October

The increasing expectation of excellence from our health care system extends to care provided by paramedics in the prehospital setting. 

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Systematic reviews are a crucial component of evidence-based medicine. They are pro­ducts of the synthesis and appraisal of all high-quality research evidence relevant to focused questions and express both current knowledge and uncertainty. Over time, systematic reviews have increasingly informed recommen­dations of clinical guidelines, point-of-care tools, and other summaries on medical practice. 

References

The incidence of TB in Canada’s foreign-born population has decreased annually since 1970. The proportion of foreign-born cases, however, has risen and now accounts for 66% of TB cases in Canada.[1] This rising proportion likely reflects the decreasing incidence in Canadian-born populations and the increasing proportion of migrants from high-burden countries. 

References

High blood pressure (BP) or hypertension is a key factor in the development of atherosclerosis, the main cause of vascular and cerebrovascular diseases: ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and stroke. Elevated blood pressure is also linked causally to kidney failure and dementia.[1,2] Healthy lifestyle choices coupled with early detection and optimal treatment to control high blood pressure can substantially reduce the risk of developing these problems.

One cannot underestimate the importance of hypertension across the breadth of clinical medicine. Hypertension affects 20% of the population and the risk of de­veloping hypertension increases with age to such an extent that the lifetime (cumulative) risk for middle-aged individuals is 90%.