geoffrey modest medical blogs

  A     recent Cochrane review assessed     mask effectiveness in preventing the spread of respiratory viruses, though with what seems to be inappropriate extension to SAR-SoV-2    ( https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full : You have the options of viewing the full article (326 pages), the standard article (a measly, indulge in the pun, 305 pages which does not include data and analyses), or the summary (only 5 pages).  This review hit the national press right away (eg see   https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/21/opinion/do-mask-mandates-work.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare   , with perhaps the pretty distorted title in the New York Times editorial by Bret Stephens: “The Mask Mandates Did Nothing”   Details:  -- this Cochrane review included 78 RCTs, 6 of which were conducted during the Covid pandemic: 2 from Mexico, one each from Denmark, Bangladesh, England, and No...

  A recent study found that cumulative hyperglycemic exposure was associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer (see   dm hyperglyemic burden inc pancreat cancer JDiabResClinPrac2022 , or   doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2022.110208   ) Details : -- 3,138,099 individuals who had 4 consecutive annual health screenings between 2009 and 2013, from the Korean National Health Insurance Service Database of Claims     -- this database of claims data has medical information of 50 million Koreans (>99% of the population), including age, sex, primary and secondary diagnoses, hospital visits, prescriptions (inpatient and outpatient). -- age 45, 75% male, 33% smokers, 10% heavy drinkers, 22% regular exercise, 16% low income, 35% obese (range 27%-49%), 30% hypertensive (12%-47%), 25% dyslipidemia (12%-35%), 2% cardiovasc disease, 35% metabolic syndrome (9%-63%), BMI 24, fasting glucose  110mg/dL (87-134), BP 124/80     -- there was a strong trend...