NICE’s recent guidelines on “the size of your waist” unfairly penalizes shorter people

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has just released its latest guidelines to assess and predict health risk, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension or cardiovascular disease. Their latest advice is “Keep the size of your waist to less than half of your height”. We believe this advice is flawed and will seriously and unfairly penalize shorter people and lull taller people into a false sense of security. In this short communication, we provide this evidence. We consider this a serious oversight by NICE and feel strongly that this evidence needs to be made available in the public domain.     

Quality indicators for breast cancer care: A systematic review

ObjectivesWe evaluated breast cancer (BC) care quality indicators (QIs) in clinical pathways and integrated health care processes.MethodsFollowing protocol registration (Prospero n^o: CRD42021228867), relevant documents were identified, without language restrictions, through a systematic search of bibliographic databases (EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, MEDLINE), health care valuable representatives and the World Wide Web in April 2021. Data concerning QIs, measurement tools and compliance standards were extracted from European and North American sources in duplicate with 98% reviewer agreement.ResultsThere were 89 QIs found from 22 selected documents (QI per document mean 13.5 with standard deviation 11.9). The Belgian (38 QIs) and the EUSOMA (European Society of Breast Cancer Specialists) (34 QIs) documents were the ones that best reported the QIs. No identical QI was identified in all the documents analysed. There were 67/89 QIs covering processes (75.3%) and 11/89 (12.4%) for each structure and outcomes QIs. There were 21/89 QIs for diagnosis (30.3%), 43/89 for treatment (48.3%), and 19/89 for staging, counselling, follow-up and rehabilitation (21.4%). Of 67 process QIs and 11 outcome QIs, 20/78 (26%) did not report a minimum standard of care. Shared decision making was only included as a QI in the Italian document.ConclusionMore than half of countries have not established a national clinical pathway or integrated breast cancer care process to achieve the excellence of BC care. There was heterogeneity in QIs for the evaluation of BC care quality. Over two-thirds of the clinical pathways and integrated health care processes did not provide a minimum auditable standard of care for compliance, leaving open the definition of best practice. There is a need for harmonisation of BC care QIs.     

《黄帝内经》“死”症的机理探析

《黄帝内经》中约出现了493次“死”字,不能一概理解为“生命终止”之义,结合《黄帝内经》文意与后世医家探究,笔者认为约414处“死”字应灵活解释为病情紧急、危重难愈或预后较差。同时还有部分字词,如“亡、尽、终、不治、不可治”等也通此义。通过分析《黄帝内经》相关论述,将“死”症的机理归纳为阴阳离决、邪盛正衰、脏气竭绝、脾胃气绝、神气衰亡、经气败绝6个方面,发现以上病机既可单一致“死”,亦可复合相加致“死”,其中脾胃之气的衰微在多种病机中均有体现,故而认为“脾胃气绝”是“死”症的核心病机,因此在临床对于危重病人的救治中要慎察脾胃之气的盛衰变化,时时固守,谨防败坏。明“死”之机理,方能在辨病治病、判断预后、养生康复等过程中把握关键、争取主动。     

推进“健康中国”行动的以点带面策略研究

推进“健康中国”行动要落脚在个人健康行动上,而发动自我健康行动的根本动力是责任,责任动力带动利益动力形成供需两端发力,并通过社会协同,以社区卫生服务为抓手,通过家庭医生签约服务对社区家庭健康负责,指导和管理家庭及个人健康行动,以点带面推动“健康中国”行动呈现全民健康行动的局面。     

“一带一路”倡议布局下培养高等中医药专业人才的对策

培养中医药创新人才是实现中医药传承和国际化的重要条件。但目前中医药专业人才短缺,尤其紧缺精通中医药翻译和国际贸易服务的人才。因此,在"一带一路"倡议指导下,高等中医药院校应积极合理地开设课程,选择教材,建立科学合理的教学模式,完善考试制度,从而更好地培养中医药人才。