Heart Failure

Cardiovascular Clinical Consult

Adult Immunization

Hepatic Disease 

Behcet’s Disease

Rare Disorders

Pediatric Immunization

Implementing The Topcon Ocular Telehealth Platform

Weight Management

Screening

Monkeypox

Guidelines

Men's Health

Panic Disorder  

Anxiety

Eating Disorders

Depression

Substance-related Disorders

ADHD

Psychiatry 

Seasonal Allergies

Allergy

Nutrition 

Pregnancy and Birth

Women's Health

Atrial Fibrillation

Cholesterol Disorders

Cardiovascular Disease

Hypertension

Cardiology

Substance Use

Child/Adolescent

Pediatrics

Kidney Disease

Genetics

Medical Cannabis

Complimentary & Alternative Medicine

Skin Diseases

Dermatology

Thyroid Disorders 

Diabetes

Diabetes Type 2

Insulin

Endocrinology 

Oral Medicine 

Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases

Fibromyalgia

Pain

Irritable Bowel Syndrome 

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Gastrointestinal Disorders

Geriatrics

Coronavirus

Hepatitis C

Cold, Cough, and Flu

Bacterial Conjunctivitis

Immunization

Influenza

HIV AIDS

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Infection

Osteoporosis

Imaging 

Musculoskeletal Disorders  

Obesity

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Arthritis

Gout

Rheumatology

Technology

Colorectal Cancer

Kidney Cancer

Lung Cancer

Melanoma

Skin cancer

Prostate Cancer

Breast Cancer

Cervical Cancer

Cancer

Nephrology

Anemia

Dementia

Epilepsy

Cerebrovascular Diseases

Headache and Migraine

Parkinson Disease

Alzheimer disease

Stroke

Mental Health

Headache

Migraine

Nervous System Diseases

Sleep Disorders

Neurology

Asthma

Cystic Fibrosis

COPD

Pneumonia

Respiratory Diseases

Pulmonology

News

All News

Office Procedures

Practice Management

Media

Around the Practice

Between the Lines

ConsultantLive

Expert Interviews

Frontline Insights

Institutional Insights

Medical World News

Podcasts

Primary View

Provider Toolkits

Readout360

Conferences

Conference Coverage

Conference Listing

Resources

Image IQ

Interactive Posters

Polls

Publications

Quizzes

Subscribe

CE/CME

Advertise

Contact Us

Terms and Conditions

Privacy

Do Not Sell My Information

Patient Care Online

Facebook

LinkedIn

Clinical Focus

Allergy & Immunology

Endocrinology

Gastroenterology

Infectious Disease

Men’s Health

Pain Management

Psychiatry

Women’s Health

Business Focus

Billing and Collections

Career Planning

Coding and Documentation

Concierge Medicine

Cybersecurity

EHRs

Investing

Patient Relations

Personal Finance

Remote Patient Monitoring

Staffing

Telehealth

Value-based Care

Spotlight

Unmet Needs in Managing MDD

Interpreting Thyroid Function Tests

Using Thyroid Lab Tests

Testing & Screening to Optimize Men's Health

1rem

Authors

Female CV mortality lags behind male mortality; lifetime risk assessment, not 10-year risk, is a better estimation tool for women

Women and Heart Disease: Incidence, Prevalence, Progress, and the Future

A 76-year-old woman seeks your attention for an asymptomatic “red spot” on her neck. She has a history of multiple non-melanoma skin cancers.

Squamous cell carcinoma in situ (Bowen  disease)

Lichenoid keratosis (an inflammatory variant of seborrheic keratosis)

A 76-year-old woman seeks your attention for an asymptomatic “red spot” on her neck. What does this look like to you?

Clinical Topics

What's This "Red Spot"?

A 67-year-old woman seen in clinic for unrelated concerns is incidentally noted to have a “rash” on her flank. She says it appeared in adulthood and has been stable for some years. On the right lower back, there is an asymptomatic reticulated erythema without scale or ulceration

. The patient admits to regular heating pad use on her lower back for pain. The remainder of the skin examination is within normal limits.

The patient says the incidental finding appeared in adulthood and has been stable for years. Can you identify this reticulated erythema?

An Asymptomatic Rash on the Low Back of an Older Woman 

People who become aware that they have lingering symptoms after a COVID-19 infection will most likely consult their primary care clinician first, says American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (AAPM&R)

Flanagan, in a recent conversation with Patient Care, said that while the number of specialty clinics established to care for this expanding population is growing, the current estimate that 27 million Americans have or have had post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 signals that the supply of health care services is already significantly outstripped by demand.

In this video, Flanagan underscores the huge task ahead for primary care clinicians. He also highlights AAPM&R work with multidisciplinary collaborators to define standards of care for long COVID and to widely disseminate educational materials, particularly to primary care. More information on the AAPM&R work is below.

is president-elect of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Chair, Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine Medical Director, Rusk Rehabilitation, New York University Langone Health, in New York, New York.  (Twitter: 

In March 2021, AAPM&R launched the multidisciplinary post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) Collaborative of experts with an overarching goal to foster engagement and share experiences across disciplines and specialties that will move the US health care system towards defining standards of care for persons experiencing long COVID-19/PASC.

To date the Collaborative has published 4 consensus guidance statements on the assessment and treatment of complications in patients with post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2. Please take time to 

 on long COVID-associated cardiovascular complications, cognitive symptoms, breathing discomfort, and fatigue.

NYU Langone Rusk Rehabilitation medical director Steven Flanagan, MD, discusses the "second crisis" of the pandemic and the impact on primary care.  



The Brunt of the Long COVID Patient Burden May Fall on Primary Care, says Rehabilitation Medicine Expert

 brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The 

provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

On October 17, 2024, we reported on a study presented at IDWeek 2024 that examined the association between social vulnerability, race, and influenza, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine uptake in the US. 

Researchers analyzed data from 341 029 patients who were diagnosed with acute respiratory infections at University Hospitals of Cleveland between October 2023 and April 2024. Patient demographics and vaccination statuses were collected from health records and matched with data from the US CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). Researchers then geocoded and segmented the data into quartiles, with Q5 being the highest SVI category and Q1 being the lowest.

Among the cohort, 60% were women and 81% were White, according to investigators. Black individuals were overrepresented among individuals in SVI Q4 at 37% and underrepresented among the least vulnerable population (ie, Q1) at 3.2%, despite making up 14% of the study’s population.

Vaccine uptake among all participants regardless of SVI quartile and race was 37% for influenza, 14% for SARS-CoV-2, and 8.8% for RSV. Vaccination rates decreased, however, as the SVI quartile increased, particularly among Black participants. 

After investigators adjusted for age, sex, and race, they found that the odds of receiving an influenza vaccine were lower for Black individuals compared to White individuals in all SVI quartiles, with the greatest disparity in SVI Q5 (Black: prevalence ratio [PR] 0.59, 95% CI 0.57-0.61; White: PR 0.72, 95% CI 0.70-0.75). Similarly, they also reported that the odds of receiving a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and RSV vaccine were lower for Black individuals compared to White individuals across all SVI quartiles.

"Even when controlling for demographic factors, household income, health insurance coverage and geographic location, the study’s findings maintain that neighborhood factors and race are significantly associated with vaccination status against common respiratory viruses. Disparities this vast are not to be overlooked — they require multifaceted interventions that meet people where they are socially and increase access to essential preventive measures.”

Your daily dose of the clinical news you may have missed.

Social, Racial Disparities in Flu, COVID-19, RSV Vaccine Uptake: Daily Dose

The RSV Vaccine Population was Narrowed for Good Reason, says Robert Hopkins, Jr, MD, Medical Director of the NFID

Recommendations for adult vaccination against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have fluctuated since the first vaccine became available in 2023. Most recently, in early summer, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to the US CDC "tightened the recommendations [around] the groups that are likely to get the greatest benefit" from the immunization, Robert Hopkins, Jr, MD, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, explained in an interview with 

In the short video above, Hopkins explains the shift in population emphasis by the ACIP between June 2023 and June 2024, with the recommendation for a single lifetime dose raised from all adults aged 60 years and older to all adults aged 75 years and older, with adults in the 60-to-74-year-old population eligible if they are 

ACIP recommendations for the most appropriate older population for the RSV vaccine has shifted and the NFID medical director explains why. 

C Noel Bairey Merz, MD

Articles

Latest Updated Articles