HOLD THE PRESSES! I wouldve been okay with this article if he also had the balancing argument that people shouldnt ignore going to the doctor when they DO have symptoms. Without that balance this article may cause people to ignore going to the doctor even more than they already do. AND, at this point its estimated that there are 90 million prediabetics in the United States approximately & that about 90% of them dont know they have it. Thats right, a disease that we know can be prevented by lifestyle dramatically (type 2 diabetes) in prediabetes and where screening might actually help (and we have no evidence that it does not – remember that absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence) may be hindered (even unintentionally) by articles beating up on PCPs and the annual physical exam, even if such beating up is understandable. The annual physical exam isnt necessarily helpful – seeing a doctor when you have no problem doesnt have any strong evidence-base - I get it. But we all know many in the American culture ignore seeing the doc when they in fact do have symptoms. And with this glut of prediabetes, it may in fact become that the annual physical exam, with diabetes screening becoming an integral feature and lifestyle being so dramatically effective, may in fact turn out to be a potentially positive thing, time will tell. As such, this articles lack of commentary regarding not skipping seeing the doctor when you feel sick, and certainly seeing the doctor regularly annually if one has significant risk for disease whether its family history, significant overweight/obese city, sedentary lifestyle, smoking etc. wouldve been appropriate and turned me from understanding but slightly not favorable to favorable. This is all in the spirit of Albert Einsteins statement – which I will paraphrase – everything should be explained as simply as possible, but not one bit simpler. #RMS #RealityMeetsScience TM
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 16:16:54 +0000
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