Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Patients Stop Weight-Loss Treatment Sooner Than They Should

Data suggests that many people who use GLP-1 drugs semaglutide and liraglutide to treat obesity and diabetes are not staying on their weight-loss plans as long as what is recommended, according to an issue brief from Blue Health Intelligence. Typically, 12 weeks is the accepted guideline for achieving meaningful weight loss. Yet, an analysis of claims from 170,000 plan members found that about 58% of people using GLP-1 medications were on their treatment plan for …

CDC Suggests Comprehensive Approach With Doxy PEP Recommendations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week released new clinical guidelines on the use of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (doxy PEP) for bacterial sexually transmitted infection prevention. In part, CDC’s recommendations include the use of doxy PEP for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW) who have had a bacterial sexually transmitted infections diagnosed in the past 12 months as part of provider shared decision-making. …

Heat Waves Increase Risk of Preterm Birth

Researchers have identified local heat waves as a factor that can lead to an increased risk of preterm birth and stillbirth, according to a cohort study published in JAMA Network Open. Authors found a significant link between periods of high temperatures in some of the top metropolitan statistical areas in the United States and early deliveries. Looking at 53 million births from 1993 to 2017, they concluded that after 4 consecutive days of mean temperatures …

Clinicians May Not Recognize Rare Measles Cases

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported a surge in measles cases, including 57 cases associated with a migrant shelter in Chicago, Illinois, according to a new CDC report. It previously recorded 97 confirmed cases in the first quarter of 2024. It’s a significant uptick when compared to the average of 5 cases during the first quarters of 2020-2023. Almost all recent cases were among the unvaccinated. Among the World Health …

EHRs Haven’t Captured Prevalence of Long COVID

Long COVID is possibly more prevalent than what might be recorded in electronic health record (EHR) diagnostic or referral codes, according to a descriptive study in eClinicalMedicine. Researchers analyzed clinical data from more than 19 million adults in England from November 2020 to January 2023. A total of 55,465 patients were identified with long COVID, based on 20,025 diagnostic codes and 35,440 referral codes. Median follow-up was 2.2 years, and the rate of long COVID …

Panel Recommends Treatments for Pediatric Vitiligo

A clinical panel recently issued dozens of recommendations for treating vitiligo in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients, as published in a consensus statement in JAMA Dermatology. The main conclusions point out that topical calcineurin inhibitors, topical corticosteroids, and topical Janus kinase inhibitors are effective treatments for vitiligo in these age groups. Treatment decisions should also consider factors such as the location of vitiligo, body surface area affected, age, and other patient-specific factors. Perhaps a …

New HPV Screen Allows for Simplified Patient Self-Collection

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a testing protocol that allows patients to collect their own vaginal samples for human papillomavirus (HPV) screening in healthcare settings—including urgent care. It’s significant because it allows for HPV primary testing without the need for a traditional Pap smear performed with a speculum. The self-collected samples must still be sent to labs for analysis. While a Pap smear can potentially detect abnormalities in the cervix, the new HPV …

Patients Do Well With Hypertension Self-Care

A randomized clinical trial of 219 patients with uncontrolled hypertension showed in a secondary analysis that self-management programs including home blood pressure monitoring and self-titration of antihypertensive medication resulted in good outcomes. Published in JAMA Network Open, the study found significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (adjusted mean difference, −3.4 mm Hg) and diastolic blood pressure (adjusted mean difference, −2.5 mm Hg) at 24 months. What’s more, patients had no increase in the use of …

Semaglutide Keeps Weight Off For Years

Yet another study is underscoring the benefits of semaglutide, as published in Nature Medicine this week. In a cardiovascular outcomes trial involving 17,604 adults with preexisting cardiovascular disease, overweight, or obesity without diabetes, semaglutide showed a 20% reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events. Those treated with semaglutide sustained weight loss for up to 4 years. Authors say improvements in cardiovascular risk factors can begin with weight loss of just 5%, and in the study, semaglutide was …

Non-Antibiotic Treatment for Bacterial Vaginosis Could Be a First-Line Choice

A randomized controlled trial conducted in Europe found that dequalinium chloride has good efficacy for treating bacterial vaginosis (BV) in women without the use of antibiotics. When compared with the antibiotic metronidazole, dequalinium chloride was not only noninferior, it also had better tolerability and fewer adverse events, as published in JAMA Network Open. Study authors believe dequalinium chloride could help reduce antibiotic consumption and could be considered as first-line treatment for bacterial vaginosis with less …