November 2, 1994, Vol 272, No. 17 >

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ARTICLE | November 2, 1994

Users' Guides to the Medical Literature: Title and subTitle BreakVI. How to Use an Overview FREE

Andrew D. Oxman, MD, MSc; Deborah J. Cook, MD, MSc; Gordon H. Guyatt, MD, MSc; Eric Bass, MD, MPH; Patrick Brill-Edwards, MD; George Browman, MD, MSc; Allan Detsky, MD, PhD; Michael Farkouh, MD; Hertzei Gerstein, MD, MSc; Ted Haines, MD, MSc; Brian Haynes, MD, MSc; Robert Hayward, MD, MPH; Anne Holbrook, MD, PharmD, MSc; Roman Jaeschke, MD, MSc; Elizabeth Juniper, MCSP, MSc; Andreas Laupacis, MD, MSc; Hui Lee, MD, MSc; Mitchell Levine, MD, MSc; Virginia Moyer, MD, MPH; David Naylor, MD, DPhil; Jim Nishikawa, MD; Ameen Patel, MD; John Philbrick, MD; Scott Richardson, MD; Stephane Sauve, MD, MSc; David Sacked, MD, MSc; Jack Sinclair, MD; Brian Strom, MD, MPH; K. S. Trout, FRCE; Sean Tunis, MD, MSc; Stephen Walter, PhD; John Williams, Jr, MD, MHS; Mark Wilson, MD, MPH

[+] Author Affiliations

A complete list of members (with affiliations) of the Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group appears in the first article of this series (JAMA. 1993;270:2093-2095).

Reprint requests to Room 2C12, McMaster University Health Sciences Centre, 1200 Main St W, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8N 3Z5 (Dr Guyatt).

Users' Guides to the Medical Literature section editor: Drummond Rennie, MD, Deputy Editor (West), JAMA.

JAMA. 1994;272(17):1367-1371. doi:10.1001/jama.1994.03520170077040

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References

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT | REFERENCES

CLINICAL SCENARIO A 55-year-old man had his serum cholesterol level measured at a shopping mall 2 months ago. His cholesterol level was elevated and he comes to you, his primary care physician, for advice. He does not smoke, is not obese, and does not have hypertension, diabetes mellitus, or any first-order relatives with premature coronary heart disease (CHD). You repeat his cholesterol test and schedule a follow-up appointment. The test confirms an elevated cholesterol level (7.9 mmol/L [305 mg/dL]), but before deciding on a treatment recommendation, you elect to find out just how big a reduction in the risk of CHD this patient could expect from a cholesterollowering diet or drug therapy.

THE SEARCH There are a number of cholesterol-lowering trials, and instead of trying to find and review all of the original studies yourself, you use Grateful Med to find a recent overview. On the first subject line you

REFERENCES

ABSTRACT | REFERENCES

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Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature

Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal