American College of Physicians

Although they offer an alternative to warfarin for preventing stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation, effective use of the new anticoagulants requires careful patient selection.

The ACC/AHA cholesterol guideline can be a powerful tool for making multifactorial measures of cardiovascular disease risk assessment, particularly in African American populations, but clinicians should be aware of its limitations.

Clinicians should consider a patient's risk of hypoglycemia, the duration of time with the disease, age, comorbidities, vascular complications, and other factors when setting treatment goals.

With state-of-the-art treatment regimens for hepatitis C becoming more effective and easier to administer and monitor, care delivery will shift away from specialists to include more involvement by primary care physicians.

Several studies have shown good results with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and laparoscopic gastric banding when combined with lifestyle modifications in severely overweight patients with type 2 diabetes.

Once confirmation of an asthma diagnosis is made, most primary care physicians can manage the condition and need refer only challenging cases to a pulmonologist.

Thorough screening, advance planning, careful medication selection, and caregiver education and training are the keys to effective management of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Mitigating the risk of stroke, heart failure, and death when treating patients with atrial fibrillation requires a careful consideration of patient characteristics and management options.