Top Medical News 22/07/2022

1. Surgery risks go up depending upon the anesthesiologist's workload

A new study appearing in JAMA Surgery from a team at the University of Michigan examines whether the number of overlapping procedures managed by the anesthesiologist increases the risk of death or complications after surgery.

Using data from the Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group electronic health record registry, the team investigated surgical procedures that involved an anesthesiologist directing a CRNA or an anesthesiology resident. This anesthesia care team model is the most common model used to deliver anesthesia in the United States.

Reference: "Surgery risks go up depending upon the anesthesiologist's workload"; JAMA Surgery DOI-10.1001/jamasurg.2022.2804.

2. Women with endometriosis may have higher risk of stroke

 A large, prospective study found that women with endometriosis may have a higher risk of stroke compared to women without the chronic inflammatory condition, according to new research published today in Stroke, the peer-reviewed flagship journal of the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association.

Study enrolled the Nurses' Health Study II. The analysis involved 112,056 women who were nurses between the ages of 25 and 42 years old from 14 U.S. states at the start of the study in 1989. The current study ended in 2017. A laparoscopy (surgical procedure in which a fiber-optic instrument is inserted through the abdominal wall to view the organs in the abdomen or to permit a surgical procedure) was used to make the diagnosis of endometriosis. Endometriosis was reported in 5,244 women and most of the participants (93%), including those diagnosed with endometriosis, were white women.

Reference: "Women with endometriosis may have higher risk of stroke"; AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION, Stroke; DOI-10.1161/STROKEAHA.122.039250.

3. Innovative, online automated obesity treatment program shows weight-loss

Previous trials of behavioral obesity treatment delivered in the primary care setting have typically involved intensive researcher involvement to deliver treatment and/or maintain participants' engagement with the research study.

The current study is one of the first times that a fully-automated obesity treatment program has been tested pragmatically in a large, primary care network with clinicians responsible for identifying patients, providing the program and supporting its use.

Reference: "Innovative, online automated obesity treatment program shows weight-loss results"; THE OBESITY SOCIETY, JOURNAL-Obesity.

4. Association of prior head injury with sense of smell in older adults

Study in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head &Neck Surgery investigated the associations of prior head injury, number of prior head injuries, and head injury severity with subjective and psychophysical olfactory function in older adults and to examine concordance between subjective and objective olfactory function among individuals with and without head injury.

The prospective cohort study included 5951 participants who attended Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC). Data analysis was performed between November 2021 and May 2022. Self-reported subjective olfactory dysfunction was assessed by the question, "Do you suffer from smell loss or a significantly decreased sense of smell?"

Reference: JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2022.1920 Published online July 21, 2022.