his mother about his descent into alcohol misuse, his experiences with withdrawal, and his eventual overcoming of a dreadful alcohol addiction. Read the article: Will This Hospitalized Patient Develop Severe Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome?: The Rational Clinical Examination Systematic Review  

What if the patient you are managing in the ICU is not asleep when you thought they were? Patients relate their very disturbing stories about what they experienced while in an ICU and their treating clinicians thought they were asleep.

Venous thromboembolic disease is common. There are many steps necessary to establish a diagnosis or treat this disease. These are summarized in this JAMA Clinical Reviews podcast and interview with Philip S. Wells, MD, from the Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and author of a recent JAMA review on the topic.

Alcohol withdrawal is a serious problem that can lead to mortality. How to predict if it will occur when a patient who is misusing alcohol is admitted to the hospital is challenging. This Rational Clinical Examination article reports results of a systematic review of the literature to determine the best way to predict the occurrence of alcohol withdrawal. Read the article: Will This Hospitalized Patient Develop Severe Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome?: The Rational Clinical Examination Systematic Review

In 2015, JAMA published results of a randomized clinical trial showing that antibiotic treatment for acute appendicitis was feasible. Doubters of the efficacy of antibiotics for treating appendicitis were concerned about what the long-term recurrence rate would be for those patients treated without surgery. The 5-year results of the study are now presented, showing that only about 40% of patients treated with antibiotics ultimately go on to have an appendectomy. Read the article: Five-Year Follow-up of Antibiotic Therapy for Uncomplicated Acute Appendicitis in the APPAC Randomized Clinical Trial