Top 2020 studies relevant to primary care: From the PEER team.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To summarize high-quality studies for 10 topics from 2020 that have strong relevance to primary care practice.

SELECTING THE EVIDENCE:

Study selection involved routine literature surveillance by a group of primary health care professionals. This included screening abstracts of high-impact journals and EvidenceAlerts, as well as searching the American College of Physicians Journal Club.

MAIN MESSAGE:

Topics of the 2020 articles most likely to affect primary care practice included whether antibiotic prophylaxis reduces maternal infections following operative vaginal birth; which second-line agent after metformin reduces cardiovascular outcomes for patients with diabetes; whether gabapentin is effective for alcohol use disorder; whether compression stockings prevent recurrent cellulitis; guideline recommendations for management of dyslipidemia to reduce cardiovascular risk; whether intermittent fasting is superior to consistent mealtimes for weight loss; whether vitamin C added to iron supplementation increases hemoglobin more than iron alone; whether antacid-lidocaine combinations are superior to antacid alone for epigastric pain; whether dapagliflozin improves renal and cardiovascular outcomes in chronic kidney disease; and whether empagliflozin improves cardiovascular outcomes in patients with heart failure. Five "runner-up" studies are also briefly reviewed.

CONCLUSION:

Research from 2020 produced several high-quality studies in diabetes and cardiovascular disease, but also included a variety of other conditions relevant to primary care such as vaginal operative births, alcohol use disorder, weight loss, and chronic leg edema.

• Authors: Betsy Thomas, Samantha Moe, Christina S Korownyk, Adrienne J Lindblad, Michael R Kolber, Jamison Falk, Allison Paige, Jennifer Potter, Anthony Train, Justin Weresch, G Michael Allan
• Journal: Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien (Can Fam Physician) Vol. 67 Issue 4 Pg. 255-259 (04 2021) ISSN: 1715-5258 [Electronic] Canada
• PMID: 33853911 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright© 2021 the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Chemical References

• Vitamins

Topics

• Cardiovascular Diseases
• Diabetes Mellitus
• Dyslipidemias
• Female
• Humans
• Primary Health Care
• Vitamins