2. Blood Pressure Pills Protect Against Hip Fracture but Protection Disappears
In a follow-up study of 7,891 people 55 or older, those who took thiazide diuretics for at least one year had a 50 percent lower risk for hip fracture than people who never took the diuretics (Article, p. 476). The protective effect of these inexpensive pills, commonly prescribed to lower blood pressure, disappeared within four months after the pills were discontinued.
3. Consensus Group Develops 18 Criteria for Clinical Guidelines
A group of physicians and others with experience in developing clinical guidelines have come up with an 18-point checklist to standardize reporting of medical guidelines (Academia and Clinic, p. 493). The great variation in documentation of many current guidelines can lead to misunderstandings by clinicians, patients and reporters about what some guidelines actually recommend, thus reducing chances that they'll be adopted into clinical practice and improve medical care. The Conference on Guideline Standardization asks that guideline developers describe how the evidence was collected or evaluated, mention funding sources or sponsors, state who reviewed the draft guidelines and state the recommended action precisely, among other actions to improve the quality of guidelines. The group hopes that the new uniform framework for guideline documentation will be as successful as the Consolidated Statement for Reporting Trials (CONSORT statement) has been in improving reporting of clinical trial data.
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Annals of Internal Medicine