All Articles

• Higher opioid dose linked to overdose risk in chronic pain patients

  More and more Americans with chronic pain not caused by cancer are taking medically prescribed opioids like Oxycontin (oxycodone) and Vicodin (hydrocodone). The January 19 Annals of Internal Medicine features the first study to explore the risk of overdose in patients prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain in general health care. The study, published with an accompanying editorial, links risk of fatal and nonfatal opioid overdose to prescription use—strongly associating the risk with the prescribed dose.
• Study of aging in Group Health patients renewed with $12 million grant

  Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) joint project between GHRI and the University of Washington focuses on finding ways to delay or prevent dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, and declines in memory and thinking.
• The Group Health Biostatistics unit

  The Group Health Biostatistics unit: Team science at its best.
• Acupuncture eases chronic low back pain in SPINE trial

  Acupuncture can help people with chronic low back pain feel less bothered by their symptoms and function better in their daily activities, according to the largest U.S. randomized trial of its kind, published in the May 11, 2009 Archives of Internal Medicine. But the SPINE (Stimulating Points to Investigate Needling Efficacy) trial raises questions about how the ancient practice actually works.
• Pain relievers seem not to prevent Alzheimer's in very old

  A new study shows that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as the pain relievers ibuprofen and naproxen, do not prevent Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia.
• Chronic Care Model helps improve people's health and care

  Ed Wagner, MD, MPH, and Group Health colleagues set out 15 years ago to explore how best to engage patients with chronic diseases in effective care. With Robert Wood Johnson Foundation support, they developed the Chronic Care Model. More than 1,500 U.S. and international medical practices have adopted the Model. Now the largest roundup of evidence on how the Model performs in practice confirms that it works.
• New online care for hypertension gets results

  Web-based care and at-home blood pressure checks can help control hypertension without office visits, according to the "e-BP" (Electronic Blood Pressure) study of more than 700 Group Health patients published in the June 25 Journal of the American Medical Association. "To our knowledge, this is the first large randomized controlled trial to use Web-based care and a patient-shared electronic medical record to improve treatment outcomes of a chronic disease," said study leader Beverly B. Green, MD, MPH.