Top 20 research studies of 2015 for primary care physicians

In 2015, a group of primary care clinicians with expertise in evidence-based practice performed monthly surveillance of more than 110 English-language clinical research journals. They identified 251 studies that addressed a primary care question and had the potential to change practice if valid (patient-oriented evidence that matters, or POEMs). Each study was critically appraised and disseminated to subscribers via e-mail, including members of the Canadian Medical Association who had the option to use a validated tool to assess the clinical relevance of each POEM and the benefits they expect for their practice. This article, the fifth installment in this annual series, summarizes the 20 POEMs based on original research studies judged to have the greatest clinical relevance for family physicians. Key recommendations include questioning the need for backup throat cultures; avoiding early imaging and not adding cyclobenzaprine or oxycodone to naproxen for patients with acute low back pain; and encouraging patients with chronic or recurrent low back pain to walk. Other studies showed that using a nicotine patch for more than eight weeks has little benefit; that exercise can prevent falls that cause injury in at-risk older women; and that prostate cancer screening provides a very small benefit, which is outweighed by significant potential harms of screening and associated follow-up treatment. Additional highly rated studies found that tight glycemic control provides only a small cardiovascular benefit in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus at the expense of hypoglycemic episodes; that treating mild hypertension can provide a modest reduction in stroke and all-cause mortality; that sterile gloves are not needed for minor uncomplicated skin procedures; that vasomotor symptoms last a mean of 7.4 years; and that three regimens have been shown to provide the best eradication rates for Helicobacter pylori infection.