Elevated cholesterol levels are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Treatment strategies promoting the associated health benefits from a reduction in elevated cholesterol levels have been outlined in guidelines published by the National Cholesterol Education Program....

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability and continues to have a great public health impact worldwide. Management of patients with acute ischaemic stroke (IS) has been, until recently, primarily supportive care. A better understanding of the mechanisms of stroke has stimulated a far...

Disease-state management is gaining in use for the management of chronically ill individuals including those with diabetes mellitus, congestive heart failure, asthma, and some forms of cancer. Recently, disease management (DM) has been applied to patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), a...

Objective: To identify common features of primary care clinics that have successfully achieved improvement in chronic disease care. Methods: We analyzed seven primary care practices that have achieved significant improvement in chronic disease care provided to adults with diabetes mellitus,...

An international literature search was conducted to identify studies published since 1995 examining the effects of diabetes self-management education (DSME) in community settings. Of the 24 publications identified, eight were examined to provide a discussion of intervention methods, the use by...

This article describes the critical ingredients of the assertive community treatment (ACT) model for people with severe mental illness and then reviews the evidence regarding its effectiveness and cost effectiveness. ACT is an intensive mental health program model in which a multidisciplinary...

Pain has recently become the focus of attention as a major health problem in the US. The implementation of a pain management strategy in a rural not-for-profit federal hospital is described in this article. The strategy heightened awareness and changed the practice behaviors of clinicians in...

Diabetes mellitus is a common metabolic disorder characterized by high blood glucose levels resulting from an insulin deficiency (type 1 diabetes mellitus) or a combination of insulin deficiency and insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes mellitus). The chronic hyperglycemia associated with diabetes...

Background and Objective: A growing body of literature on the economics of depression concludes that this illness has an enormous impact on workplace performance. In addition to work cutback and sporadic absenteeism, the symptoms of depression also result in elevated rates of chronic absenteeism...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a recently implemented disease management programme [Asthma Control and Education Program (ACE)] on patient outcomes (clinical and functional) and on resource utilisation in socio-economically disadvantaged (and largely...