Allergy testing can aid the diagnosis of allergic disorders; however, it is not diagnostic. With skin testing, in particular, a positive result does not necessarily indicate clinical allergy, and a negative result does not always exclude clinical relevance. More »
A 6-month-old boy with 1-week history of dry cough that worsened at night. He had been wheezing off and on for the past month and had visited the emergency department on one occasion. More »
Almost 90% of employers consider employee medication compliance to be a prime health management objective, according to a study by the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC).1 The majority of study respondents reported that they are analyzing or have plans to analyze prescription data to determine... More »
Omega-3 fatty acids have gained popularity over the past decade as growing scientific evidence supports their use in preventing cardiovascular disease, depression, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma, and in slowing cognitive decline. Because they are essential and cannot be synthesized in the human... More »
Doctors, especially primary care doctors, love stories. We love hearing them from patients and telling them to one another. “Anecdotal learning” it’s called by some (somewhat derisively because it’s not science). More »
The vasculitides are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by inflammation and necrosis of blood vessel walls resulting in impaired blood flow and organ damage. They have a variety of clinical presentations and several disease mimickers, often have incompletely understood pathophysiology,... More »
To improve adherence in patients whose drug regimen calls for twice-daily dosing, I encourage them to keep the medication near their toothbrush. The habit of brushing their teeth twice a day reminds them to take their medication. This works especially well for young children who take asthma... More »
Native to India, boswellia is used extensively in Ayurveda, the traditional medical system of India, to treat arthritis. Extracts from the gum resin of boswellia have been tested in clinical trials and found effective for asthma and ulcerative colitis. More research is needed to determine if... More »
While avoidance measures are a key component of the treatment of allergic rhinitis, pharmacological therapies are often needed to adequately control symptoms. Intranasal corticosteroids are highly effective and are particularly useful in patients with moderate to severe disease. More »
