Author Archives

Edward H. Livingston, MD, is Deputy Editor, Clinical Content, JAMA.

• Children and Teens Who Are Obese and Have Type 2 Diabetes Respond Poorly to Conventional Diabetes Therapy

  By Edward H. Livingston, MD on June 22, 2012

  

  Most children who are obese and have type 2 diabetes do not achieve adequate control of their blood glucose levels with conventional therapy, according a major study reported at the recent 72nd Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association. Health… Read More ›

• Fitness May Help in Managing Diabetes, Even in Obese Individuals

  By Edward H. Livingston, MD on June 15, 2012

  

  Scientists are beginning to uncover evidence that exercise can play a major role in managing diabetes, even in obese or overweight patients who lose little weight, reported experts at the 72nd Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association. Clinicians have… Read More ›

• Recent Air Travel May Be Associated With Flare of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Symptoms

  By Edward H. Livingston, MD on May 23, 2012

  

  San Diego—Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may experience a flare of IBD-related symptoms when they travel by air, according to new findings reported here at the annual Digestive Disease Week conference. Airplane cabins are pressurized to maintain an atmospheric… Read More ›

• Analysis: A New Weight-Loss Drug?

  By Edward H. Livingston, MD on March 1, 2012

  

  In 1993, when I started performing bariatric surgery to help patients with obesity lose weight, I thought that this procedure would disappear within 10 years because a drug to treat obesity would surely emerge. After all, in the 1970s, peptic… Read More ›

• Daunting Challenges for Creating, Implementing Health Reform Law’s Insurance Exchange Program

  By Edward H. Livingston, MD on February 17, 2012

  

  Washington, DC—One of the considerable challenges presented by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is implementing the insurance exchange program required by the ACA, agreed a panel of state insurance regulators gathered earlier this week at the AcademyHealth Health Policy Conference… Read More ›

• Trust vs Distrust in Health Care System a Factor in Racial Disparities for Colon Cancer Survival

  By Edward H. Livingston, MD on October 24, 2011

  

  San Francisco—Differences in how various groups of patients with colorectal cancer interact with the health care system may help explain why survival rates for this cancer are lower among blacks than whites, according to research presented at the annual meeting… Read More ›

• Weight-loss Programs That Escalate Interventions When Needed May Be Alternative to Costly Intensive Programs

  By Edward H. Livingston, MD on October 7, 2011

  

  A “stepped care” weight-loss program that escalates in intensity as needed may provide a way to help patients achieve clinically important weight loss while using fewer resources than standard costly intensive programs, according to new findings presented earlier this week… Read More ›

• Author Insights: Extensive Lymph Node Surgery no Longer Needed for Most Women With Breast Cancer

  By Edward H. Livingston, MD on July 26, 2011

  

  Clinicians who treat patients with cancer tend to hold firm to the belief that removing, if possible, any tissue known to contain any cancer cells is important for maximizing a patient’s chance of survival. For patients with breast cancer, some… Read More ›

• Author Insights: Higher Medicaid Payments to Dentists Linked to More Children Receiving Dental Care

  By Edward H. Livingston, MD on July 12, 2011

  

  Because Medicaid generally pays less than private insurers for equivalent services, it is widely perceived that this gap results in reduced access to care, including dental care, for Medicaid patients. This includes children, about one-third of whom are covered by… Read More ›

• Glitazone Medications May Slightly Increase Risk of Macular Edema in Patients With Diabetes

  By Edward H. Livingston, MD on June 27, 2011

  

  San Diego—A class of medications called glitazones used to treat diabetes can result in leakage from blood vessels into the eye, a condition called macular edema that increases the likelihood of loss of vision, according to findings reported at the… Read More ›