Rheumatology News

Ahmad Reza Djalali, an Iranian-Swedish physician specializing in disaster medicine, has begun a hunger strike after being sentenced to death in 2017.

Last year, Iran set a grim record, leading the world in executions. The country carried out at least 853 executions, which accounted for three quarters of the officially recorded executions worldwide. The Iranian government uses the death penalty to intimidate political opponents, especially since the women’s uprising in 2022, and to exert pressure on Western states in diplomatic standoffs.

Among the thousands of political prisoners currently on death row in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison is Dr. Djalali, a 52-year-old physician.

He emigrated to Sweden in 2009 and joined the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. Over the years, he became one of Europe’s leading experts in disaster medicine. His work has been cited more than 700 times in medical literature, and he played a key role in establishing the emergency and disaster research center at the University of Piedmont.

In Italy, Denmark, and Sweden, Dr. Djalali helped hospitals and healthcare professionals in preparing for earthquakes, nuclear accidents, and terrorist attacks and designed several disaster medicine training programs.
 

‘Spreading Corruption’

Despite settling in Sweden with his family, Dr. Djalali never forgot his Iranian roots. His doctoral thesis was dedicated to the victims of the 2003 Bam earthquake in Iran, which killed 23,000 people. He expressed a desire to share his knowledge with his Iranian colleagues to help people. So when he was invited to participate in a 2016 conference at the University of Tehran, he accepted without hesitation.

Unfortunately, this decision had severe consequences. On April 25, 2016, as he was concluding his trip to Iran, the researcher was arrested by intelligence agents. After being held incommunicado for several days, he was officially accused of passing confidential information to Israeli intelligence services. According to his family, this accusation was baseless. They believed he was targeted for refusing to work for Iranian intelligence services in Europe.

On October 21, 2017, Dr. Djalali was sentenced to death for “spreading corruption on Earth,” a vague charge often used by Islamic courts against those who allegedly have challenged the regime. A few days later, a video of his “confessions” was broadcast on Iranian television. These confessions were coerced; Dr. Djalali later revealed that Iranian police had threatened to harm his mother in Iran and his family in Sweden.

Since then, Dr. Djalali and his loved ones have anxiously awaited the moment when the regime might carry out the sentence. Several times over the years, he has seemed on the verge of execution, only to receive a last-minute reprieve each time.

His imprisonment has taken a severe toll on his physical and mental health. He has reportedly lost 24 kg since his incarceration, and his family, who receive sporadic updates, suspect he has leukemia. Despite his deteriorating condition, the authorities have refused him access to a hematologist.
 

‘Forgotten’ in Exchange

The international medical community has rallied to secure Dr. Djalali’s release, but their efforts have so far been fruitless. The United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International, several universities, and the World Medical Association have called for his release. In 2018, Sweden granted him citizenship in an attempt to increase pressure on Tehran, but Iranian law does not recognize dual citizenship.

On June 16, after nearly 7 years on death row, Dr. Djalali informed his family that he had begun a hunger strike. “It’s the only way to make my voice heard in the world,” he explained. “As a doctor, Ahmad Reza knows all too well that his fragile physical state makes a hunger strike potentially fatal, but he sees no other option. He suffers from cardiac arrhythmia, bradycardia, hypotension, chronic gastritis, anemia, and extreme weight loss following his two previous hunger strikes,” his wife told the press.

Aside from a potential (and unlikely) act of clemency by the Iranian authorities, Dr. Djalali’s best hope lies in a prisoner exchange. The Iranian government often imprisons foreign nationals to exchange them for Iranians detained in Western countries.

On June 15, Sweden agreed to release an Iranian dignitary serving a life sentence in exchange for the release of Swedish nationals detained in Iran. For a long time, Dr. Djalali’s family had hoped he would be included in this exchange.

However, to avoid jeopardizing the deal, the Swedish prime minister chose to accept the release of only two other Swedish nationals, leaving Dr. Djalali to his grim fate. “Mr Prime Minister, you have decided to abandon me at the enormous risk of being executed,” Dr. Djalali responded bitterly, knowing he could be hanged at any moment.
 

This story was translated from JIM using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Ahmad Reza Djalali, an Iranian-Swedish physician specializing in disaster medicine, has begun a hunger strike after being sentenced to death in 2017.

Last year, Iran set a grim record, leading the world in executions. The country carried out at least 853 executions, which accounted for three quarters of the officially recorded executions worldwide. The Iranian government uses the death penalty to intimidate political opponents, especially since the women’s uprising in 2022, and to exert pressure on Western states in diplomatic standoffs.

Among the thousands of political prisoners currently on death row in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison is Dr. Djalali, a 52-year-old physician.

He emigrated to Sweden in 2009 and joined the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. Over the years, he became one of Europe’s leading experts in disaster medicine. His work has been cited more than 700 times in medical literature, and he played a key role in establishing the emergency and disaster research center at the University of Piedmont.

In Italy, Denmark, and Sweden, Dr. Djalali helped hospitals and healthcare professionals in preparing for earthquakes, nuclear accidents, and terrorist attacks and designed several disaster medicine training programs.
 

‘Spreading Corruption’

Despite settling in Sweden with his family, Dr. Djalali never forgot his Iranian roots. His doctoral thesis was dedicated to the victims of the 2003 Bam earthquake in Iran, which killed 23,000 people. He expressed a desire to share his knowledge with his Iranian colleagues to help people. So when he was invited to participate in a 2016 conference at the University of Tehran, he accepted without hesitation.

Unfortunately, this decision had severe consequences. On April 25, 2016, as he was concluding his trip to Iran, the researcher was arrested by intelligence agents. After being held incommunicado for several days, he was officially accused of passing confidential information to Israeli intelligence services. According to his family, this accusation was baseless. They believed he was targeted for refusing to work for Iranian intelligence services in Europe.

On October 21, 2017, Dr. Djalali was sentenced to death for “spreading corruption on Earth,” a vague charge often used by Islamic courts against those who allegedly have challenged the regime. A few days later, a video of his “confessions” was broadcast on Iranian television. These confessions were coerced; Dr. Djalali later revealed that Iranian police had threatened to harm his mother in Iran and his family in Sweden.

Since then, Dr. Djalali and his loved ones have anxiously awaited the moment when the regime might carry out the sentence. Several times over the years, he has seemed on the verge of execution, only to receive a last-minute reprieve each time.

His imprisonment has taken a severe toll on his physical and mental health. He has reportedly lost 24 kg since his incarceration, and his family, who receive sporadic updates, suspect he has leukemia. Despite his deteriorating condition, the authorities have refused him access to a hematologist.
 

‘Forgotten’ in Exchange

The international medical community has rallied to secure Dr. Djalali’s release, but their efforts have so far been fruitless. The United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International, several universities, and the World Medical Association have called for his release. In 2018, Sweden granted him citizenship in an attempt to increase pressure on Tehran, but Iranian law does not recognize dual citizenship.

On June 16, after nearly 7 years on death row, Dr. Djalali informed his family that he had begun a hunger strike. “It’s the only way to make my voice heard in the world,” he explained. “As a doctor, Ahmad Reza knows all too well that his fragile physical state makes a hunger strike potentially fatal, but he sees no other option. He suffers from cardiac arrhythmia, bradycardia, hypotension, chronic gastritis, anemia, and extreme weight loss following his two previous hunger strikes,” his wife told the press.

Aside from a potential (and unlikely) act of clemency by the Iranian authorities, Dr. Djalali’s best hope lies in a prisoner exchange. The Iranian government often imprisons foreign nationals to exchange them for Iranians detained in Western countries.

On June 15, Sweden agreed to release an Iranian dignitary serving a life sentence in exchange for the release of Swedish nationals detained in Iran. For a long time, Dr. Djalali’s family had hoped he would be included in this exchange.

However, to avoid jeopardizing the deal, the Swedish prime minister chose to accept the release of only two other Swedish nationals, leaving Dr. Djalali to his grim fate. “Mr Prime Minister, you have decided to abandon me at the enormous risk of being executed,” Dr. Djalali responded bitterly, knowing he could be hanged at any moment.
 

This story was translated from JIM using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Ahmad Reza Djalali, an Iranian-Swedish physician specializing in disaster medicine, has begun a hunger strike after being sentenced to death in 2017.

Last year, Iran set a grim record, leading the world in executions. The country carried out at least 853 executions, which accounted for three quarters of the officially recorded executions worldwide. The Iranian government uses the death penalty to intimidate political opponents, especially since the women’s uprising in 2022, and to exert pressure on Western states in diplomatic standoffs.

Among the thousands of political prisoners currently on death row in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison is Dr. Djalali, a 52-year-old physician.

He emigrated to Sweden in 2009 and joined the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. Over the years, he became one of Europe’s leading experts in disaster medicine. His work has been cited more than 700 times in medical literature, and he played a key role in establishing the emergency and disaster research center at the University of Piedmont.

In Italy, Denmark, and Sweden, Dr. Djalali helped hospitals and healthcare professionals in preparing for earthquakes, nuclear accidents, and terrorist attacks and designed several disaster medicine training programs.
 

‘Spreading Corruption’

Despite settling in Sweden with his family, Dr. Djalali never forgot his Iranian roots. His doctoral thesis was dedicated to the victims of the 2003 Bam earthquake in Iran, which killed 23,000 people. He expressed a desire to share his knowledge with his Iranian colleagues to help people. So when he was invited to participate in a 2016 conference at the University of Tehran, he accepted without hesitation.

Unfortunately, this decision had severe consequences. On April 25, 2016, as he was concluding his trip to Iran, the researcher was arrested by intelligence agents. After being held incommunicado for several days, he was officially accused of passing confidential information to Israeli intelligence services. According to his family, this accusation was baseless. They believed he was targeted for refusing to work for Iranian intelligence services in Europe.

On October 21, 2017, Dr. Djalali was sentenced to death for “spreading corruption on Earth,” a vague charge often used by Islamic courts against those who allegedly have challenged the regime. A few days later, a video of his “confessions” was broadcast on Iranian television. These confessions were coerced; Dr. Djalali later revealed that Iranian police had threatened to harm his mother in Iran and his family in Sweden.

Since then, Dr. Djalali and his loved ones have anxiously awaited the moment when the regime might carry out the sentence. Several times over the years, he has seemed on the verge of execution, only to receive a last-minute reprieve each time.

His imprisonment has taken a severe toll on his physical and mental health. He has reportedly lost 24 kg since his incarceration, and his family, who receive sporadic updates, suspect he has leukemia. Despite his deteriorating condition, the authorities have refused him access to a hematologist.
 

‘Forgotten’ in Exchange

The international medical community has rallied to secure Dr. Djalali’s release, but their efforts have so far been fruitless. The United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International, several universities, and the World Medical Association have called for his release. In 2018, Sweden granted him citizenship in an attempt to increase pressure on Tehran, but Iranian law does not recognize dual citizenship.

On June 16, after nearly 7 years on death row, Dr. Djalali informed his family that he had begun a hunger strike. “It’s the only way to make my voice heard in the world,” he explained. “As a doctor, Ahmad Reza knows all too well that his fragile physical state makes a hunger strike potentially fatal, but he sees no other option. He suffers from cardiac arrhythmia, bradycardia, hypotension, chronic gastritis, anemia, and extreme weight loss following his two previous hunger strikes,” his wife told the press.

Aside from a potential (and unlikely) act of clemency by the Iranian authorities, Dr. Djalali’s best hope lies in a prisoner exchange. The Iranian government often imprisons foreign nationals to exchange them for Iranians detained in Western countries.

On June 15, Sweden agreed to release an Iranian dignitary serving a life sentence in exchange for the release of Swedish nationals detained in Iran. For a long time, Dr. Djalali’s family had hoped he would be included in this exchange.

However, to avoid jeopardizing the deal, the Swedish prime minister chose to accept the release of only two other Swedish nationals, leaving Dr. Djalali to his grim fate. “Mr Prime Minister, you have decided to abandon me at the enormous risk of being executed,” Dr. Djalali responded bitterly, knowing he could be hanged at any moment.
 

This story was translated from JIM using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

SEATTLE — Musculoskeletal (MSK) symptoms are common in patients with psoriasis, but should they be primarily handled by dermatologists or should rheumatologists be “in the driver’s seat?” That was the subject of a debate between a dermatologist and a rheumatologist at the annual meeting of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis.

Fabian Proft, MD, the rheumatologist, spoke first and emphasized the potential that MSK symptoms are a sign of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and therefore should be managed by a rheumatologist.

“Obviously, the rheumatologist perspective [is that] I should be in the driver’s seat when taking care of patient with psoriasis and MSK symptoms, but I will still need to have a copilot there: [The dermatologist] will have a slot,” said Dr. Proft, who is a rheumatologist at Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

“It’s so important that we make the correct and early diagnosis of [psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis] symptoms,” said Dr. Proft. He specifically called out cases where patients have symptoms that are difficult to determine, whether the cause is inflammatory, and when experience with imaging can be a key factor in the diagnosis.

It’s important not to overdiagnose or overtreat patients, he said, providing an example of a patient with psoriasis who had been training for a marathon. The MRI image suggested that his Achilles tendonitis pain was related to his athletic training, not PsA-associated inflammation. “So I think this is very important that you have the knowledge to read MRIs, and especially also carefully assessing them so as not to overdiagnose patients,” said Dr. Proft.

Dermatologist Rebuttal

In her rebuttal, Laura Savage, MD, PhD, emphasized the need for more of a coequal partnership between the two specialties because of the ability of dermatologists to intervene early in the treatment and prevention of PsA.

“Traditionally, I agree rheumatologists would solely be responsible for the assessment and the management of psoriatic arthritis, but I think that paradigm has shifted in part due to the increased recognition of the need for earlier intervention to limit disease progression and to reduce or even prevent functional limitation,” said Dr. Savage, who is a consultant dermatologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and a senior lecturer at the University of Leeds, Leeds, England.

Ideally, molecular biomarkers would be available to predict the development of PsA, but there aren’t any. Still, “we have a huge biomarker in the form of the skin, and it’s recognized that the majority of patients who will develop psoriatic arthritis will have antecedent psoriasis in about 70% of cases,” Dr. Savage said. “There’s a typical time delay of around 7-12 years between the onset of the skin [disease] and the patients developing psoriatic arthritis, and so many of them are going to be into the care of other healthcare practitioners, and particularly the care of dermatologists.”

Dermatologists may also be able to play a role in the prevention of PsA, according to Dr. Savage. In one retrospective study, treatment of skin lesions with biologics was associated with a reduced frequency of progression to PsA (11.1% vs 16.4%) over 10 years (P = .0006). Studies with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors and other interventions have shown similar results.

Such findings have led to the treat intercept strategy, which targets patients with psoriasis who have risk factors for transition to PsA — such as nail pitting, gluteal cleft disease, scalp disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and a first-degree relative with PsA — as well as symptoms of prodromal PSA, such as arthralgia and fatigue.

“I think dermatologists are aware of the need to not leave our patients languishing on these therapies and actually escalating them onto effective treatments that may also be able to treat early psoriatic arthritis. We could be more mindful about our choice of treatments for these patients, going on to thinking about their increased risk of PSA and trying to intercept,” Dr. Savage said. “What we don’t want is our patients to be developing these musculoskeletal symptoms of pain and stiffness and functional limitation and disability. We want to be treating the patients with musculoskeletal symptoms of that earlier prodromal phase when they’re developing arthralgia and fatigue.”

She conceded that more complicated patients are good candidates for care by the rheumatologist. “You can do your fancy imaging, and we’ll leave that to you, and the difficult-to-treat patients to [the rheumatologist], but actually we need to just get on and treat them,” she said. “One could argue as well that as a dermatologist, I’m likely to broaden my horizons in terms of choice of therapy and treat all of the domains of the patient. So I would argue that actually it should be the dermatologist who is in that driving seat, particularly when it comes to the management of early psoriatic arthritis, and actually what we should be doing is driving our patients and steering them to earlier intervention and better control for all domains of disease.”
 

Collaborative Care

During the follow-up discussion, both Dr. Proft and Dr. Savage agreed that dermatologists and rheumatologists should be working together in managing patients. “What we need to do is steer our patients toward collaborative care with our rheumatologists by trying to minimize delays to treatment, by working together in parallel clinics, combined clinics, and on virtual [multidisciplinary teams],” said Dr. Savage.

Dr. Proft agreed. “We should join forces and make decisions together.”

Dr. Savage and Dr. Proft did not provide any financial disclosures.

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

SEATTLE — Musculoskeletal (MSK) symptoms are common in patients with psoriasis, but should they be primarily handled by dermatologists or should rheumatologists be “in the driver’s seat?” That was the subject of a debate between a dermatologist and a rheumatologist at the annual meeting of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis.

Fabian Proft, MD, the rheumatologist, spoke first and emphasized the potential that MSK symptoms are a sign of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and therefore should be managed by a rheumatologist.

“Obviously, the rheumatologist perspective [is that] I should be in the driver’s seat when taking care of patient with psoriasis and MSK symptoms, but I will still need to have a copilot there: [The dermatologist] will have a slot,” said Dr. Proft, who is a rheumatologist at Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

“It’s so important that we make the correct and early diagnosis of [psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis] symptoms,” said Dr. Proft. He specifically called out cases where patients have symptoms that are difficult to determine, whether the cause is inflammatory, and when experience with imaging can be a key factor in the diagnosis.

It’s important not to overdiagnose or overtreat patients, he said, providing an example of a patient with psoriasis who had been training for a marathon. The MRI image suggested that his Achilles tendonitis pain was related to his athletic training, not PsA-associated inflammation. “So I think this is very important that you have the knowledge to read MRIs, and especially also carefully assessing them so as not to overdiagnose patients,” said Dr. Proft.

Dermatologist Rebuttal

In her rebuttal, Laura Savage, MD, PhD, emphasized the need for more of a coequal partnership between the two specialties because of the ability of dermatologists to intervene early in the treatment and prevention of PsA.

“Traditionally, I agree rheumatologists would solely be responsible for the assessment and the management of psoriatic arthritis, but I think that paradigm has shifted in part due to the increased recognition of the need for earlier intervention to limit disease progression and to reduce or even prevent functional limitation,” said Dr. Savage, who is a consultant dermatologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and a senior lecturer at the University of Leeds, Leeds, England.

Ideally, molecular biomarkers would be available to predict the development of PsA, but there aren’t any. Still, “we have a huge biomarker in the form of the skin, and it’s recognized that the majority of patients who will develop psoriatic arthritis will have antecedent psoriasis in about 70% of cases,” Dr. Savage said. “There’s a typical time delay of around 7-12 years between the onset of the skin [disease] and the patients developing psoriatic arthritis, and so many of them are going to be into the care of other healthcare practitioners, and particularly the care of dermatologists.”

Dermatologists may also be able to play a role in the prevention of PsA, according to Dr. Savage. In one retrospective study, treatment of skin lesions with biologics was associated with a reduced frequency of progression to PsA (11.1% vs 16.4%) over 10 years (P = .0006). Studies with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors and other interventions have shown similar results.

Such findings have led to the treat intercept strategy, which targets patients with psoriasis who have risk factors for transition to PsA — such as nail pitting, gluteal cleft disease, scalp disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and a first-degree relative with PsA — as well as symptoms of prodromal PSA, such as arthralgia and fatigue.

“I think dermatologists are aware of the need to not leave our patients languishing on these therapies and actually escalating them onto effective treatments that may also be able to treat early psoriatic arthritis. We could be more mindful about our choice of treatments for these patients, going on to thinking about their increased risk of PSA and trying to intercept,” Dr. Savage said. “What we don’t want is our patients to be developing these musculoskeletal symptoms of pain and stiffness and functional limitation and disability. We want to be treating the patients with musculoskeletal symptoms of that earlier prodromal phase when they’re developing arthralgia and fatigue.”

She conceded that more complicated patients are good candidates for care by the rheumatologist. “You can do your fancy imaging, and we’ll leave that to you, and the difficult-to-treat patients to [the rheumatologist], but actually we need to just get on and treat them,” she said. “One could argue as well that as a dermatologist, I’m likely to broaden my horizons in terms of choice of therapy and treat all of the domains of the patient. So I would argue that actually it should be the dermatologist who is in that driving seat, particularly when it comes to the management of early psoriatic arthritis, and actually what we should be doing is driving our patients and steering them to earlier intervention and better control for all domains of disease.”
 

Collaborative Care

During the follow-up discussion, both Dr. Proft and Dr. Savage agreed that dermatologists and rheumatologists should be working together in managing patients. “What we need to do is steer our patients toward collaborative care with our rheumatologists by trying to minimize delays to treatment, by working together in parallel clinics, combined clinics, and on virtual [multidisciplinary teams],” said Dr. Savage.

Dr. Proft agreed. “We should join forces and make decisions together.”

Dr. Savage and Dr. Proft did not provide any financial disclosures.

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

SEATTLE — Musculoskeletal (MSK) symptoms are common in patients with psoriasis, but should they be primarily handled by dermatologists or should rheumatologists be “in the driver’s seat?” That was the subject of a debate between a dermatologist and a rheumatologist at the annual meeting of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis.

Fabian Proft, MD, the rheumatologist, spoke first and emphasized the potential that MSK symptoms are a sign of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and therefore should be managed by a rheumatologist.

“Obviously, the rheumatologist perspective [is that] I should be in the driver’s seat when taking care of patient with psoriasis and MSK symptoms, but I will still need to have a copilot there: [The dermatologist] will have a slot,” said Dr. Proft, who is a rheumatologist at Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

“It’s so important that we make the correct and early diagnosis of [psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis] symptoms,” said Dr. Proft. He specifically called out cases where patients have symptoms that are difficult to determine, whether the cause is inflammatory, and when experience with imaging can be a key factor in the diagnosis.

It’s important not to overdiagnose or overtreat patients, he said, providing an example of a patient with psoriasis who had been training for a marathon. The MRI image suggested that his Achilles tendonitis pain was related to his athletic training, not PsA-associated inflammation. “So I think this is very important that you have the knowledge to read MRIs, and especially also carefully assessing them so as not to overdiagnose patients,” said Dr. Proft.

Dermatologist Rebuttal

In her rebuttal, Laura Savage, MD, PhD, emphasized the need for more of a coequal partnership between the two specialties because of the ability of dermatologists to intervene early in the treatment and prevention of PsA.

“Traditionally, I agree rheumatologists would solely be responsible for the assessment and the management of psoriatic arthritis, but I think that paradigm has shifted in part due to the increased recognition of the need for earlier intervention to limit disease progression and to reduce or even prevent functional limitation,” said Dr. Savage, who is a consultant dermatologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and a senior lecturer at the University of Leeds, Leeds, England.

Ideally, molecular biomarkers would be available to predict the development of PsA, but there aren’t any. Still, “we have a huge biomarker in the form of the skin, and it’s recognized that the majority of patients who will develop psoriatic arthritis will have antecedent psoriasis in about 70% of cases,” Dr. Savage said. “There’s a typical time delay of around 7-12 years between the onset of the skin [disease] and the patients developing psoriatic arthritis, and so many of them are going to be into the care of other healthcare practitioners, and particularly the care of dermatologists.”

Dermatologists may also be able to play a role in the prevention of PsA, according to Dr. Savage. In one retrospective study, treatment of skin lesions with biologics was associated with a reduced frequency of progression to PsA (11.1% vs 16.4%) over 10 years (P = .0006). Studies with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors and other interventions have shown similar results.

Such findings have led to the treat intercept strategy, which targets patients with psoriasis who have risk factors for transition to PsA — such as nail pitting, gluteal cleft disease, scalp disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and a first-degree relative with PsA — as well as symptoms of prodromal PSA, such as arthralgia and fatigue.

“I think dermatologists are aware of the need to not leave our patients languishing on these therapies and actually escalating them onto effective treatments that may also be able to treat early psoriatic arthritis. We could be more mindful about our choice of treatments for these patients, going on to thinking about their increased risk of PSA and trying to intercept,” Dr. Savage said. “What we don’t want is our patients to be developing these musculoskeletal symptoms of pain and stiffness and functional limitation and disability. We want to be treating the patients with musculoskeletal symptoms of that earlier prodromal phase when they’re developing arthralgia and fatigue.”

She conceded that more complicated patients are good candidates for care by the rheumatologist. “You can do your fancy imaging, and we’ll leave that to you, and the difficult-to-treat patients to [the rheumatologist], but actually we need to just get on and treat them,” she said. “One could argue as well that as a dermatologist, I’m likely to broaden my horizons in terms of choice of therapy and treat all of the domains of the patient. So I would argue that actually it should be the dermatologist who is in that driving seat, particularly when it comes to the management of early psoriatic arthritis, and actually what we should be doing is driving our patients and steering them to earlier intervention and better control for all domains of disease.”
 

Collaborative Care

During the follow-up discussion, both Dr. Proft and Dr. Savage agreed that dermatologists and rheumatologists should be working together in managing patients. “What we need to do is steer our patients toward collaborative care with our rheumatologists by trying to minimize delays to treatment, by working together in parallel clinics, combined clinics, and on virtual [multidisciplinary teams],” said Dr. Savage.

Dr. Proft agreed. “We should join forces and make decisions together.”

Dr. Savage and Dr. Proft did not provide any financial disclosures.

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Your odds are 1 in 562,400.

Or, as Bill Mallon, the past president and cofounder of the International Society of Olympic Historians, has said, aspiring athletes have a 0.00000178% chance of making the Games.

Now imagine the odds of making the Olympics and then going on to become a physician. And maybe it’s not surprising that those who have done it credit the training they received as Olympic athletes as key to their success in medicine.

“Dealing with poor outcomes and having to get back up and try again,” said Olympian-turned-physician Ogonna Nnamani Silva, MD, “that reiterative process of trying to obtain perfection in your craft — that’s athletics 101.”

This connection isn’t just anecdotal. It has been discussed in medical journals and examined in surveys. The consensus is that, yes, there are specific characteristics elite athletes develop that physicians — regardless of their athletic background — can learn to apply to their work in medicine.

Maybe it’s something else, too: Certain mindsets don’t worry about long odds. They seek out crucibles again and again without concern for the heat involved. Because the outcome is worth it.

Here are four athletes who became high-performing physicians and how they did it.
 

The Gymnast/The Pediatric Surgeon

“Gymnastics helped me build a skill set for my career,” said Canadian Olympic gymnast-turned-pediatric orthopedic surgeon Lise Leveille, MD. “It led me to be successful as a medical student and ultimately obtain the job that I want in the area that I want working with the people that I want.”

The skills Dr. Leveille prizes include time management, teamwork, goal setting, and a strong work ethic, all of which propel an athlete to the crucial moment of “performance.”

“I miss performing,” said Dr. Leveille. “It defines who I was at that time. I miss being able to work toward something and then deliver when it counted” — like when she qualified for the 1998 Commonwealth games in Kuala Lumpur at 16.

The Canadian national team came third at that event, and Dr. Leveille built on that success at the Pan American Games, taking gold on the balance beam and as a team, and then qualifying for the Olympics at the 1999 World Championships. She competed in the team and five individual events at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Though Dr. Leveille started gymnastics at age 3, her parents, both teachers, instilled in her the importance of education. Gymnastics opened academic doors for her, like being recruited to Stanford where she completed her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering and human biology in 2004 before entering medical school at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Now 41, Dr. Leveille accepts that she’ll never nail another gymnastics routine, but she channels that love of sticking the landing into the operating room at British Columbia Children’s Hospital, also in Vancouver.

“Some of the unknown variables within the operating room and how you deal with those unknown variables is exactly like showing up for a competition,” Dr. Leveille said. “When I have one of those cases where I have to perform under pressure and everything comes together, that’s exactly like nailing your routine when it counts most.”
 

The Pole Vaulter/The Emergency Medicine Physician

Tunisian American pole vaulter Leila Ben-Youssef, MD, had what could be considered a disappointing showing at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She collapsed from severe abdominal pain during the opening ceremony and had to be carried out. On the day of competition, she was still suffering. “I could barely run down the runway,” she recalled. “I cleared one bar. I was just happy to have been able to do that.”

When Dr. Ben-Youssef, who grew up in Montana, returned home, she underwent emergency surgery to remove the source of the pain: A large, benign tumor.

While some might be devastated by such bad luck, Dr. Ben-Youssef focuses on the success of her journey — the fact that she qualified and competed at the Olympics in the first place. The ability to accept setbacks is something she said comes with the territory.

“As an athlete, you’re always facing injury, and someone told me early in my career that the best athletes are the ones that know how to manage their expectations because it’s bound to happen,” she said. “So, there is disappointment. But recognizing that I did qualify for the Olympics despite being uncomfortable and having issues, I was still able to meet my goal.”

Prior to the games, Dr. Ben-Youssef had been accepted into medical school at the University of Washington School of Medicine at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Thankfully, the school was supportive of Dr. Ben-Youssef’s Olympic dreams and allowed her to begin her studies a month behind her class. Upon her return from Beijing, she spent the rest of her medical school training with her head down, grinding.

“Medicine is hard,” said Dr. Ben-Youssef. “It’s grueling both physically and emotionally, and I think that’s similar to any elite sport. You’re going to deal with challenges and disappointment. I think having gone through that as an athlete really prepares you for the medical education system, for residency, and even for day-to-day work.”

Now a physician working in emergency medicine in Hawaii, Dr. Ben-Youssef feels the setbacks she experienced as an athlete help her connect with her patients as they deal with health challenges.

And as a volunteer pole vaulting coach for a local high school, Dr. Ben-Youssef has been able to surround herself with the positive, joyful energy of athletes. “Emergency medicine is often a sad place,” she said. “But in a sports environment, if people don’t succeed or are injured, there is still that energy there that strives for something, and it’s so fun to be around.”
 

The Rower/The Sports Medicine Specialist

Three-time US Olympic rower Genevra “Gevvie” Stone, MD, wanted to be a doctor even before she gave a thought to rowing. She was in eighth grade when she dislocated her knee for the third time. Her parents took her to a pediatric orthopedist, and Dr. Stone, according to her mom, declared: “That’s what I want to do when I grow up.”

“I’m a very stubborn person, and when I make a decision like that, I usually don’t veer from it,” Dr. Stone said.

That laser focus combined with a deep love of both sports and medicine has served Dr. Stone well. “Becoming a doctor and becoming an Olympian require you to dedicate not just your time and your energy but also your passion to that focus,” she said. “In both, you aren’t going to be successful if you don’t love what you’re doing. Finding the reward in it is what makes it achievable.”

Dr. Stone actually resisted rowing until she was 16 because both of her parents were Olympians in the sport and met on the US team. “It was their thing, and I didn’t want it to be my thing,” she recalled.

Nonetheless, Dr. Stone easily fell into the sport in her late teens and was recruited by Princeton University. “I had grown up around Olympians and kind of took it for granted that if you worked hard enough and were decent at rowing, then you could be one of the best in the world, without really realizing how difficult it would be to achieve that,” she said.

Dr. Stone’s team won the NCAA Championship in 2006 and was invited to try out for the 2008 Olympic team at the US training center after she graduated from college. But she didn’t make it.

Instead, Dr. Stone entered medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, thinking her competitive rowing career had come to end. But her love for the sport was still strong, and she realized she wasn’t finished.

After 2 years of medical school, Dr. Stone requested 2 years off so she might have another shot at making the Olympic team. The timing was right. She went to the London Olympics in 2012, graduated from medical school in 2014, and then took 2 more years off to train full time for the 2016 Olympics in Rio where she won silver.

At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Dr. Stone took fifth place in the double sculls. While she continues to race the master’s circuit, she’s primarily dedicated to completing her sports medicine fellowship at University of Utah Health.

Fortunately, Dr. Stone’s parents, coaches, and teachers always supported her goals. “No one turned to me and told me I was crazy, just choose medicine or rowing,” she said. “Everyone said that if this is what you want to do, we’re here to support you, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without that support.”
 

The Volleyball Player/The Plastic Surgeon

Dr. Nnamani Silva’s journey to the Olympics was also paved with an extensive list of supporters, beginning with her parents. And she has taken that sense of collaboration, coordination, and teamwork into her medical career.

The daughter of Nigerian immigrants who came to the United States to escape civil war, Dr. Nnamani Silva said her parents embraced the American dream. “To see what they were able to do with hard work, dedication, and sacrifice, I had no choice but to work hard because I saw their example. And that love for and belief in America was so strong in my house growing up,” she said.

Dreams of practicing medicine came first. A severe asthmatic growing up, Dr. Nnamani Silva recalled having wonderful doctors. “I had so many emergency room visits and hospitalizations,” she said. “But the doctors always gave me hope, and they literally transformed my life. I thought if I could pass that on to my future patients, that would be the greatest honor of my life.”

Volleyball gave Dr. Nnamani Silva the opportunity to attend Stanford, and she took time off during her junior year to train and compete in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. She also played for the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing where the team took silver. Afterward, she continued to play overseas for several years.

At 33, and with a newborn daughter, Dr. Nnamani Silva returned to her original goal of becoming a doctor. She attended the University of California, San Francisco, and is currently a resident in the Harvard Plastic Surgery Program. She includes her husband, parents, and in-laws in this achievement, whom she said “saved” her. “There is no chance I would have finished medical school and survived residency without them.”

As a volleyball player, Dr. Nnamani Silva said she “believes in teams wholeheartedly,” valuing the exchange of energy and skill that she feels brings out the best in people. As a medical student, she initially didn’t realize how her previous life would apply to teamwork in the operating room. But it soon became clear.

“In surgery, when you harness the talents of everyone around you and you create that synergy, it’s an amazing feeling,” she said. And the stakes are often high. “It requires a lot of focus, discipline, determination, and resilience because you’re going to be humbled all the time.” Something athletes know a little bit about.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Your odds are 1 in 562,400.

Or, as Bill Mallon, the past president and cofounder of the International Society of Olympic Historians, has said, aspiring athletes have a 0.00000178% chance of making the Games.

Now imagine the odds of making the Olympics and then going on to become a physician. And maybe it’s not surprising that those who have done it credit the training they received as Olympic athletes as key to their success in medicine.

“Dealing with poor outcomes and having to get back up and try again,” said Olympian-turned-physician Ogonna Nnamani Silva, MD, “that reiterative process of trying to obtain perfection in your craft — that’s athletics 101.”

This connection isn’t just anecdotal. It has been discussed in medical journals and examined in surveys. The consensus is that, yes, there are specific characteristics elite athletes develop that physicians — regardless of their athletic background — can learn to apply to their work in medicine.

Maybe it’s something else, too: Certain mindsets don’t worry about long odds. They seek out crucibles again and again without concern for the heat involved. Because the outcome is worth it.

Here are four athletes who became high-performing physicians and how they did it.
 

The Gymnast/The Pediatric Surgeon

“Gymnastics helped me build a skill set for my career,” said Canadian Olympic gymnast-turned-pediatric orthopedic surgeon Lise Leveille, MD. “It led me to be successful as a medical student and ultimately obtain the job that I want in the area that I want working with the people that I want.”

The skills Dr. Leveille prizes include time management, teamwork, goal setting, and a strong work ethic, all of which propel an athlete to the crucial moment of “performance.”

“I miss performing,” said Dr. Leveille. “It defines who I was at that time. I miss being able to work toward something and then deliver when it counted” — like when she qualified for the 1998 Commonwealth games in Kuala Lumpur at 16.

The Canadian national team came third at that event, and Dr. Leveille built on that success at the Pan American Games, taking gold on the balance beam and as a team, and then qualifying for the Olympics at the 1999 World Championships. She competed in the team and five individual events at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Though Dr. Leveille started gymnastics at age 3, her parents, both teachers, instilled in her the importance of education. Gymnastics opened academic doors for her, like being recruited to Stanford where she completed her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering and human biology in 2004 before entering medical school at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Now 41, Dr. Leveille accepts that she’ll never nail another gymnastics routine, but she channels that love of sticking the landing into the operating room at British Columbia Children’s Hospital, also in Vancouver.

“Some of the unknown variables within the operating room and how you deal with those unknown variables is exactly like showing up for a competition,” Dr. Leveille said. “When I have one of those cases where I have to perform under pressure and everything comes together, that’s exactly like nailing your routine when it counts most.”
 

The Pole Vaulter/The Emergency Medicine Physician

Tunisian American pole vaulter Leila Ben-Youssef, MD, had what could be considered a disappointing showing at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She collapsed from severe abdominal pain during the opening ceremony and had to be carried out. On the day of competition, she was still suffering. “I could barely run down the runway,” she recalled. “I cleared one bar. I was just happy to have been able to do that.”

When Dr. Ben-Youssef, who grew up in Montana, returned home, she underwent emergency surgery to remove the source of the pain: A large, benign tumor.

While some might be devastated by such bad luck, Dr. Ben-Youssef focuses on the success of her journey — the fact that she qualified and competed at the Olympics in the first place. The ability to accept setbacks is something she said comes with the territory.

“As an athlete, you’re always facing injury, and someone told me early in my career that the best athletes are the ones that know how to manage their expectations because it’s bound to happen,” she said. “So, there is disappointment. But recognizing that I did qualify for the Olympics despite being uncomfortable and having issues, I was still able to meet my goal.”

Prior to the games, Dr. Ben-Youssef had been accepted into medical school at the University of Washington School of Medicine at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Thankfully, the school was supportive of Dr. Ben-Youssef’s Olympic dreams and allowed her to begin her studies a month behind her class. Upon her return from Beijing, she spent the rest of her medical school training with her head down, grinding.

“Medicine is hard,” said Dr. Ben-Youssef. “It’s grueling both physically and emotionally, and I think that’s similar to any elite sport. You’re going to deal with challenges and disappointment. I think having gone through that as an athlete really prepares you for the medical education system, for residency, and even for day-to-day work.”

Now a physician working in emergency medicine in Hawaii, Dr. Ben-Youssef feels the setbacks she experienced as an athlete help her connect with her patients as they deal with health challenges.

And as a volunteer pole vaulting coach for a local high school, Dr. Ben-Youssef has been able to surround herself with the positive, joyful energy of athletes. “Emergency medicine is often a sad place,” she said. “But in a sports environment, if people don’t succeed or are injured, there is still that energy there that strives for something, and it’s so fun to be around.”
 

The Rower/The Sports Medicine Specialist

Three-time US Olympic rower Genevra “Gevvie” Stone, MD, wanted to be a doctor even before she gave a thought to rowing. She was in eighth grade when she dislocated her knee for the third time. Her parents took her to a pediatric orthopedist, and Dr. Stone, according to her mom, declared: “That’s what I want to do when I grow up.”

“I’m a very stubborn person, and when I make a decision like that, I usually don’t veer from it,” Dr. Stone said.

That laser focus combined with a deep love of both sports and medicine has served Dr. Stone well. “Becoming a doctor and becoming an Olympian require you to dedicate not just your time and your energy but also your passion to that focus,” she said. “In both, you aren’t going to be successful if you don’t love what you’re doing. Finding the reward in it is what makes it achievable.”

Dr. Stone actually resisted rowing until she was 16 because both of her parents were Olympians in the sport and met on the US team. “It was their thing, and I didn’t want it to be my thing,” she recalled.

Nonetheless, Dr. Stone easily fell into the sport in her late teens and was recruited by Princeton University. “I had grown up around Olympians and kind of took it for granted that if you worked hard enough and were decent at rowing, then you could be one of the best in the world, without really realizing how difficult it would be to achieve that,” she said.

Dr. Stone’s team won the NCAA Championship in 2006 and was invited to try out for the 2008 Olympic team at the US training center after she graduated from college. But she didn’t make it.

Instead, Dr. Stone entered medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, thinking her competitive rowing career had come to end. But her love for the sport was still strong, and she realized she wasn’t finished.

After 2 years of medical school, Dr. Stone requested 2 years off so she might have another shot at making the Olympic team. The timing was right. She went to the London Olympics in 2012, graduated from medical school in 2014, and then took 2 more years off to train full time for the 2016 Olympics in Rio where she won silver.

At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Dr. Stone took fifth place in the double sculls. While she continues to race the master’s circuit, she’s primarily dedicated to completing her sports medicine fellowship at University of Utah Health.

Fortunately, Dr. Stone’s parents, coaches, and teachers always supported her goals. “No one turned to me and told me I was crazy, just choose medicine or rowing,” she said. “Everyone said that if this is what you want to do, we’re here to support you, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without that support.”
 

The Volleyball Player/The Plastic Surgeon

Dr. Nnamani Silva’s journey to the Olympics was also paved with an extensive list of supporters, beginning with her parents. And she has taken that sense of collaboration, coordination, and teamwork into her medical career.

The daughter of Nigerian immigrants who came to the United States to escape civil war, Dr. Nnamani Silva said her parents embraced the American dream. “To see what they were able to do with hard work, dedication, and sacrifice, I had no choice but to work hard because I saw their example. And that love for and belief in America was so strong in my house growing up,” she said.

Dreams of practicing medicine came first. A severe asthmatic growing up, Dr. Nnamani Silva recalled having wonderful doctors. “I had so many emergency room visits and hospitalizations,” she said. “But the doctors always gave me hope, and they literally transformed my life. I thought if I could pass that on to my future patients, that would be the greatest honor of my life.”

Volleyball gave Dr. Nnamani Silva the opportunity to attend Stanford, and she took time off during her junior year to train and compete in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. She also played for the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing where the team took silver. Afterward, she continued to play overseas for several years.

At 33, and with a newborn daughter, Dr. Nnamani Silva returned to her original goal of becoming a doctor. She attended the University of California, San Francisco, and is currently a resident in the Harvard Plastic Surgery Program. She includes her husband, parents, and in-laws in this achievement, whom she said “saved” her. “There is no chance I would have finished medical school and survived residency without them.”

As a volleyball player, Dr. Nnamani Silva said she “believes in teams wholeheartedly,” valuing the exchange of energy and skill that she feels brings out the best in people. As a medical student, she initially didn’t realize how her previous life would apply to teamwork in the operating room. But it soon became clear.

“In surgery, when you harness the talents of everyone around you and you create that synergy, it’s an amazing feeling,” she said. And the stakes are often high. “It requires a lot of focus, discipline, determination, and resilience because you’re going to be humbled all the time.” Something athletes know a little bit about.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Your odds are 1 in 562,400.

Or, as Bill Mallon, the past president and cofounder of the International Society of Olympic Historians, has said, aspiring athletes have a 0.00000178% chance of making the Games.

Now imagine the odds of making the Olympics and then going on to become a physician. And maybe it’s not surprising that those who have done it credit the training they received as Olympic athletes as key to their success in medicine.

“Dealing with poor outcomes and having to get back up and try again,” said Olympian-turned-physician Ogonna Nnamani Silva, MD, “that reiterative process of trying to obtain perfection in your craft — that’s athletics 101.”

This connection isn’t just anecdotal. It has been discussed in medical journals and examined in surveys. The consensus is that, yes, there are specific characteristics elite athletes develop that physicians — regardless of their athletic background — can learn to apply to their work in medicine.

Maybe it’s something else, too: Certain mindsets don’t worry about long odds. They seek out crucibles again and again without concern for the heat involved. Because the outcome is worth it.

Here are four athletes who became high-performing physicians and how they did it.
 

The Gymnast/The Pediatric Surgeon

“Gymnastics helped me build a skill set for my career,” said Canadian Olympic gymnast-turned-pediatric orthopedic surgeon Lise Leveille, MD. “It led me to be successful as a medical student and ultimately obtain the job that I want in the area that I want working with the people that I want.”

The skills Dr. Leveille prizes include time management, teamwork, goal setting, and a strong work ethic, all of which propel an athlete to the crucial moment of “performance.”

“I miss performing,” said Dr. Leveille. “It defines who I was at that time. I miss being able to work toward something and then deliver when it counted” — like when she qualified for the 1998 Commonwealth games in Kuala Lumpur at 16.

The Canadian national team came third at that event, and Dr. Leveille built on that success at the Pan American Games, taking gold on the balance beam and as a team, and then qualifying for the Olympics at the 1999 World Championships. She competed in the team and five individual events at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Though Dr. Leveille started gymnastics at age 3, her parents, both teachers, instilled in her the importance of education. Gymnastics opened academic doors for her, like being recruited to Stanford where she completed her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering and human biology in 2004 before entering medical school at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Now 41, Dr. Leveille accepts that she’ll never nail another gymnastics routine, but she channels that love of sticking the landing into the operating room at British Columbia Children’s Hospital, also in Vancouver.

“Some of the unknown variables within the operating room and how you deal with those unknown variables is exactly like showing up for a competition,” Dr. Leveille said. “When I have one of those cases where I have to perform under pressure and everything comes together, that’s exactly like nailing your routine when it counts most.”
 

The Pole Vaulter/The Emergency Medicine Physician

Tunisian American pole vaulter Leila Ben-Youssef, MD, had what could be considered a disappointing showing at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She collapsed from severe abdominal pain during the opening ceremony and had to be carried out. On the day of competition, she was still suffering. “I could barely run down the runway,” she recalled. “I cleared one bar. I was just happy to have been able to do that.”

When Dr. Ben-Youssef, who grew up in Montana, returned home, she underwent emergency surgery to remove the source of the pain: A large, benign tumor.

While some might be devastated by such bad luck, Dr. Ben-Youssef focuses on the success of her journey — the fact that she qualified and competed at the Olympics in the first place. The ability to accept setbacks is something she said comes with the territory.

“As an athlete, you’re always facing injury, and someone told me early in my career that the best athletes are the ones that know how to manage their expectations because it’s bound to happen,” she said. “So, there is disappointment. But recognizing that I did qualify for the Olympics despite being uncomfortable and having issues, I was still able to meet my goal.”

Prior to the games, Dr. Ben-Youssef had been accepted into medical school at the University of Washington School of Medicine at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Thankfully, the school was supportive of Dr. Ben-Youssef’s Olympic dreams and allowed her to begin her studies a month behind her class. Upon her return from Beijing, she spent the rest of her medical school training with her head down, grinding.

“Medicine is hard,” said Dr. Ben-Youssef. “It’s grueling both physically and emotionally, and I think that’s similar to any elite sport. You’re going to deal with challenges and disappointment. I think having gone through that as an athlete really prepares you for the medical education system, for residency, and even for day-to-day work.”

Now a physician working in emergency medicine in Hawaii, Dr. Ben-Youssef feels the setbacks she experienced as an athlete help her connect with her patients as they deal with health challenges.

And as a volunteer pole vaulting coach for a local high school, Dr. Ben-Youssef has been able to surround herself with the positive, joyful energy of athletes. “Emergency medicine is often a sad place,” she said. “But in a sports environment, if people don’t succeed or are injured, there is still that energy there that strives for something, and it’s so fun to be around.”
 

The Rower/The Sports Medicine Specialist

Three-time US Olympic rower Genevra “Gevvie” Stone, MD, wanted to be a doctor even before she gave a thought to rowing. She was in eighth grade when she dislocated her knee for the third time. Her parents took her to a pediatric orthopedist, and Dr. Stone, according to her mom, declared: “That’s what I want to do when I grow up.”

“I’m a very stubborn person, and when I make a decision like that, I usually don’t veer from it,” Dr. Stone said.

That laser focus combined with a deep love of both sports and medicine has served Dr. Stone well. “Becoming a doctor and becoming an Olympian require you to dedicate not just your time and your energy but also your passion to that focus,” she said. “In both, you aren’t going to be successful if you don’t love what you’re doing. Finding the reward in it is what makes it achievable.”

Dr. Stone actually resisted rowing until she was 16 because both of her parents were Olympians in the sport and met on the US team. “It was their thing, and I didn’t want it to be my thing,” she recalled.

Nonetheless, Dr. Stone easily fell into the sport in her late teens and was recruited by Princeton University. “I had grown up around Olympians and kind of took it for granted that if you worked hard enough and were decent at rowing, then you could be one of the best in the world, without really realizing how difficult it would be to achieve that,” she said.

Dr. Stone’s team won the NCAA Championship in 2006 and was invited to try out for the 2008 Olympic team at the US training center after she graduated from college. But she didn’t make it.

Instead, Dr. Stone entered medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, thinking her competitive rowing career had come to end. But her love for the sport was still strong, and she realized she wasn’t finished.

After 2 years of medical school, Dr. Stone requested 2 years off so she might have another shot at making the Olympic team. The timing was right. She went to the London Olympics in 2012, graduated from medical school in 2014, and then took 2 more years off to train full time for the 2016 Olympics in Rio where she won silver.

At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Dr. Stone took fifth place in the double sculls. While she continues to race the master’s circuit, she’s primarily dedicated to completing her sports medicine fellowship at University of Utah Health.

Fortunately, Dr. Stone’s parents, coaches, and teachers always supported her goals. “No one turned to me and told me I was crazy, just choose medicine or rowing,” she said. “Everyone said that if this is what you want to do, we’re here to support you, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without that support.”
 

The Volleyball Player/The Plastic Surgeon

Dr. Nnamani Silva’s journey to the Olympics was also paved with an extensive list of supporters, beginning with her parents. And she has taken that sense of collaboration, coordination, and teamwork into her medical career.

The daughter of Nigerian immigrants who came to the United States to escape civil war, Dr. Nnamani Silva said her parents embraced the American dream. “To see what they were able to do with hard work, dedication, and sacrifice, I had no choice but to work hard because I saw their example. And that love for and belief in America was so strong in my house growing up,” she said.

Dreams of practicing medicine came first. A severe asthmatic growing up, Dr. Nnamani Silva recalled having wonderful doctors. “I had so many emergency room visits and hospitalizations,” she said. “But the doctors always gave me hope, and they literally transformed my life. I thought if I could pass that on to my future patients, that would be the greatest honor of my life.”

Volleyball gave Dr. Nnamani Silva the opportunity to attend Stanford, and she took time off during her junior year to train and compete in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. She also played for the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing where the team took silver. Afterward, she continued to play overseas for several years.

At 33, and with a newborn daughter, Dr. Nnamani Silva returned to her original goal of becoming a doctor. She attended the University of California, San Francisco, and is currently a resident in the Harvard Plastic Surgery Program. She includes her husband, parents, and in-laws in this achievement, whom she said “saved” her. “There is no chance I would have finished medical school and survived residency without them.”

As a volleyball player, Dr. Nnamani Silva said she “believes in teams wholeheartedly,” valuing the exchange of energy and skill that she feels brings out the best in people. As a medical student, she initially didn’t realize how her previous life would apply to teamwork in the operating room. But it soon became clear.

“In surgery, when you harness the talents of everyone around you and you create that synergy, it’s an amazing feeling,” she said. And the stakes are often high. “It requires a lot of focus, discipline, determination, and resilience because you’re going to be humbled all the time.” Something athletes know a little bit about.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Across the world, healthcare workers experience workplace violence, which can differ by gender, seniority, and the type of workplace, according to a recent study.

An analysis found that men were more likely to report physical violence, while women were more likely to face nonphysical violence, such as verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and bullying.

“Our study was sparked by the increasing research on workplace violence in healthcare settings. Yet, there’s less empirical data about workplace violence based on gender, its effects on individuals and the collective workforce, and its subsequent impact on patient care and healthcare organizations,” study author Basnama Ayaz, a PhD candidate in nursing at the University of Toronto, told this news organization.

“Workplace violence in healthcare settings is a critical issue that requires attention and action from all stakeholders, including individual providers, healthcare and other institutions, policymakers, and the community,” she said. “By recognizing the problem and implementing evidence-based solutions, we can create safer work environments that protect healthcare workers and improve quality care for patients and organizational effectiveness.”

The study was published online in PLOS Global Public Health.
 

Widespread and Severe

Although women represent most of the healthcare workforce worldwide, hierarchical structures tend to reflect traditional gender norms, where men hold leadership positions and women serve in front-line care roles, said Ms. Ayaz. Women are often marginalized, and their concerns dismissed, which can exacerbate their vulnerability to gender-based workplace violence, she added.

To better understand these imbalances on a global scale, the investigators conducted a scoping review of the prevalence of and risk factors for gender-based workplace violence in healthcare settings. Participants included physicians, nurses, and midwives, between 2010 and 2024. Although the authors acknowledged that gender-based workplace violence affects the full gender spectrum, only a handful of studies included information about nonbinary personnel, so the review focused on men and women.

Among 226 studies, half focused on physicians, 22% focused on nurses, and 28% included physicians, nurses, midwives, and other medical workers. About 64% of studies reported a higher prevalence of all forms of workplace violence for women, including sexual violence, verbal abuse, discrimination, bullying, and physical violence, while 17% reported a higher prevalence for men.

Overall, across most countries, men experienced more physical violence than did women, and women experienced more verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and bullying. Female nurses were particularly likely to experience violence.

Healthcare workers were also more likely to experience violence if they were younger, less experienced, had a lower professional status, or were part of a minority group based on ethnicity, nationality, culture, or language. These factors were sensitive to gender, “reflecting women’s structural disadvantages in the workplace,” wrote the authors.

As a result of workplace violence, women were more likely to report changes in mental health and social behaviors, as well as dissatisfaction, burnout, and changes in their career goals.

The research team identified various factors linked to violent episodes. In clinical settings where most perpetrators were patients and their relatives, abuse and violence could be related to overcrowding, waiting time, and heavy workloads for healthcare providers. When supervisors or colleagues were the perpetrators, workplace violence appeared to be more likely with long hours, night shifts, and certain clinical settings, such as emergency departments, psychiatric settings, operating rooms, and maternity wards, said Ms. Ayaz. Sexual or gender harassment toward women was more prevalent in male-dominated surgical specialties.

“We were surprised by the extent and severity of workplace violence that healthcare workers face around the globe based on gender,” she said. “One aspect that stood out was the significant role that organizational culture and support systems play either in mitigating or exacerbating these incidents, particularly the power structures between and within professions.”

For instance, trainees in lower hierarchical positions often face a higher risk for violence, especially gender-based harassment, she said. Many times, they feel they can’t report these incidents to trainers or managers, who may also be the perpetrators, she added.
 

Addressing Systemic Issues

In 2002, the World Health Organization, International Council of Nurses, and other major medical and labor groups worldwide launched a program focused on ways to eliminate workplace violence in healthcare settings. Since 2020, the call for a solution has grown louder as clinicians, nurses, and other health professionals faced more physical and verbal violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, often leading to burnout.

“Workplace violence is very important because it is more prevalent in healthcare workers than in many other settings and is on the rise,” said Karen Abrams, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Dr. Abrams, who wasn’t involved with this study, has researched physicians’ experiences of stalking by patients.

Workplace violence “can affect physical and mental health and lead to burnout, depression, anxiety, and symptoms of PTSD,” said Dr. Abrams. “It can affect one’s sleep and concentration and, therefore, ability to perform one’s job.”

Dr. Ayaz and colleagues suggested recommendations to improve gender-based workplace violence, noting the complex and multifaceted aspects of enhancing current policies, fortifying institutional capacities to respond, and implementing tailored interventions. Changes are needed at various levels, including at the healthcare system and provincial, territorial, and national levels, she said.

In Canada, for instance, lawmakers passed a bill in 2021 that amended the national criminal code to make intimidation or bullying a healthcare worker punishable by as many as 10 years in prison. The changes also required courts to consider more serious penalties for offenders who target healthcare workers aggressively.

But more needs to be done, medical professional groups say. The Canadian Nurses Association and Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, as well as provincial groups, have called for a pan-Canadian violence-prevention framework, targeted funding for violence prevention infrastructure, and an update to the nation’s health human resources strategy to address severe staffing shortages across the country.

“Canada needs a bold vision for the future of our healthcare. Amid an ongoing staffing crisis, the cracks in our public healthcare systems have only grown deeper and wider, with too many going without the care they need when they need it,” Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, told this news organization.

“Access to care relies on safe staffing. Years of unsafe working conditions and insufficient staffing are pushing nurses out of our public healthcare system,” she said. “Working collaboratively, we can make healthcare jobs the best jobs in our communities.”

The authors received no specific funding for the study. Ms. Ayaz, Dr. Abrams, and Ms. Silas reported no relevant financial relationships.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Across the world, healthcare workers experience workplace violence, which can differ by gender, seniority, and the type of workplace, according to a recent study.

An analysis found that men were more likely to report physical violence, while women were more likely to face nonphysical violence, such as verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and bullying.

“Our study was sparked by the increasing research on workplace violence in healthcare settings. Yet, there’s less empirical data about workplace violence based on gender, its effects on individuals and the collective workforce, and its subsequent impact on patient care and healthcare organizations,” study author Basnama Ayaz, a PhD candidate in nursing at the University of Toronto, told this news organization.

“Workplace violence in healthcare settings is a critical issue that requires attention and action from all stakeholders, including individual providers, healthcare and other institutions, policymakers, and the community,” she said. “By recognizing the problem and implementing evidence-based solutions, we can create safer work environments that protect healthcare workers and improve quality care for patients and organizational effectiveness.”

The study was published online in PLOS Global Public Health.
 

Widespread and Severe

Although women represent most of the healthcare workforce worldwide, hierarchical structures tend to reflect traditional gender norms, where men hold leadership positions and women serve in front-line care roles, said Ms. Ayaz. Women are often marginalized, and their concerns dismissed, which can exacerbate their vulnerability to gender-based workplace violence, she added.

To better understand these imbalances on a global scale, the investigators conducted a scoping review of the prevalence of and risk factors for gender-based workplace violence in healthcare settings. Participants included physicians, nurses, and midwives, between 2010 and 2024. Although the authors acknowledged that gender-based workplace violence affects the full gender spectrum, only a handful of studies included information about nonbinary personnel, so the review focused on men and women.

Among 226 studies, half focused on physicians, 22% focused on nurses, and 28% included physicians, nurses, midwives, and other medical workers. About 64% of studies reported a higher prevalence of all forms of workplace violence for women, including sexual violence, verbal abuse, discrimination, bullying, and physical violence, while 17% reported a higher prevalence for men.

Overall, across most countries, men experienced more physical violence than did women, and women experienced more verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and bullying. Female nurses were particularly likely to experience violence.

Healthcare workers were also more likely to experience violence if they were younger, less experienced, had a lower professional status, or were part of a minority group based on ethnicity, nationality, culture, or language. These factors were sensitive to gender, “reflecting women’s structural disadvantages in the workplace,” wrote the authors.

As a result of workplace violence, women were more likely to report changes in mental health and social behaviors, as well as dissatisfaction, burnout, and changes in their career goals.

The research team identified various factors linked to violent episodes. In clinical settings where most perpetrators were patients and their relatives, abuse and violence could be related to overcrowding, waiting time, and heavy workloads for healthcare providers. When supervisors or colleagues were the perpetrators, workplace violence appeared to be more likely with long hours, night shifts, and certain clinical settings, such as emergency departments, psychiatric settings, operating rooms, and maternity wards, said Ms. Ayaz. Sexual or gender harassment toward women was more prevalent in male-dominated surgical specialties.

“We were surprised by the extent and severity of workplace violence that healthcare workers face around the globe based on gender,” she said. “One aspect that stood out was the significant role that organizational culture and support systems play either in mitigating or exacerbating these incidents, particularly the power structures between and within professions.”

For instance, trainees in lower hierarchical positions often face a higher risk for violence, especially gender-based harassment, she said. Many times, they feel they can’t report these incidents to trainers or managers, who may also be the perpetrators, she added.
 

Addressing Systemic Issues

In 2002, the World Health Organization, International Council of Nurses, and other major medical and labor groups worldwide launched a program focused on ways to eliminate workplace violence in healthcare settings. Since 2020, the call for a solution has grown louder as clinicians, nurses, and other health professionals faced more physical and verbal violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, often leading to burnout.

“Workplace violence is very important because it is more prevalent in healthcare workers than in many other settings and is on the rise,” said Karen Abrams, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Dr. Abrams, who wasn’t involved with this study, has researched physicians’ experiences of stalking by patients.

Workplace violence “can affect physical and mental health and lead to burnout, depression, anxiety, and symptoms of PTSD,” said Dr. Abrams. “It can affect one’s sleep and concentration and, therefore, ability to perform one’s job.”

Dr. Ayaz and colleagues suggested recommendations to improve gender-based workplace violence, noting the complex and multifaceted aspects of enhancing current policies, fortifying institutional capacities to respond, and implementing tailored interventions. Changes are needed at various levels, including at the healthcare system and provincial, territorial, and national levels, she said.

In Canada, for instance, lawmakers passed a bill in 2021 that amended the national criminal code to make intimidation or bullying a healthcare worker punishable by as many as 10 years in prison. The changes also required courts to consider more serious penalties for offenders who target healthcare workers aggressively.

But more needs to be done, medical professional groups say. The Canadian Nurses Association and Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, as well as provincial groups, have called for a pan-Canadian violence-prevention framework, targeted funding for violence prevention infrastructure, and an update to the nation’s health human resources strategy to address severe staffing shortages across the country.

“Canada needs a bold vision for the future of our healthcare. Amid an ongoing staffing crisis, the cracks in our public healthcare systems have only grown deeper and wider, with too many going without the care they need when they need it,” Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, told this news organization.

“Access to care relies on safe staffing. Years of unsafe working conditions and insufficient staffing are pushing nurses out of our public healthcare system,” she said. “Working collaboratively, we can make healthcare jobs the best jobs in our communities.”

The authors received no specific funding for the study. Ms. Ayaz, Dr. Abrams, and Ms. Silas reported no relevant financial relationships.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Across the world, healthcare workers experience workplace violence, which can differ by gender, seniority, and the type of workplace, according to a recent study.

An analysis found that men were more likely to report physical violence, while women were more likely to face nonphysical violence, such as verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and bullying.

“Our study was sparked by the increasing research on workplace violence in healthcare settings. Yet, there’s less empirical data about workplace violence based on gender, its effects on individuals and the collective workforce, and its subsequent impact on patient care and healthcare organizations,” study author Basnama Ayaz, a PhD candidate in nursing at the University of Toronto, told this news organization.

“Workplace violence in healthcare settings is a critical issue that requires attention and action from all stakeholders, including individual providers, healthcare and other institutions, policymakers, and the community,” she said. “By recognizing the problem and implementing evidence-based solutions, we can create safer work environments that protect healthcare workers and improve quality care for patients and organizational effectiveness.”

The study was published online in PLOS Global Public Health.
 

Widespread and Severe

Although women represent most of the healthcare workforce worldwide, hierarchical structures tend to reflect traditional gender norms, where men hold leadership positions and women serve in front-line care roles, said Ms. Ayaz. Women are often marginalized, and their concerns dismissed, which can exacerbate their vulnerability to gender-based workplace violence, she added.

To better understand these imbalances on a global scale, the investigators conducted a scoping review of the prevalence of and risk factors for gender-based workplace violence in healthcare settings. Participants included physicians, nurses, and midwives, between 2010 and 2024. Although the authors acknowledged that gender-based workplace violence affects the full gender spectrum, only a handful of studies included information about nonbinary personnel, so the review focused on men and women.

Among 226 studies, half focused on physicians, 22% focused on nurses, and 28% included physicians, nurses, midwives, and other medical workers. About 64% of studies reported a higher prevalence of all forms of workplace violence for women, including sexual violence, verbal abuse, discrimination, bullying, and physical violence, while 17% reported a higher prevalence for men.

Overall, across most countries, men experienced more physical violence than did women, and women experienced more verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and bullying. Female nurses were particularly likely to experience violence.

Healthcare workers were also more likely to experience violence if they were younger, less experienced, had a lower professional status, or were part of a minority group based on ethnicity, nationality, culture, or language. These factors were sensitive to gender, “reflecting women’s structural disadvantages in the workplace,” wrote the authors.

As a result of workplace violence, women were more likely to report changes in mental health and social behaviors, as well as dissatisfaction, burnout, and changes in their career goals.

The research team identified various factors linked to violent episodes. In clinical settings where most perpetrators were patients and their relatives, abuse and violence could be related to overcrowding, waiting time, and heavy workloads for healthcare providers. When supervisors or colleagues were the perpetrators, workplace violence appeared to be more likely with long hours, night shifts, and certain clinical settings, such as emergency departments, psychiatric settings, operating rooms, and maternity wards, said Ms. Ayaz. Sexual or gender harassment toward women was more prevalent in male-dominated surgical specialties.

“We were surprised by the extent and severity of workplace violence that healthcare workers face around the globe based on gender,” she said. “One aspect that stood out was the significant role that organizational culture and support systems play either in mitigating or exacerbating these incidents, particularly the power structures between and within professions.”

For instance, trainees in lower hierarchical positions often face a higher risk for violence, especially gender-based harassment, she said. Many times, they feel they can’t report these incidents to trainers or managers, who may also be the perpetrators, she added.
 

Addressing Systemic Issues

In 2002, the World Health Organization, International Council of Nurses, and other major medical and labor groups worldwide launched a program focused on ways to eliminate workplace violence in healthcare settings. Since 2020, the call for a solution has grown louder as clinicians, nurses, and other health professionals faced more physical and verbal violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, often leading to burnout.

“Workplace violence is very important because it is more prevalent in healthcare workers than in many other settings and is on the rise,” said Karen Abrams, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Dr. Abrams, who wasn’t involved with this study, has researched physicians’ experiences of stalking by patients.

Workplace violence “can affect physical and mental health and lead to burnout, depression, anxiety, and symptoms of PTSD,” said Dr. Abrams. “It can affect one’s sleep and concentration and, therefore, ability to perform one’s job.”

Dr. Ayaz and colleagues suggested recommendations to improve gender-based workplace violence, noting the complex and multifaceted aspects of enhancing current policies, fortifying institutional capacities to respond, and implementing tailored interventions. Changes are needed at various levels, including at the healthcare system and provincial, territorial, and national levels, she said.

In Canada, for instance, lawmakers passed a bill in 2021 that amended the national criminal code to make intimidation or bullying a healthcare worker punishable by as many as 10 years in prison. The changes also required courts to consider more serious penalties for offenders who target healthcare workers aggressively.

But more needs to be done, medical professional groups say. The Canadian Nurses Association and Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, as well as provincial groups, have called for a pan-Canadian violence-prevention framework, targeted funding for violence prevention infrastructure, and an update to the nation’s health human resources strategy to address severe staffing shortages across the country.

“Canada needs a bold vision for the future of our healthcare. Amid an ongoing staffing crisis, the cracks in our public healthcare systems have only grown deeper and wider, with too many going without the care they need when they need it,” Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, told this news organization.

“Access to care relies on safe staffing. Years of unsafe working conditions and insufficient staffing are pushing nurses out of our public healthcare system,” she said. “Working collaboratively, we can make healthcare jobs the best jobs in our communities.”

The authors received no specific funding for the study. Ms. Ayaz, Dr. Abrams, and Ms. Silas reported no relevant financial relationships.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Editor’s Note: This piece was originally published in Dr. Glasser’s bimonthly column in The Jolt, a nonprofit online news organization based in Olympia, Washington. She was inspired to write her story after meeting Christine Laine, MD, one of three female physician presenters at the Sommer Lectures in Portland, Oregon, in May 2024. The article has been edited lightly from the original. 

Primary care internal medicine — the medical field I chose, loved, and practiced for four decades — is dead. 

The grief and shock I feel about this is personal and transpersonal. The loss of internists (internal medicine physicians) practicing primary care is a major loss to us all. 

From the 1970s to roughly 2020, there were three groups of primary care physicians: family practice, pediatricians, and internists. In their 3-year residencies (after 4 years of medical school), pediatricians trained to care for children and adolescents; internists for adults; and FPs for children, adults, and women and pregnancy. Family practitioners are the most general of the generalists, whereas the others’ training involves comprehensive care of complex patients in their age groups.

How and when the field of primary care internal medicine flourished is my story. 

I was one of those kids who was hyperfocused on science, math, and the human body. By the end of high school, I was considering medicine for my career. 

To learn more, I volunteered at the local hospital. In my typical style, I requested not to be one of those candy stripers serving drinks on the wards. Instead, they put me in the emergency department, where I would transport patients and clean the stretchers. There I was free to watch whatever was going on if I did not interfere with the staff. On my first shift, a 20-year-old drowning victim arrived by ambulance. I watched the entire unsuccessful resuscitation and as shocked and saddened as I was, I knew (in the way only a headstrong 18-year-old can) that medicine was for me. 

It was a fortuitous time to graduate as a female pre-med student. 

In 1975, our country was in the midst of the women’s movement and a national effort to train primary care physicians. I was accepted to my state medical school. The University of Massachusetts Medical School had been established a few years earlier, with its main purpose to train primary care physicians and spread them around the state (especially out of the Boston metropolitan area). The curriculum was designed to expose students to primary care from year one. I was assigned to shadow a general practice physician in inner-city Springfield who saw over 50 patients a day! The patients knew they could see and afford him, so they crammed into his waiting room until their name was called in order of their arrival. No appointments necessary. His chart notes were a few scribbled sentences. I didn’t see myself in that practice exactly, but his work ethic and dedication inspired me. 

Over half of our graduating class chose to train in primary care specialties, and most stayed in-state. It turned out to be a good bet on the part of the government of Massachusetts. 

When I applied for residency in 1980, several internal medicine programs had a focus on primary care, which was my goal. I matched at Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, Oregon, and moved across the country to the Pacific Northwest, never to look back. There, my attendings were doctors like I wanted to be: primary care internists in the community, not in academia. It was the perfect choice and an excellent training program. 

In 1984, I hung out my private practice internal medicine shingle in Hillsboro, Oregon, across the street from the community hospital. My primary care internal medicine colleagues and I shared weekend calls and admitted and cared for our patients in the hospital, and when they were discharged. That is now called “continuity of care.” It was a time when we ate in the doctors’ lounge together, met in hallways, and informally consulted each other about our patients. These were called “curbside consults.” They were invaluable to our ability to provide comprehensive care to our patients in primary care, led to fewer specialty referrals, and were free. That would now be called interprofessional communication and collegiality. 

“Burnout” was not a word you heard. We were busy and happy doing what we had spent 12 years of our precious youth to prepare for. 

What did internists offer to primary care? That also is part of my story. 

When I moved to Olympia, I took a position in the women’s health clinic at the American Lake Veterans Administration Medical Center. 

We were a small group: two family practice doctors, three nurse practitioners, and me, the only internist. Many of our patients were sick and complex. Two of the nurse practitioners (NPs) asked me to take their most complicated patients. Being comfortable with complexity as an internist, I said yes. 

One of the NPs was inappropriately hired, as she had experience in women’s health. She came to me freaked out: “Oh my God, I have no idea how to manage COPD!” The other wanted simpler patients. I don’t blame them for the patient transfers. NPs typically have 3 years of training before they practice, in contrast to primary care physicians’ 8. 

Guess who made friends with the custodian, staying until 8 p.m. most evenings, and who left by 5:30 p.m. 

What was I doing in those extra hours? I was trudging through clerical, yet important, tasks my medical assistant and transcriptionist used to do in private practice. In the 30 minutes allotted for the patient, I needed to focus entirely on them and their multiple complex medical problems. 

What is lost with the death of primary care internal medicine? 

At the recent Sommer Memorial Lectures in Portland, Steven D. Freer, MD, the current director of the residency program where I trained, has not had a single of his eight annual internal medicine graduates choose primary care in several years. Half (two of four) of those in my year did: One went to Tillamook, an underserved area on the Oregon coast, and I to Hillsboro. 

What are internal medicine training graduates doing now? They are becoming hospitalists or, more often, specialists in cardiology, pulmonology, nephrology, oncology, and other more lucrative fields of medicine. 

Why are they not choosing primary care? As when the University of Massachusetts Medical School was established, a shortage of primary care physicians persists and probably is more severe than it was in the 1970s. Massachusetts was proactive. We are already years behind catching up. The shortage is no longer in rural areas alone. 

Christine Laine, MD, who is editor in chief of Annals of Internal Medicine and spoke at the Sommer Memorial Lectures, lives in Philadelphia. Even there, she has lost her own primary care internal medicine physician and cannot find another primary care physician (much less an internist) for herself. 

Washington State, where I live, scores a D grade for our primary care staffing statewide. 

Is there hope for the future of primary care in general? Or for the restoration of primary care internal medicine? 

Maybe. I was relieved to hear from Dr. Freer and Dr. Laine that efforts are beginning to revive the field. 

Just like internists’ patients, the potential restoration of the field will be complex and multilayered. It will require new laws, policies, residency programs, and incentives for students, including debt reduction. Administrative burdens will need to be reduced; de-corporatization and restoring healthcare leadership to those with in-depth medical training will need to be a part of the solution as well. 

Let’s all hope the new resuscitation efforts will be successful for the field of primary care in general and primary care internal medicine specifically. It will be good for healthcare and for your patients! 

Many work for large systems in which they feel powerless to effect change.

Dr. Glasser is a retired internal medicine physician in Olympia, Washington. She can be reached at [email protected].

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Editor’s Note: This piece was originally published in Dr. Glasser’s bimonthly column in The Jolt, a nonprofit online news organization based in Olympia, Washington. She was inspired to write her story after meeting Christine Laine, MD, one of three female physician presenters at the Sommer Lectures in Portland, Oregon, in May 2024. The article has been edited lightly from the original. 

Primary care internal medicine — the medical field I chose, loved, and practiced for four decades — is dead. 

The grief and shock I feel about this is personal and transpersonal. The loss of internists (internal medicine physicians) practicing primary care is a major loss to us all. 

From the 1970s to roughly 2020, there were three groups of primary care physicians: family practice, pediatricians, and internists. In their 3-year residencies (after 4 years of medical school), pediatricians trained to care for children and adolescents; internists for adults; and FPs for children, adults, and women and pregnancy. Family practitioners are the most general of the generalists, whereas the others’ training involves comprehensive care of complex patients in their age groups.

How and when the field of primary care internal medicine flourished is my story. 

I was one of those kids who was hyperfocused on science, math, and the human body. By the end of high school, I was considering medicine for my career. 

To learn more, I volunteered at the local hospital. In my typical style, I requested not to be one of those candy stripers serving drinks on the wards. Instead, they put me in the emergency department, where I would transport patients and clean the stretchers. There I was free to watch whatever was going on if I did not interfere with the staff. On my first shift, a 20-year-old drowning victim arrived by ambulance. I watched the entire unsuccessful resuscitation and as shocked and saddened as I was, I knew (in the way only a headstrong 18-year-old can) that medicine was for me. 

It was a fortuitous time to graduate as a female pre-med student. 

In 1975, our country was in the midst of the women’s movement and a national effort to train primary care physicians. I was accepted to my state medical school. The University of Massachusetts Medical School had been established a few years earlier, with its main purpose to train primary care physicians and spread them around the state (especially out of the Boston metropolitan area). The curriculum was designed to expose students to primary care from year one. I was assigned to shadow a general practice physician in inner-city Springfield who saw over 50 patients a day! The patients knew they could see and afford him, so they crammed into his waiting room until their name was called in order of their arrival. No appointments necessary. His chart notes were a few scribbled sentences. I didn’t see myself in that practice exactly, but his work ethic and dedication inspired me. 

Over half of our graduating class chose to train in primary care specialties, and most stayed in-state. It turned out to be a good bet on the part of the government of Massachusetts. 

When I applied for residency in 1980, several internal medicine programs had a focus on primary care, which was my goal. I matched at Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, Oregon, and moved across the country to the Pacific Northwest, never to look back. There, my attendings were doctors like I wanted to be: primary care internists in the community, not in academia. It was the perfect choice and an excellent training program. 

In 1984, I hung out my private practice internal medicine shingle in Hillsboro, Oregon, across the street from the community hospital. My primary care internal medicine colleagues and I shared weekend calls and admitted and cared for our patients in the hospital, and when they were discharged. That is now called “continuity of care.” It was a time when we ate in the doctors’ lounge together, met in hallways, and informally consulted each other about our patients. These were called “curbside consults.” They were invaluable to our ability to provide comprehensive care to our patients in primary care, led to fewer specialty referrals, and were free. That would now be called interprofessional communication and collegiality. 

“Burnout” was not a word you heard. We were busy and happy doing what we had spent 12 years of our precious youth to prepare for. 

What did internists offer to primary care? That also is part of my story. 

When I moved to Olympia, I took a position in the women’s health clinic at the American Lake Veterans Administration Medical Center. 

We were a small group: two family practice doctors, three nurse practitioners, and me, the only internist. Many of our patients were sick and complex. Two of the nurse practitioners (NPs) asked me to take their most complicated patients. Being comfortable with complexity as an internist, I said yes. 

One of the NPs was inappropriately hired, as she had experience in women’s health. She came to me freaked out: “Oh my God, I have no idea how to manage COPD!” The other wanted simpler patients. I don’t blame them for the patient transfers. NPs typically have 3 years of training before they practice, in contrast to primary care physicians’ 8. 

Guess who made friends with the custodian, staying until 8 p.m. most evenings, and who left by 5:30 p.m. 

What was I doing in those extra hours? I was trudging through clerical, yet important, tasks my medical assistant and transcriptionist used to do in private practice. In the 30 minutes allotted for the patient, I needed to focus entirely on them and their multiple complex medical problems. 

What is lost with the death of primary care internal medicine? 

At the recent Sommer Memorial Lectures in Portland, Steven D. Freer, MD, the current director of the residency program where I trained, has not had a single of his eight annual internal medicine graduates choose primary care in several years. Half (two of four) of those in my year did: One went to Tillamook, an underserved area on the Oregon coast, and I to Hillsboro. 

What are internal medicine training graduates doing now? They are becoming hospitalists or, more often, specialists in cardiology, pulmonology, nephrology, oncology, and other more lucrative fields of medicine. 

Why are they not choosing primary care? As when the University of Massachusetts Medical School was established, a shortage of primary care physicians persists and probably is more severe than it was in the 1970s. Massachusetts was proactive. We are already years behind catching up. The shortage is no longer in rural areas alone. 

Christine Laine, MD, who is editor in chief of Annals of Internal Medicine and spoke at the Sommer Memorial Lectures, lives in Philadelphia. Even there, she has lost her own primary care internal medicine physician and cannot find another primary care physician (much less an internist) for herself. 

Washington State, where I live, scores a D grade for our primary care staffing statewide. 

Is there hope for the future of primary care in general? Or for the restoration of primary care internal medicine? 

Maybe. I was relieved to hear from Dr. Freer and Dr. Laine that efforts are beginning to revive the field. 

Just like internists’ patients, the potential restoration of the field will be complex and multilayered. It will require new laws, policies, residency programs, and incentives for students, including debt reduction. Administrative burdens will need to be reduced; de-corporatization and restoring healthcare leadership to those with in-depth medical training will need to be a part of the solution as well. 

Let’s all hope the new resuscitation efforts will be successful for the field of primary care in general and primary care internal medicine specifically. It will be good for healthcare and for your patients! 

Many work for large systems in which they feel powerless to effect change.

Dr. Glasser is a retired internal medicine physician in Olympia, Washington. She can be reached at [email protected].

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Editor’s Note: This piece was originally published in Dr. Glasser’s bimonthly column in The Jolt, a nonprofit online news organization based in Olympia, Washington. She was inspired to write her story after meeting Christine Laine, MD, one of three female physician presenters at the Sommer Lectures in Portland, Oregon, in May 2024. The article has been edited lightly from the original. 

Primary care internal medicine — the medical field I chose, loved, and practiced for four decades — is dead. 

The grief and shock I feel about this is personal and transpersonal. The loss of internists (internal medicine physicians) practicing primary care is a major loss to us all. 

From the 1970s to roughly 2020, there were three groups of primary care physicians: family practice, pediatricians, and internists. In their 3-year residencies (after 4 years of medical school), pediatricians trained to care for children and adolescents; internists for adults; and FPs for children, adults, and women and pregnancy. Family practitioners are the most general of the generalists, whereas the others’ training involves comprehensive care of complex patients in their age groups.

How and when the field of primary care internal medicine flourished is my story. 

I was one of those kids who was hyperfocused on science, math, and the human body. By the end of high school, I was considering medicine for my career. 

To learn more, I volunteered at the local hospital. In my typical style, I requested not to be one of those candy stripers serving drinks on the wards. Instead, they put me in the emergency department, where I would transport patients and clean the stretchers. There I was free to watch whatever was going on if I did not interfere with the staff. On my first shift, a 20-year-old drowning victim arrived by ambulance. I watched the entire unsuccessful resuscitation and as shocked and saddened as I was, I knew (in the way only a headstrong 18-year-old can) that medicine was for me. 

It was a fortuitous time to graduate as a female pre-med student. 

In 1975, our country was in the midst of the women’s movement and a national effort to train primary care physicians. I was accepted to my state medical school. The University of Massachusetts Medical School had been established a few years earlier, with its main purpose to train primary care physicians and spread them around the state (especially out of the Boston metropolitan area). The curriculum was designed to expose students to primary care from year one. I was assigned to shadow a general practice physician in inner-city Springfield who saw over 50 patients a day! The patients knew they could see and afford him, so they crammed into his waiting room until their name was called in order of their arrival. No appointments necessary. His chart notes were a few scribbled sentences. I didn’t see myself in that practice exactly, but his work ethic and dedication inspired me. 

Over half of our graduating class chose to train in primary care specialties, and most stayed in-state. It turned out to be a good bet on the part of the government of Massachusetts. 

When I applied for residency in 1980, several internal medicine programs had a focus on primary care, which was my goal. I matched at Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, Oregon, and moved across the country to the Pacific Northwest, never to look back. There, my attendings were doctors like I wanted to be: primary care internists in the community, not in academia. It was the perfect choice and an excellent training program. 

In 1984, I hung out my private practice internal medicine shingle in Hillsboro, Oregon, across the street from the community hospital. My primary care internal medicine colleagues and I shared weekend calls and admitted and cared for our patients in the hospital, and when they were discharged. That is now called “continuity of care.” It was a time when we ate in the doctors’ lounge together, met in hallways, and informally consulted each other about our patients. These were called “curbside consults.” They were invaluable to our ability to provide comprehensive care to our patients in primary care, led to fewer specialty referrals, and were free. That would now be called interprofessional communication and collegiality. 

“Burnout” was not a word you heard. We were busy and happy doing what we had spent 12 years of our precious youth to prepare for. 

What did internists offer to primary care? That also is part of my story. 

When I moved to Olympia, I took a position in the women’s health clinic at the American Lake Veterans Administration Medical Center. 

We were a small group: two family practice doctors, three nurse practitioners, and me, the only internist. Many of our patients were sick and complex. Two of the nurse practitioners (NPs) asked me to take their most complicated patients. Being comfortable with complexity as an internist, I said yes. 

One of the NPs was inappropriately hired, as she had experience in women’s health. She came to me freaked out: “Oh my God, I have no idea how to manage COPD!” The other wanted simpler patients. I don’t blame them for the patient transfers. NPs typically have 3 years of training before they practice, in contrast to primary care physicians’ 8. 

Guess who made friends with the custodian, staying until 8 p.m. most evenings, and who left by 5:30 p.m. 

What was I doing in those extra hours? I was trudging through clerical, yet important, tasks my medical assistant and transcriptionist used to do in private practice. In the 30 minutes allotted for the patient, I needed to focus entirely on them and their multiple complex medical problems. 

What is lost with the death of primary care internal medicine? 

At the recent Sommer Memorial Lectures in Portland, Steven D. Freer, MD, the current director of the residency program where I trained, has not had a single of his eight annual internal medicine graduates choose primary care in several years. Half (two of four) of those in my year did: One went to Tillamook, an underserved area on the Oregon coast, and I to Hillsboro. 

What are internal medicine training graduates doing now? They are becoming hospitalists or, more often, specialists in cardiology, pulmonology, nephrology, oncology, and other more lucrative fields of medicine. 

Why are they not choosing primary care? As when the University of Massachusetts Medical School was established, a shortage of primary care physicians persists and probably is more severe than it was in the 1970s. Massachusetts was proactive. We are already years behind catching up. The shortage is no longer in rural areas alone. 

Christine Laine, MD, who is editor in chief of Annals of Internal Medicine and spoke at the Sommer Memorial Lectures, lives in Philadelphia. Even there, she has lost her own primary care internal medicine physician and cannot find another primary care physician (much less an internist) for herself. 

Washington State, where I live, scores a D grade for our primary care staffing statewide. 

Is there hope for the future of primary care in general? Or for the restoration of primary care internal medicine? 

Maybe. I was relieved to hear from Dr. Freer and Dr. Laine that efforts are beginning to revive the field. 

Just like internists’ patients, the potential restoration of the field will be complex and multilayered. It will require new laws, policies, residency programs, and incentives for students, including debt reduction. Administrative burdens will need to be reduced; de-corporatization and restoring healthcare leadership to those with in-depth medical training will need to be a part of the solution as well. 

Let’s all hope the new resuscitation efforts will be successful for the field of primary care in general and primary care internal medicine specifically. It will be good for healthcare and for your patients! 

Many work for large systems in which they feel powerless to effect change.

Dr. Glasser is a retired internal medicine physician in Olympia, Washington. She can be reached at [email protected].

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Preconception and prenatal care are more complicated in women with chronic health conditions but attention to disease management and promoting the adoption of a healthier lifestyle can improve outcomes for mothers and infants, according to a growing body of research.

The latest version of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Preconception Checklist, published in the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, highlights preexisting chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, lupus, and obesity as key factors to address in preconception care through disease management. A growing number of studies support the impact of these strategies on short- and long-term outcomes for mothers and babies, according to the authors.
 

Meet Glycemic Control Goals Prior to Pregnancy

“Women with diabetes can have healthy pregnancies but need to prepare for pregnancy in advance,” Ellen W. Seely, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of clinical research in the endocrinology, diabetes, and hypertension division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, said in an interview.

“If glucose levels are running high in the first trimester, this is associated with an increased risk of birth defects, some of which are very serious,” said Dr. Seely. Getting glucose levels under control reduces the risk of birth defects in women with diabetes close to that of the general population, she said.

The American Diabetes Association has set a goal for women to attain an HbA1c of less than 6.5% before conception, Dr. Seely said. “In addition, some women with diabetes may be on medications that should be changed to another class prior to pregnancy,” she noted. Women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes often have hypertension as well, but ACE inhibitors are associated with an increased risk of fetal renal damage that can result in neonatal death; therefore, these medications should be stopped prior to pregnancy, Dr. Seely emphasized.

“If a woman with type 2 diabetes is on medications other than insulin, recommendations from the ADA are to change to insulin prior to pregnancy, since we have the most data on the safety profile of insulin use in pregnancy,” she said.

To help women with diabetes improve glycemic control prior to pregnancy, Dr. Seely recommends home glucose monitoring, with checks of glucose four times a day, fasting, and 2 hours after each meal, and adjustment of insulin accordingly.

A healthy diet and physical activity remain important components of glycemic control as well. A barrier to proper preconception and prenatal care for women with diabetes is not knowing that a pregnancy should be planned, Dr. Seely said. Discussions about pregnancy should start at puberty for women with diabetes, according to the ADA, and the topic should be raised yearly so women can optimize their health and adjust medications prior to conception.

Although studies of drugs have been done to inform preconception care for women with diabetes, research is lacking in several areas, notably the safety of GLP-1 agonists in pregnancy, said Dr. Seely. “This class of drug is commonly used in type 2 diabetes and the current recommendation is to stop these agents 2 months prior to conception,” she said.
 

Conceive in Times of Lupus Remission

Advance planning also is important for a healthy pregnancy in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sayna Norouzi, MD, director of the glomerular disease clinic and polycystic kidney disease clinic of Loma Linda University Medical Center, California, said in an interview.

“Lupus mostly affects women of childbearing age and can create many challenges during pregnancy,” said Dr. Norouzi, the corresponding author of a recent review on managing lupus nephritis during pregnancy.

“Women with lupus face an increased risk of pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, problems with fetal growth, stillbirth, and premature birth, and these risks increase based on factors such as disease activity, certain antibodies in the body, and other baseline existing conditions such as high blood pressure,” she said.

“It can be difficult to distinguish between a lupus flare and pregnancy-related issues, so proper management is important,” she noted. The Predictors of Pregnancy Outcome: Biomarkers in Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (PROMISSE) study findings indicated a lupus nephritis relapse rate of 7.8% of patients in complete remission and 21% of those in partial remission during pregnancy, said Dr. Norouzi. “Current evidence has shown that SLE patients without lupus nephritis flare in the preconception period have a small risk of relapse during pregnancy,” she said.

Before and during pregnancy, women with lupus should work with their treating physicians to adjust medications for safety, watch for signs of flare, and aim to conceive during a period of lupus remission.

Preconception care for women with lupus nephritis involves a careful review of the medications used to control the disease and protect the kidneys and other organs, said Dr. Norouzi.

“Adjustments,” she said, “should be personalized, taking into account the mother’s health and the safety of the baby. Managing the disease actively during pregnancy may require changes to the treatment plan while minimizing risks,” she noted. However, changing medications can cause challenges for patients, as medications that are safer for pregnancy may lead to new symptoms and side effects, and patients will need to work closely with their healthcare providers to overcome new issues that arise, she added.

Preconception lifestyle changes such as increasing exercise and adopting a healthier diet can help with blood pressure control for kidney disease patients, said Dr. Norouzi.

In the review article, Dr. Norouzi and colleagues noted that preconception counseling for patients with lupus should address common comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and dyslipidemia, and the risk for immediate and long-term cardiovascular complications.
 

Benefits of Preconception Obesity Care Extend to Infants

Current guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Institute of Medicine advise lifestyle interventions to reduce excessive weight gain during pregnancy and reduce the risk of inflammation, oxidative stress, insulin resistance, and lipotoxicity that can promote complications in the mother and fetus during pregnancy.

In addition, a growing number of studies suggest that women with obesity who make healthy lifestyle changes prior to conception can reduce obesity-associated risks to their infants.

Adults born to women with obesity are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease and early signs of heart remodeling are identifiable in newborns, Samuel J. Burden, PhD, a research associate in the department of women and children’s health, Kings’ College, London, said in an interview. “It is therefore important to investigate whether intervening either before or during pregnancy by promoting a healthy lifestyle can reduce this adverse impact on the heart and blood vessels,” he said.

In a recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity, Dr. Burden and colleagues examined data from eight studies based on data from five randomized, controlled trials including children of mothers with obesity who engaged in healthy lifestyle interventions of improved diet and increased physical activity prior to and during pregnancy. The study population included children ranging in age from less than 2 months to 3-7 years.

Lifestyle interventions for mothers both before conception and during pregnancy were associated with significant changes in cardiac remodeling in the children, notably reduced interventricular septal wall thickness. Additionally, five studies of cardiac systolic function and three studies of diastolic function showed improvement in blood pressure in children of mothers who took part in the interventions.

Dr. Burden acknowledged that lifestyle changes in women with obesity before conception and during pregnancy can be challenging, but should be encouraged. “During pregnancy, it may also seem unnatural to increase daily physical activity or change the way you are eating.” He emphasized that patients should consult their physicians and follow an established program. More randomized, controlled trials are needed from the preconception period to examine whether the health benefits are greater if the intervention begins prior to pregnancy, said Dr. Burden. However, “the current findings indeed indicate that women with obesity who lead a healthy lifestyle before and during their pregnancy can reduce the degree of unhealthy heart remodeling in their children,” he said.

Dr. Seely, Dr. Norouzi, and Dr. Burden had no financial conflicts to disclose.

Preconception and prenatal care are more complicated in women with chronic health conditions but attention to disease management and promoting the adoption of a healthier lifestyle can improve outcomes for mothers and infants, according to a growing body of research.

The latest version of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Preconception Checklist, published in the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, highlights preexisting chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, lupus, and obesity as key factors to address in preconception care through disease management. A growing number of studies support the impact of these strategies on short- and long-term outcomes for mothers and babies, according to the authors.
 

Meet Glycemic Control Goals Prior to Pregnancy

“Women with diabetes can have healthy pregnancies but need to prepare for pregnancy in advance,” Ellen W. Seely, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of clinical research in the endocrinology, diabetes, and hypertension division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, said in an interview.

“If glucose levels are running high in the first trimester, this is associated with an increased risk of birth defects, some of which are very serious,” said Dr. Seely. Getting glucose levels under control reduces the risk of birth defects in women with diabetes close to that of the general population, she said.

The American Diabetes Association has set a goal for women to attain an HbA1c of less than 6.5% before conception, Dr. Seely said. “In addition, some women with diabetes may be on medications that should be changed to another class prior to pregnancy,” she noted. Women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes often have hypertension as well, but ACE inhibitors are associated with an increased risk of fetal renal damage that can result in neonatal death; therefore, these medications should be stopped prior to pregnancy, Dr. Seely emphasized.

“If a woman with type 2 diabetes is on medications other than insulin, recommendations from the ADA are to change to insulin prior to pregnancy, since we have the most data on the safety profile of insulin use in pregnancy,” she said.

To help women with diabetes improve glycemic control prior to pregnancy, Dr. Seely recommends home glucose monitoring, with checks of glucose four times a day, fasting, and 2 hours after each meal, and adjustment of insulin accordingly.

A healthy diet and physical activity remain important components of glycemic control as well. A barrier to proper preconception and prenatal care for women with diabetes is not knowing that a pregnancy should be planned, Dr. Seely said. Discussions about pregnancy should start at puberty for women with diabetes, according to the ADA, and the topic should be raised yearly so women can optimize their health and adjust medications prior to conception.

Although studies of drugs have been done to inform preconception care for women with diabetes, research is lacking in several areas, notably the safety of GLP-1 agonists in pregnancy, said Dr. Seely. “This class of drug is commonly used in type 2 diabetes and the current recommendation is to stop these agents 2 months prior to conception,” she said.
 

Conceive in Times of Lupus Remission

Advance planning also is important for a healthy pregnancy in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sayna Norouzi, MD, director of the glomerular disease clinic and polycystic kidney disease clinic of Loma Linda University Medical Center, California, said in an interview.

“Lupus mostly affects women of childbearing age and can create many challenges during pregnancy,” said Dr. Norouzi, the corresponding author of a recent review on managing lupus nephritis during pregnancy.

“Women with lupus face an increased risk of pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, problems with fetal growth, stillbirth, and premature birth, and these risks increase based on factors such as disease activity, certain antibodies in the body, and other baseline existing conditions such as high blood pressure,” she said.

“It can be difficult to distinguish between a lupus flare and pregnancy-related issues, so proper management is important,” she noted. The Predictors of Pregnancy Outcome: Biomarkers in Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (PROMISSE) study findings indicated a lupus nephritis relapse rate of 7.8% of patients in complete remission and 21% of those in partial remission during pregnancy, said Dr. Norouzi. “Current evidence has shown that SLE patients without lupus nephritis flare in the preconception period have a small risk of relapse during pregnancy,” she said.

Before and during pregnancy, women with lupus should work with their treating physicians to adjust medications for safety, watch for signs of flare, and aim to conceive during a period of lupus remission.

Preconception care for women with lupus nephritis involves a careful review of the medications used to control the disease and protect the kidneys and other organs, said Dr. Norouzi.

“Adjustments,” she said, “should be personalized, taking into account the mother’s health and the safety of the baby. Managing the disease actively during pregnancy may require changes to the treatment plan while minimizing risks,” she noted. However, changing medications can cause challenges for patients, as medications that are safer for pregnancy may lead to new symptoms and side effects, and patients will need to work closely with their healthcare providers to overcome new issues that arise, she added.

Preconception lifestyle changes such as increasing exercise and adopting a healthier diet can help with blood pressure control for kidney disease patients, said Dr. Norouzi.

In the review article, Dr. Norouzi and colleagues noted that preconception counseling for patients with lupus should address common comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and dyslipidemia, and the risk for immediate and long-term cardiovascular complications.
 

Benefits of Preconception Obesity Care Extend to Infants

Current guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Institute of Medicine advise lifestyle interventions to reduce excessive weight gain during pregnancy and reduce the risk of inflammation, oxidative stress, insulin resistance, and lipotoxicity that can promote complications in the mother and fetus during pregnancy.

In addition, a growing number of studies suggest that women with obesity who make healthy lifestyle changes prior to conception can reduce obesity-associated risks to their infants.

Adults born to women with obesity are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease and early signs of heart remodeling are identifiable in newborns, Samuel J. Burden, PhD, a research associate in the department of women and children’s health, Kings’ College, London, said in an interview. “It is therefore important to investigate whether intervening either before or during pregnancy by promoting a healthy lifestyle can reduce this adverse impact on the heart and blood vessels,” he said.

In a recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity, Dr. Burden and colleagues examined data from eight studies based on data from five randomized, controlled trials including children of mothers with obesity who engaged in healthy lifestyle interventions of improved diet and increased physical activity prior to and during pregnancy. The study population included children ranging in age from less than 2 months to 3-7 years.

Lifestyle interventions for mothers both before conception and during pregnancy were associated with significant changes in cardiac remodeling in the children, notably reduced interventricular septal wall thickness. Additionally, five studies of cardiac systolic function and three studies of diastolic function showed improvement in blood pressure in children of mothers who took part in the interventions.

Dr. Burden acknowledged that lifestyle changes in women with obesity before conception and during pregnancy can be challenging, but should be encouraged. “During pregnancy, it may also seem unnatural to increase daily physical activity or change the way you are eating.” He emphasized that patients should consult their physicians and follow an established program. More randomized, controlled trials are needed from the preconception period to examine whether the health benefits are greater if the intervention begins prior to pregnancy, said Dr. Burden. However, “the current findings indeed indicate that women with obesity who lead a healthy lifestyle before and during their pregnancy can reduce the degree of unhealthy heart remodeling in their children,” he said.

Dr. Seely, Dr. Norouzi, and Dr. Burden had no financial conflicts to disclose.

Preconception and prenatal care are more complicated in women with chronic health conditions but attention to disease management and promoting the adoption of a healthier lifestyle can improve outcomes for mothers and infants, according to a growing body of research.

The latest version of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Preconception Checklist, published in the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, highlights preexisting chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, lupus, and obesity as key factors to address in preconception care through disease management. A growing number of studies support the impact of these strategies on short- and long-term outcomes for mothers and babies, according to the authors.
 

Meet Glycemic Control Goals Prior to Pregnancy

“Women with diabetes can have healthy pregnancies but need to prepare for pregnancy in advance,” Ellen W. Seely, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of clinical research in the endocrinology, diabetes, and hypertension division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, said in an interview.

“If glucose levels are running high in the first trimester, this is associated with an increased risk of birth defects, some of which are very serious,” said Dr. Seely. Getting glucose levels under control reduces the risk of birth defects in women with diabetes close to that of the general population, she said.

The American Diabetes Association has set a goal for women to attain an HbA1c of less than 6.5% before conception, Dr. Seely said. “In addition, some women with diabetes may be on medications that should be changed to another class prior to pregnancy,” she noted. Women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes often have hypertension as well, but ACE inhibitors are associated with an increased risk of fetal renal damage that can result in neonatal death; therefore, these medications should be stopped prior to pregnancy, Dr. Seely emphasized.

“If a woman with type 2 diabetes is on medications other than insulin, recommendations from the ADA are to change to insulin prior to pregnancy, since we have the most data on the safety profile of insulin use in pregnancy,” she said.

To help women with diabetes improve glycemic control prior to pregnancy, Dr. Seely recommends home glucose monitoring, with checks of glucose four times a day, fasting, and 2 hours after each meal, and adjustment of insulin accordingly.

A healthy diet and physical activity remain important components of glycemic control as well. A barrier to proper preconception and prenatal care for women with diabetes is not knowing that a pregnancy should be planned, Dr. Seely said. Discussions about pregnancy should start at puberty for women with diabetes, according to the ADA, and the topic should be raised yearly so women can optimize their health and adjust medications prior to conception.

Although studies of drugs have been done to inform preconception care for women with diabetes, research is lacking in several areas, notably the safety of GLP-1 agonists in pregnancy, said Dr. Seely. “This class of drug is commonly used in type 2 diabetes and the current recommendation is to stop these agents 2 months prior to conception,” she said.
 

Conceive in Times of Lupus Remission

Advance planning also is important for a healthy pregnancy in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sayna Norouzi, MD, director of the glomerular disease clinic and polycystic kidney disease clinic of Loma Linda University Medical Center, California, said in an interview.

“Lupus mostly affects women of childbearing age and can create many challenges during pregnancy,” said Dr. Norouzi, the corresponding author of a recent review on managing lupus nephritis during pregnancy.

“Women with lupus face an increased risk of pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, problems with fetal growth, stillbirth, and premature birth, and these risks increase based on factors such as disease activity, certain antibodies in the body, and other baseline existing conditions such as high blood pressure,” she said.

“It can be difficult to distinguish between a lupus flare and pregnancy-related issues, so proper management is important,” she noted. The Predictors of Pregnancy Outcome: Biomarkers in Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (PROMISSE) study findings indicated a lupus nephritis relapse rate of 7.8% of patients in complete remission and 21% of those in partial remission during pregnancy, said Dr. Norouzi. “Current evidence has shown that SLE patients without lupus nephritis flare in the preconception period have a small risk of relapse during pregnancy,” she said.

Before and during pregnancy, women with lupus should work with their treating physicians to adjust medications for safety, watch for signs of flare, and aim to conceive during a period of lupus remission.

Preconception care for women with lupus nephritis involves a careful review of the medications used to control the disease and protect the kidneys and other organs, said Dr. Norouzi.

“Adjustments,” she said, “should be personalized, taking into account the mother’s health and the safety of the baby. Managing the disease actively during pregnancy may require changes to the treatment plan while minimizing risks,” she noted. However, changing medications can cause challenges for patients, as medications that are safer for pregnancy may lead to new symptoms and side effects, and patients will need to work closely with their healthcare providers to overcome new issues that arise, she added.

Preconception lifestyle changes such as increasing exercise and adopting a healthier diet can help with blood pressure control for kidney disease patients, said Dr. Norouzi.

In the review article, Dr. Norouzi and colleagues noted that preconception counseling for patients with lupus should address common comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and dyslipidemia, and the risk for immediate and long-term cardiovascular complications.
 

Benefits of Preconception Obesity Care Extend to Infants

Current guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Institute of Medicine advise lifestyle interventions to reduce excessive weight gain during pregnancy and reduce the risk of inflammation, oxidative stress, insulin resistance, and lipotoxicity that can promote complications in the mother and fetus during pregnancy.

In addition, a growing number of studies suggest that women with obesity who make healthy lifestyle changes prior to conception can reduce obesity-associated risks to their infants.

Adults born to women with obesity are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease and early signs of heart remodeling are identifiable in newborns, Samuel J. Burden, PhD, a research associate in the department of women and children’s health, Kings’ College, London, said in an interview. “It is therefore important to investigate whether intervening either before or during pregnancy by promoting a healthy lifestyle can reduce this adverse impact on the heart and blood vessels,” he said.

In a recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity, Dr. Burden and colleagues examined data from eight studies based on data from five randomized, controlled trials including children of mothers with obesity who engaged in healthy lifestyle interventions of improved diet and increased physical activity prior to and during pregnancy. The study population included children ranging in age from less than 2 months to 3-7 years.

Lifestyle interventions for mothers both before conception and during pregnancy were associated with significant changes in cardiac remodeling in the children, notably reduced interventricular septal wall thickness. Additionally, five studies of cardiac systolic function and three studies of diastolic function showed improvement in blood pressure in children of mothers who took part in the interventions.

Dr. Burden acknowledged that lifestyle changes in women with obesity before conception and during pregnancy can be challenging, but should be encouraged. “During pregnancy, it may also seem unnatural to increase daily physical activity or change the way you are eating.” He emphasized that patients should consult their physicians and follow an established program. More randomized, controlled trials are needed from the preconception period to examine whether the health benefits are greater if the intervention begins prior to pregnancy, said Dr. Burden. However, “the current findings indeed indicate that women with obesity who lead a healthy lifestyle before and during their pregnancy can reduce the degree of unhealthy heart remodeling in their children,” he said.

Dr. Seely, Dr. Norouzi, and Dr. Burden had no financial conflicts to disclose.

Some degree of pain is inevitable in older individuals, and as people pass 80 years of age, the harms of medications used to control chronic pain increase. Pain-reducing medication use in this age group may cause inflammation, gastric bleeding, kidney damage, or constipation.

These risks may lead some clinicians to avoid aggressive pain treatment in their eldest patients, resulting in unnecessary suffering.

“Pain causes harm beyond just the physical suffering associated with it,” said Diane Meier, MD, a geriatrician and palliative care specialist at Mount Sinai Medicine in New York City who treats many people in their 80s and 90s.

Downstream effects of untreated pain could include a loss of mobility and isolation, Dr. Meier said. And, as these harms are mounting, some clinicians may avoid using an analgesic that could bring great relief: buprenorphine.

“People think about buprenorphine like they think about methadone,” Dr. Meier said, as something prescribed to treat substance use disorder. In reality, it is an effective analgesic in other situations.

Buprenorphine is better at treating chronic pain than other opioids that carry a higher addiction risk and often cause constipation in elderly patients. Buprenorphine is easier on the kidneys and has a lower addiction risk than opioids like oxycodone.

The transdermal patch form of buprenorphine (Butrans, PurduePharma) is changed weekly and starts at low doses.

“There’s an adage in geriatrics: start low and go slow,” said Jessica Merlin, MD, PhD, a palliative care and addiction medicine physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Merlin recommends beginning elderly patients with chronic pain on a 10-microgram/hour dose of Butrans, among the lowest doses available. Physicians could monitor side effects, which will generally be mild, with the aim of never increasing the dose if pain is managed.
 

Nonpharmacologic Remedies, Drug Considerations

“Nonpharmacologic therapy is very underutilized,” Dr. Merlin said, even though multiple alternatives to medications can improve chronic pain symptoms at any age.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy or acceptance and commitment therapy can both help people reduce the impact of pain, Dr. Merlin said. And for people who can do so, physical therapy programs, yoga, or tai chi are all ways to strengthen the body’s defenses against pain, Dr. Merlin added.

Sometimes medication is necessary, however.

“You can’t get an older person to participate in rehab if they are in severe pain,” Dr. Meier said, adding that judicious use of medications should go hand in hand with nonpharmacologic treatment.

When medications are unavoidable, internist Douglas S. Paauw, MD, starts with topical injections at the site of the pain — a troublesome joint, for example — rather than systemic medications that affect multiple organs and the brain.

“We try not to flood their body with meds” for localized problems, Dr. Paauw said, whose goal when treating elderly patients with pain is to improve their daily functioning and quality of life.

Dr. Paauw works at the University of Washington in Seattle and treats people who are approaching 100 years old. As some of his patients have grown older, Dr. Paauw’s interest in effective pain management has grown; he thinks that all internists and family medicine physician need to know how to manage chronic pain in their eldest patients.

“Were you able to play with your grandkid? Were you able to go grocery shopping? Were you able to take a walk outside?” These are the kinds of improvements Dr. Paauw hopes to see in older patients, recognizing that the wear and tear of life — orthopedic stresses or healed fractures that cause lingering pain — make it impossible for many older people to be pain free.

Pain is often spread throughout the body rather than focusing at one point, which requires systemic medications if physical therapy and similar approaches have not reduced pain. Per American Geriatrics Society (AGS) guidelines, in this situation Dr. Paauw starts with acetaminophen (Tylenol) as the lowest-risk systemic pain treatment.

Dr. Pauuw often counsels older patients to begin with 2 grams/day of acetaminophen and then progress to 3 grams if the lower dose has manageable side effects, rather than the standard dose of 4 grams that he feels is geared toward younger patients.

When acetaminophen doesn’t reduce pain sufficiently, or aggravates inflammation, Dr. Paauw may use the nerve pain medication pregabalin, or the antidepressant duloxetine — especially if the pain appears to be neuropathic.

Tricyclic antidepressants used to be recommended for neuropathic pain in older adults, but are now on the AGS’s Beers Criteria of drugs to avoid in elderly patients due to risk of causing dizziness or cardiac stress. Dr. Paauw might still use a tricyclic, but only after a careful risk-benefit analysis.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen (Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve) could work in short bursts, Dr. Paauw said, although they may cause stomach bleeding or kidney damage in older patients.

This is why NSAIDs are not recommended by the AGS for chronic pain management. And opioids like oxycodone don’t work long at low doses, often leading to dose escalation and addiction.

“The American Geriatrics Society really puts opioids down at the bottom of the list,” Dr. Paauw said, to be used “judiciously and rarely.”

Opioids may interact with other drugs to increase risk of a fall, Dr. Meier added, making them inadvisable for older patients who live alone.

“That’s why knowing something about buprenorphine is so important,” Dr. Meier said.

Dr. Meier and Dr. Paauw are on the editorial board for Internal Medicine News. Dr. Merlin is a trainer for the Center to Advance Palliative Care, which Dr. Meier founded.
 

Some degree of pain is inevitable in older individuals, and as people pass 80 years of age, the harms of medications used to control chronic pain increase. Pain-reducing medication use in this age group may cause inflammation, gastric bleeding, kidney damage, or constipation.

These risks may lead some clinicians to avoid aggressive pain treatment in their eldest patients, resulting in unnecessary suffering.

“Pain causes harm beyond just the physical suffering associated with it,” said Diane Meier, MD, a geriatrician and palliative care specialist at Mount Sinai Medicine in New York City who treats many people in their 80s and 90s.

Downstream effects of untreated pain could include a loss of mobility and isolation, Dr. Meier said. And, as these harms are mounting, some clinicians may avoid using an analgesic that could bring great relief: buprenorphine.

“People think about buprenorphine like they think about methadone,” Dr. Meier said, as something prescribed to treat substance use disorder. In reality, it is an effective analgesic in other situations.

Buprenorphine is better at treating chronic pain than other opioids that carry a higher addiction risk and often cause constipation in elderly patients. Buprenorphine is easier on the kidneys and has a lower addiction risk than opioids like oxycodone.

The transdermal patch form of buprenorphine (Butrans, PurduePharma) is changed weekly and starts at low doses.

“There’s an adage in geriatrics: start low and go slow,” said Jessica Merlin, MD, PhD, a palliative care and addiction medicine physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Merlin recommends beginning elderly patients with chronic pain on a 10-microgram/hour dose of Butrans, among the lowest doses available. Physicians could monitor side effects, which will generally be mild, with the aim of never increasing the dose if pain is managed.
 

Nonpharmacologic Remedies, Drug Considerations

“Nonpharmacologic therapy is very underutilized,” Dr. Merlin said, even though multiple alternatives to medications can improve chronic pain symptoms at any age.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy or acceptance and commitment therapy can both help people reduce the impact of pain, Dr. Merlin said. And for people who can do so, physical therapy programs, yoga, or tai chi are all ways to strengthen the body’s defenses against pain, Dr. Merlin added.

Sometimes medication is necessary, however.

“You can’t get an older person to participate in rehab if they are in severe pain,” Dr. Meier said, adding that judicious use of medications should go hand in hand with nonpharmacologic treatment.

When medications are unavoidable, internist Douglas S. Paauw, MD, starts with topical injections at the site of the pain — a troublesome joint, for example — rather than systemic medications that affect multiple organs and the brain.

“We try not to flood their body with meds” for localized problems, Dr. Paauw said, whose goal when treating elderly patients with pain is to improve their daily functioning and quality of life.

Dr. Paauw works at the University of Washington in Seattle and treats people who are approaching 100 years old. As some of his patients have grown older, Dr. Paauw’s interest in effective pain management has grown; he thinks that all internists and family medicine physician need to know how to manage chronic pain in their eldest patients.

“Were you able to play with your grandkid? Were you able to go grocery shopping? Were you able to take a walk outside?” These are the kinds of improvements Dr. Paauw hopes to see in older patients, recognizing that the wear and tear of life — orthopedic stresses or healed fractures that cause lingering pain — make it impossible for many older people to be pain free.

Pain is often spread throughout the body rather than focusing at one point, which requires systemic medications if physical therapy and similar approaches have not reduced pain. Per American Geriatrics Society (AGS) guidelines, in this situation Dr. Paauw starts with acetaminophen (Tylenol) as the lowest-risk systemic pain treatment.

Dr. Pauuw often counsels older patients to begin with 2 grams/day of acetaminophen and then progress to 3 grams if the lower dose has manageable side effects, rather than the standard dose of 4 grams that he feels is geared toward younger patients.

When acetaminophen doesn’t reduce pain sufficiently, or aggravates inflammation, Dr. Paauw may use the nerve pain medication pregabalin, or the antidepressant duloxetine — especially if the pain appears to be neuropathic.

Tricyclic antidepressants used to be recommended for neuropathic pain in older adults, but are now on the AGS’s Beers Criteria of drugs to avoid in elderly patients due to risk of causing dizziness or cardiac stress. Dr. Paauw might still use a tricyclic, but only after a careful risk-benefit analysis.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen (Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve) could work in short bursts, Dr. Paauw said, although they may cause stomach bleeding or kidney damage in older patients.

This is why NSAIDs are not recommended by the AGS for chronic pain management. And opioids like oxycodone don’t work long at low doses, often leading to dose escalation and addiction.

“The American Geriatrics Society really puts opioids down at the bottom of the list,” Dr. Paauw said, to be used “judiciously and rarely.”

Opioids may interact with other drugs to increase risk of a fall, Dr. Meier added, making them inadvisable for older patients who live alone.

“That’s why knowing something about buprenorphine is so important,” Dr. Meier said.

Dr. Meier and Dr. Paauw are on the editorial board for Internal Medicine News. Dr. Merlin is a trainer for the Center to Advance Palliative Care, which Dr. Meier founded.
 

Some degree of pain is inevitable in older individuals, and as people pass 80 years of age, the harms of medications used to control chronic pain increase. Pain-reducing medication use in this age group may cause inflammation, gastric bleeding, kidney damage, or constipation.

These risks may lead some clinicians to avoid aggressive pain treatment in their eldest patients, resulting in unnecessary suffering.

“Pain causes harm beyond just the physical suffering associated with it,” said Diane Meier, MD, a geriatrician and palliative care specialist at Mount Sinai Medicine in New York City who treats many people in their 80s and 90s.

Downstream effects of untreated pain could include a loss of mobility and isolation, Dr. Meier said. And, as these harms are mounting, some clinicians may avoid using an analgesic that could bring great relief: buprenorphine.

“People think about buprenorphine like they think about methadone,” Dr. Meier said, as something prescribed to treat substance use disorder. In reality, it is an effective analgesic in other situations.

Buprenorphine is better at treating chronic pain than other opioids that carry a higher addiction risk and often cause constipation in elderly patients. Buprenorphine is easier on the kidneys and has a lower addiction risk than opioids like oxycodone.

The transdermal patch form of buprenorphine (Butrans, PurduePharma) is changed weekly and starts at low doses.

“There’s an adage in geriatrics: start low and go slow,” said Jessica Merlin, MD, PhD, a palliative care and addiction medicine physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Merlin recommends beginning elderly patients with chronic pain on a 10-microgram/hour dose of Butrans, among the lowest doses available. Physicians could monitor side effects, which will generally be mild, with the aim of never increasing the dose if pain is managed.
 

Nonpharmacologic Remedies, Drug Considerations

“Nonpharmacologic therapy is very underutilized,” Dr. Merlin said, even though multiple alternatives to medications can improve chronic pain symptoms at any age.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy or acceptance and commitment therapy can both help people reduce the impact of pain, Dr. Merlin said. And for people who can do so, physical therapy programs, yoga, or tai chi are all ways to strengthen the body’s defenses against pain, Dr. Merlin added.

Sometimes medication is necessary, however.

“You can’t get an older person to participate in rehab if they are in severe pain,” Dr. Meier said, adding that judicious use of medications should go hand in hand with nonpharmacologic treatment.

When medications are unavoidable, internist Douglas S. Paauw, MD, starts with topical injections at the site of the pain — a troublesome joint, for example — rather than systemic medications that affect multiple organs and the brain.

“We try not to flood their body with meds” for localized problems, Dr. Paauw said, whose goal when treating elderly patients with pain is to improve their daily functioning and quality of life.

Dr. Paauw works at the University of Washington in Seattle and treats people who are approaching 100 years old. As some of his patients have grown older, Dr. Paauw’s interest in effective pain management has grown; he thinks that all internists and family medicine physician need to know how to manage chronic pain in their eldest patients.

“Were you able to play with your grandkid? Were you able to go grocery shopping? Were you able to take a walk outside?” These are the kinds of improvements Dr. Paauw hopes to see in older patients, recognizing that the wear and tear of life — orthopedic stresses or healed fractures that cause lingering pain — make it impossible for many older people to be pain free.

Pain is often spread throughout the body rather than focusing at one point, which requires systemic medications if physical therapy and similar approaches have not reduced pain. Per American Geriatrics Society (AGS) guidelines, in this situation Dr. Paauw starts with acetaminophen (Tylenol) as the lowest-risk systemic pain treatment.

Dr. Pauuw often counsels older patients to begin with 2 grams/day of acetaminophen and then progress to 3 grams if the lower dose has manageable side effects, rather than the standard dose of 4 grams that he feels is geared toward younger patients.

When acetaminophen doesn’t reduce pain sufficiently, or aggravates inflammation, Dr. Paauw may use the nerve pain medication pregabalin, or the antidepressant duloxetine — especially if the pain appears to be neuropathic.

Tricyclic antidepressants used to be recommended for neuropathic pain in older adults, but are now on the AGS’s Beers Criteria of drugs to avoid in elderly patients due to risk of causing dizziness or cardiac stress. Dr. Paauw might still use a tricyclic, but only after a careful risk-benefit analysis.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen (Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve) could work in short bursts, Dr. Paauw said, although they may cause stomach bleeding or kidney damage in older patients.

This is why NSAIDs are not recommended by the AGS for chronic pain management. And opioids like oxycodone don’t work long at low doses, often leading to dose escalation and addiction.

“The American Geriatrics Society really puts opioids down at the bottom of the list,” Dr. Paauw said, to be used “judiciously and rarely.”

Opioids may interact with other drugs to increase risk of a fall, Dr. Meier added, making them inadvisable for older patients who live alone.

“That’s why knowing something about buprenorphine is so important,” Dr. Meier said.

Dr. Meier and Dr. Paauw are on the editorial board for Internal Medicine News. Dr. Merlin is a trainer for the Center to Advance Palliative Care, which Dr. Meier founded.
 

The effectiveness of massage therapy for a range of painful adult health conditions remains uncertain. Despite hundreds of randomized clinical trials and dozens of systematic reviews, few studies have offered conclusions based on more than low-certainty evidence, a systematic review in JAMA Network Open has shown (doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.22259).

Some moderate-certainty evidence, however, suggested massage therapy may alleviate pain related to such conditions as low-back problems, labor, and breast cancer surgery, concluded a group led by Selene Mak, PhD, MPH, program manager in the Evidence Synthesis Program at the Veterans Health Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System in Los Angeles, California.

“More high-quality randomized clinical trials are needed to provide a stronger evidence base to assess the effect of massage therapy on pain,” Dr. Mak and colleagues wrote.

The review updates a previous Veterans Affairs evidence map covering reviews of massage therapy for pain published through 2018.

To categorize the evidence base for decision-making by policymakers and practitioners, the VA requested an updated evidence map of reviews to answer the question: “What is the certainty of evidence in systematic reviews of massage therapy for pain?”
 

The Analysis

The current review included studies published from 2018 to 2023 with formal ratings of evidence quality or certainty, excluding other nonpharmacologic techniques such as sports massage therapy, osteopathy, dry cupping, dry needling, and internal massage therapy, and self-administered techniques such as foam rolling.

Of 129 systematic reviews, only 41 formally rated evidence quality, and 17 were evidence-mapped for pain across 13 health states: cancer, back, neck and mechanical neck issues, fibromyalgia, labor, myofascial, palliative care need, plantar fasciitis, postoperative, post breast cancer surgery, and post cesarean/postpartum.

The investigators found no conclusions based on a high certainty of evidence, while seven based conclusions on moderate-certainty evidence. All remaining conclusions were rated as having low- or very-low-certainty evidence.

The priority, they added, should be studies comparing massage therapy with other recommended, accepted, and active therapies for pain and should have sufficiently long follow-up to allow any nonspecific outcomes to dissipate, At least 6 months’ follow-up has been suggested for studies of chronic pain.

While massage therapy is considered safe, in patients with central sensitizations more aggressive treatments may cause a flare of myofascial pain.

This study was funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development. The authors had no conflicts of interest to disclose.

The effectiveness of massage therapy for a range of painful adult health conditions remains uncertain. Despite hundreds of randomized clinical trials and dozens of systematic reviews, few studies have offered conclusions based on more than low-certainty evidence, a systematic review in JAMA Network Open has shown (doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.22259).

Some moderate-certainty evidence, however, suggested massage therapy may alleviate pain related to such conditions as low-back problems, labor, and breast cancer surgery, concluded a group led by Selene Mak, PhD, MPH, program manager in the Evidence Synthesis Program at the Veterans Health Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System in Los Angeles, California.

“More high-quality randomized clinical trials are needed to provide a stronger evidence base to assess the effect of massage therapy on pain,” Dr. Mak and colleagues wrote.

The review updates a previous Veterans Affairs evidence map covering reviews of massage therapy for pain published through 2018.

To categorize the evidence base for decision-making by policymakers and practitioners, the VA requested an updated evidence map of reviews to answer the question: “What is the certainty of evidence in systematic reviews of massage therapy for pain?”
 

The Analysis

The current review included studies published from 2018 to 2023 with formal ratings of evidence quality or certainty, excluding other nonpharmacologic techniques such as sports massage therapy, osteopathy, dry cupping, dry needling, and internal massage therapy, and self-administered techniques such as foam rolling.

Of 129 systematic reviews, only 41 formally rated evidence quality, and 17 were evidence-mapped for pain across 13 health states: cancer, back, neck and mechanical neck issues, fibromyalgia, labor, myofascial, palliative care need, plantar fasciitis, postoperative, post breast cancer surgery, and post cesarean/postpartum.

The investigators found no conclusions based on a high certainty of evidence, while seven based conclusions on moderate-certainty evidence. All remaining conclusions were rated as having low- or very-low-certainty evidence.

The priority, they added, should be studies comparing massage therapy with other recommended, accepted, and active therapies for pain and should have sufficiently long follow-up to allow any nonspecific outcomes to dissipate, At least 6 months’ follow-up has been suggested for studies of chronic pain.

While massage therapy is considered safe, in patients with central sensitizations more aggressive treatments may cause a flare of myofascial pain.

This study was funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development. The authors had no conflicts of interest to disclose.

The effectiveness of massage therapy for a range of painful adult health conditions remains uncertain. Despite hundreds of randomized clinical trials and dozens of systematic reviews, few studies have offered conclusions based on more than low-certainty evidence, a systematic review in JAMA Network Open has shown (doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.22259).

Some moderate-certainty evidence, however, suggested massage therapy may alleviate pain related to such conditions as low-back problems, labor, and breast cancer surgery, concluded a group led by Selene Mak, PhD, MPH, program manager in the Evidence Synthesis Program at the Veterans Health Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System in Los Angeles, California.

“More high-quality randomized clinical trials are needed to provide a stronger evidence base to assess the effect of massage therapy on pain,” Dr. Mak and colleagues wrote.

The review updates a previous Veterans Affairs evidence map covering reviews of massage therapy for pain published through 2018.

To categorize the evidence base for decision-making by policymakers and practitioners, the VA requested an updated evidence map of reviews to answer the question: “What is the certainty of evidence in systematic reviews of massage therapy for pain?”
 

The Analysis

The current review included studies published from 2018 to 2023 with formal ratings of evidence quality or certainty, excluding other nonpharmacologic techniques such as sports massage therapy, osteopathy, dry cupping, dry needling, and internal massage therapy, and self-administered techniques such as foam rolling.

Of 129 systematic reviews, only 41 formally rated evidence quality, and 17 were evidence-mapped for pain across 13 health states: cancer, back, neck and mechanical neck issues, fibromyalgia, labor, myofascial, palliative care need, plantar fasciitis, postoperative, post breast cancer surgery, and post cesarean/postpartum.

The investigators found no conclusions based on a high certainty of evidence, while seven based conclusions on moderate-certainty evidence. All remaining conclusions were rated as having low- or very-low-certainty evidence.

The priority, they added, should be studies comparing massage therapy with other recommended, accepted, and active therapies for pain and should have sufficiently long follow-up to allow any nonspecific outcomes to dissipate, At least 6 months’ follow-up has been suggested for studies of chronic pain.

While massage therapy is considered safe, in patients with central sensitizations more aggressive treatments may cause a flare of myofascial pain.

This study was funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development. The authors had no conflicts of interest to disclose.

A recent report by this news organization of a vitamin D clinical practice guideline released by the Endocrine Society in June triggered an outpouring of objections in the comments section from doctors and other readers.

A society press release listed the key new recommendations on the use of vitamin D supplementation and screening to reduce disease risks in individuals without established indications for such treatment or testing:

• For healthy adults younger than 75, no supplementation at doses above the recommended dietary intakes.
• Populations that may benefit from higher doses include: children and adolescents 18 and younger to prevent rickets and to reduce risk for respiratory infection, individuals 75 and older to possibly lower mortality risk, “pregnant people” to potentially reduce various risks, and people with prediabetes to potentially reduce risk of progression.
• No routine testing for 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels because outcome-specific benefits based on those levels have not been identified (including screening in people with dark complexion or obesity).
• Based on insufficient evidence, the panel could not determine specific blood-level thresholds for 25-hydroxyvitamin D for adequacy or for target levels for disease prevention.

This news organization covered the guideline release and simultaneous presentation at the Endocrine Society annual meeting. In response to the coverage, more than 200 doctors and other readers expressed concerns about the guideline, and some said outright that they would not follow it (readers quoted below are identified by the usernames they registered with on the website).

One reader who posted as Dr. Joseph Destefano went so far as to call the guideline “dangerous” and “almost ... evil.” Ironically, some readers attacked this news organization, thinking that the coverage implied an endorsement, rather than a news report.
 

Ignores Potential Benefits

Although the guideline is said to be for people who are “otherwise healthy” (other than the exceptions noted above), many readers were concerned that the recommendations ignore the potential benefits of supplementation for other health conditions relevant to patients and other populations.

“They address issues dealing only with endocrinology and bone health for the most part,” Dr. Emilio Gonzalez wrote. “However, vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are not rare, and they impact the treatment of autoimmune disorders, chronic pain control, immunosuppression, cancer prevention, cardiovascular health, etc. There is plenty of literature in this regard.”

“They make these claims as if quality studies contradicting their guidelines have not been out there for years,” Dr. Brian Batcheldor said. “What about the huge demographic with diseases that impact intestinal absorption, eg, Crohn’s and celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, and ulcerative colitis? What about the one in nine that now have autoimmune diseases still awaiting diagnosis? What about night workers or anyone with more restricted access to sun exposure? How about those whose cultural or religious dress code limit skin exposure?”

The latter group was also mentioned in a post from Dr. Eve Finkelstein who said, “They don’t take into account women who are totally covered for religious reasons. They have no skin other than part of their face exposed. It does not make sense not to supplement them. Ignoring women’s health needs seems to be the norm.”

“I don’t think they considered the oral health effects of vitamin D deficiency,” pointed out commenter Corie Lewis. “Excess dental calculus (tartar) from excess calcium/phosphate in saliva significantly increases an individual’s periodontal disease risks (gum disease), and low saliva calcium/phosphate increases dental caries (cavities) risks, which generally indicates an imbalance of the oral microbiome. Vitamin D can help create balance and reduce those oral health risks.”

Noted Kimberley Morris-Windisch, “Having worked in rheumatology and pain for most of my career, I have seen too many people benefit from correcting deficiency of vitamin D. To ignore this is to miss opportunities to improve patient health.” Furthermore, “I find it unlikely that it would only improve mortality after age 75. That makes no sense.”

“Also,” she added, “what is the number [needed] to harm? In my 25 years, I have seen vitamin D toxicity once and an excessively high level without symptoms one other time.”

“WHY? Just WHY?” lamented Anne Kinchen. “Low levels in pregnant women have long-term effects on the developing fetus — higher and earlier rates of osteopenia in female children, weaker immune systems overall. There are just SO many reasons to test. These guidelines for no testing are absurd!”
 

No Screening, No Need for Decision-Making?

Several readers questioned the society’s rationale for not screening, as expressed by session moderator Clifford J. Rosen, MD, director of Clinical and Translational Research and senior scientist at Maine Medical Center Research Institute, Scarborough, Maine.

“When clinicians measure vitamin D, then they’re forced to make a decision what to do about it,” Dr. Rosen said. “That’s where questions about the levels come in. And that’s a big problem. So what the panel’s saying is, don’t screen. ... This really gets to the heart of the issue, because we have no data that there’s anything about screening that allows us to improve quality of life. ... Screening is probably not worthwhile in any age group.”

Among the reader comments in this regard:

“So misguided. Don’t look because we don’t know what do to with data. That’s the message this article exposes. The recommendation is do nothing. But, doing nothing IS an action — not a default.” (Lisa Tracy)

“So now, you will not screen for vitamin D because you do not know what to do next? See a naturopathic doctor — we know what to do next!” (Dr. Joyce Roberson)

“Gee, how do we treat it? ... What to do? Sounds incompetent at minimum. I suspect it’s vital, easy, and inexpensive ... so hide it.” (Holly Kohley)

“Just because we do not know is not a rationale for not testing. The opposite should be done.” (Dr. JJ Gold)
 

Caters to Industry?

Many commentators intimated that pharma and/or insurance company considerations played a role in the recommendations. Their comments included the following:

“I have been under the impression people do routine checkups to verify there are no hidden problems. If only some testing is done, the probability of not finding a problem is huge. ... Preventive healthcare should be looking for something to prevent instead of waiting until they can cure it. Of course, it might come back to ‘follow the money.’ It is much more profitable to diagnose and treat than it is to prevent.” (Grace Kyser)

“The current irrational ‘recommendation’ gives insurance companies an excuse to deny ALL tests of vitamin D — even if the proper code is supplied. The result is — people suffer. This recommendation does harm!” (Dr JJ Gold)

“Essentially, they are saying let’s not screen ‘healthy’ individuals and ignore it altogether. Better to wait till they’re old, pregnant, or already sick and diagnosed with a disease. This is the problem with the healthcare in this country.” (Brittney Lesher)

“Until allopathic medicine stops waiting for severe symptoms to develop before even screening for potential health problems, the most expensive healthcare (aka, sick care) system in the world will continue to be content to focus on medical emergencies and ignore prevention. ...” (Dean Raffelock)

“Don’t test? Are you kidding me? Especially when people are supplementing? That is akin to taking a blood pressure medication without measuring blood pressures! ... Don’t test? Don’t supplement? ... I have only one explanation for such nonsense: Pharma lives off sick people, not healthy ones.” (Georg Schlomka)

On a somewhat conciliatory and pointed note, Dr Francesca Luna-Rudin commented, “I would like to remind all of my fellow physicians that recommendations should be regarded as just that, a ‘recommendation.’ As doctors, we can use guidelines and recommendations in our practice, but if a new one is presented that does not make sense or would lead to harm based on our education and training, then we are not bound to follow it!”

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.