Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, and its insidious onset is often associated with diagnostic delay. Since glaucoma progression can often be effectively diminished when treated, identifying individuals at risk for glaucoma could potentially lead to earlier detection and prevent associated vision loss.

Some pregnant women prefer cesarean delivery and request it without maternal or fetal indication rather than proceeding with a plan for vaginal delivery.

Helicobacter pylori is a major cause of gastritis and gastroduodenal ulcer disease and can cause cancer. H. pylori prevalence is as high as 90% in some developing countries but 10% of a given population is never colonized, regardless of exposure. Genetic factors are hypothesized to confer H. pylori susceptibility.

The rapid identification and accurate diagnosis of women who may have an ectopic pregnancy is critically important for reducing the maternal morbidity and mortality associated with this condition.

Genetic variants associated with susceptibility to late-onset Alzheimer disease are known for individuals of European ancestry, but whether the same or different variants account for the genetic risk of Alzheimer disease in African American individuals is unknown. Identification of disease-associated variants helps identify targets for genetic testing, prevention, and treatment.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients treated with antiretroviral therapy now have increased life expectancy and develop chronic illnesses that are often seen in older HIV-negative patients.

Allergic rhinitis affects up to 40% of the US population. To desensitize allergic individuals, subcutaneous injection immunotherapy or sublingual immunotherapy may be administered. In the United States, sublingual immunotherapy is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. However, some US physicians use aqueous allergens, off-label, for sublingual desensitization.

Low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening was shown to reduce lung cancer-specific mortality in a large randomized trial of a high-risk population. The decision to pursue CT screening for lung cancer is a timely question raised by individuals at risk of lung cancer and by their health care practitioners.

Do antiplatelet therapies reduce risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, and cardiovascular events in patients with intermittent claudication? Which antiplatelet is most strongly associated with a reduced risk of all-cause and CVD mortality?

Data on the effectiveness and safety of long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain are limited. Opioid adherence monitoring includes urine drug testing. Determining whether a patient's opioid prescription should be discontinued after an unexpected urine test result can be clinically complex.

The CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) Statement aims to improve the reporting of randomized controlled trials (RCTs); however, it lacks guidance on the reporting of patient-reported outcomes (PROs), which are often inadequately reported in trials, thus limiting the value of these data. In this article, we describe the development of the CONSORT PRO extension based on the methodological framework for guideline development proposed by the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research (EQUATOR) Network. Five CONSORT PRO checklist items are recommended for RCTs in which PROs are primary or important secondary end points. These recommendations urge that the PROs be identified as a primary or secondary outcome in the abstract, that a description of the hypothesis of the PROs and relevant domains be provided (ie, if a multidimensional PRO tool has been used), that evidence of the PRO instrument's validity and reliability be provided or cited, that the statistical approaches for dealing with missing data be explicitly stated, and that PRO-specific limitations of study findings and generalizability of results to other populations and clinical practice be discussed. Examples and an updated CONSORT flow diagram with PRO items are provided. It is recommended that the CONSORT PRO guidance supplement the standard CONSORT guidelines for reporting RCTs with PROs as primary or secondary outcomes. Improved reporting of PRO data should facilitate robust interpretation of the results from RCTs and inform patient care.

Small abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs [3.0 cm-5.4 cm in diameter]) are monitored by ultrasound surveillance. The intervals between surveillance scans should be chosen to detect an expanding aneurysm prior to rupture.

Insomnia is one of the most prevalent health concerns in the population and in clinical practice. Clinicians may be reluctant to address insomnia because of its many potential causes, unfamiliarity with behavioral treatments, and concerns about pharmacologic treatments.

Hydroxyethyl starch is commonly used for volume resuscitation yet has been associated with serious adverse events, including acute kidney injury and death. Clinical trials of hydroxyethyl starch are conflicting. Moreover, multiple trials from one investigator have been retracted because of scientific misconduct.

Intermittent preventive therapy with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine to control malaria during pregnancy is used in 37 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and 31 of those countries use the standard 2-dose regimen. However, 2 doses may not provide protection during the last 4 to 10 weeks of pregnancy, a pivotal period for fetal weight gain.

Clopidogrel pretreatment is recommended for patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and stable coronary artery disease who are scheduled for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), but whether using clopidogrel as a pretreatment for PCI is associated with positive clinical outcomes has not been established.

Estimates of the relative mortality risks associated with normal weight, overweight, and obesity may help to inform decision making in the clinical setting.

Chronic venous disease, reviewed herein, is manifested by a spectrum of signs and symptoms, including cosmetic spider veins, asymptomatic varicosities, large painful varicose veins, edema, hyperpigmentation and lipodermatosclerosis of skin, and ulceration. However, there is no definitive stepwise progression from spider veins to ulcers and, in fact, severe skin complications of varicose veins, even when extensive, are not guaranteed. Treatment options range from conservative (eg, medications, compression stockings, lifestyle changes) to minimally invasive (eg, sclerotherapy or endoluminal ablation), invasive (surgical techniques), and hybrid (combination of ≥1 therapies). Ms L, a 68-year-old woman with varicose veins, is presented. She has had vein problems over the course of her life. Her varicose veins recurred after initial treatment, and she is now seeking guidance regarding her current treatment options.

The CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) Statement, which includes a checklist and a flow diagram, is a guideline developed to help authors improve the reporting of the findings from randomized controlled trials. It was updated most recently in 2010. Its primary focus is on individually randomized trials with 2 parallel groups that assess the possible superiority of one treatment compared with another. The CONSORT Statement has been extended to other trial designs such as cluster randomization, and recommendations for noninferiority and equivalence trials were made in 2006. In this article, we present an updated extension of the CONSORT checklist for reporting noninferiority and equivalence trials, based on the 2010 version of the CONSORT Statement and the 2008 CONSORT Statement for the reporting of abstracts, and provide illustrative examples and explanations for those items that differ from the main 2010 CONSORT checklist. The intent is to improve reporting of noninferiority and equivalence trials, enabling readers to assess the reliability of their results and conclusions.

Estimates of lifetime risk for total cardiovascular disease (CVD) may provide projections of the future population burden of CVD and may assist in clinician-patient risk communication. To date, no lifetime risk estimates of total CVD have been reported.