NEJM 29 May 2014 Vol 370 2071 This week’s New England Journal is dominated by three papers on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The editorial on them begins “I suspect that many of my patients have picked up on more than a hint of frustration in my voice when I tell them that the cause of their […]
It’s hard not to brood from time to time on some of the intractable public health problems that entangle us. Take obesity. Swimming with my boys over the weekend, I was again struck by how much the food that should sustain us is killing us. It’s hard as well not to wonder where change might […]
Being a GP myself, one of the first things I did when I arrived in London last year to work at The BMJ was register with a GP. In London, for a certain catchment area, a resident is free to choose to register in one of a number of NHS GP practices, assuming that they […]
At the end of last year, the US Preventive Services Task Force launched guidelines recommending screening for lung cancer in those at high risk. These were greeted with applause by some and dismay by others. In yesterday’s State of the Art Review, Canadian authors Tammemagi and Lam discuss the evidence for and against. Yes, there […]
Dear Prime Minister Modi: Congratulations on your impressive victory in the world’s largest election, and best wishes as you take office. Talking to people in my native city of Bangalore, I can sense the palpable excitement and optimism that your win has brought to the youth in India. People are longing for a decisive government […]
Imagine you have severe gastro-oesophageal reflux. You are taking the maximum dose of your antacids and guzzling your way through bottles of Gaviscon, yet you’re still plagued by heartburn. It wakes you up in the middle of the night, prevents you from enjoying the odd glass of wine, and as for eating anything spicy— forget […]
NEJM 15-22 May 2014 Vol 370 1944 The introduction of pay for performance in the NHS attracted great interest in the USA, which is still trying to come up with similar schemes of its own. Martin Roland and Stephen Campbell both helped the UK government to set up the Quality and Outcomes Framework for primary […]
Should smokers be advised to cut down as well as to quit? This is the debate captured in our latest Head to Head article, just published on bmj.com. The cost effectiveness body for England and Wales, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), last year changed its guidance to recommend that smokers are […]
Even those whose daily diet does not include the pages of the national press could not have missed the furore over The BMJ’s very public correction of an error in two articles this week. In an Analysis article, John Abramson and colleagues questioned the merits of extending the routine use of statins to people at low […]
“How many women does it take to change a light bulb? One, but she may need to get a ladder or stand on a chair first.” As a straight white male, I am, as writer John Scalzi puts it, playing life on easy mode. I don’t have to look for long to see how much […]