Physicians search to find clinical information and keep current. Each week, we look for a term that dramatically increased in physician searches from the week prior, based on significance and percentage of increase. Although sometimes driven by what's in the news, the possible reasons why a term surged in popularity may surprise you. We speculate as to what prompted the increase and provide an interesting fact about the related medical condition with an infographic. If you have thoughts about what's trending and why, feel free to share them with us on Twitter or Facebook!
Clinical Trend of the Week (Sept 19-25): Sprint Trial
This week's top search term is no surprise, considering Dr. Deepak Bhatt, the Editor in Chief of the Harvard Heart Letter, called it a medical advance that warrants "an immediate change in practice." The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) stopped the SPRINT trial early after finding significant reductions in mortality and cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients who were monitored with a more aggressive blood pressure target. The study found that aiming for a systolic blood pressure of 120 mm Hg, instead of the current 140 mm Hg, reduced cardiovascular problems (eg, myocardial infarctions, strokes, heart failure) by almost one third and reduced risk of death by almost 25%. While Dr. Bhatt and others feel strongly about these results, others are waiting until peer reviewers, editors, guideline authors, and other experts thoroughly scrutinize the trial before proclaiming this a "game-changer." Physicians are no doubt keeping a close eye on these developments.
For more in-depth clinical information, see Hypertension.
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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Ryan Syrek. Clinical Trends for September 2015 - Medscape - Sep 25, 2015.
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