Medical Bulletin 20/December/2023

Here are the top medical news of the day:

Few patients receive opioid agonist therapy after opioid overdose, despite benefits

In the week following any hospital visit for an overdose, only 1 in 18 people with opioid use disorder begin a treatment known to be highly effective in reducing illness and deaths, according to new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association.

“These results highlight critical missed opportunities to prevent future mortality and morbidity related to opioid use, despite connection to health care for many patients in the days after a toxicity event,” writes Dr. Tara Gomes, a researcher at ICES and St. Michael’s Hospital, part of Unity Health Toronto, with coauthors.

Reference: Few patients receive opioid agonist therapy after opioid overdose, despite benefits; CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL, DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.231014

Lung nodule program provides benefits patients ineligible for lung cancer screening

Adopting a lung nodule program (LNP) may increase the detection of early lung cancer for patients who are not eligible for lung cancer screening under existing age eligibility criteria, according to a study published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

LNPs are established to follow up on lung nodules that are frequently identified during routine imaging for reasons other than suspected lung cancer or lung cancer screening.

Reference: Lung nodule program provides benefits patients ineligible for lung cancer screening; Journal of Thoracic Oncology

Healthful Vegetarian diet may improve insomnia, finds study

A recent cohort study, the Tzu Chi Health Study, sheds light on the potential link between dietary patterns and insomnia risk, uncovering intriguing findings about the benefits of plant-based diets in reducing the likelihood of developing insomnia. This study was published in the European Journal Of Clinical Nutrition by Zuo Hua Gan and colleagues.

Researchers aimed to explore whether plant-based diets, specifically vegetarianism, could influence the risk of insomnia. Over 5,800 participants without prior insomnia were enrolled in the study from 2007 to 2009 and followed up until 2018. Two distinct dietary classification methods were employed: traditional categorization into vegetarians and non-vegetarians, and a Healthful Plant-Based Index (hPDI) to gauge adherence to plant-based dietary patterns. Incident cases of insomnia were tracked by linking participant data with the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD).

Reference: Gan, Z. H., Chiu, T. H. T., Lin, C.-L., Lin, M.-N., & Kuo, P.-H. Plant-based dietary patterns and risk of insomnia: a prospective study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition,2023;1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-023-01380-x