Primary Care News and Research

Latest Primary Care News and Research

Early electronic advance directives reduce burdensome end-of-life care

Advance directives document patient preferences for future care, including end-of-life. An analysis in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that older patients with an advance directive that had been uploaded into the electronic health record at least six months before death were 25% less likely to experience potentially burdensome end-of-life care (19.9% versus 26.8%) and 31% less likely to have died in the hospital (23.2% versus 32.1%).

20 May 2026

New guidelines urge earlier cholesterol treatment to prevent heart disease

Doctors should consider treating high cholesterol much earlier and more aggressively than they have in the past, according to a new perspective by Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and Yale School of Medicine investigators.

19 May 2026

Pennington and Vanderbilt launch major study on childhood obesity treatment

Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in collaboration with Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has launched a research study, the COACH trial, to test different ways to help children and their families improve their health through lifestyle changes delivered by primary care clinics in communities in Louisiana and Tennessee.

19 May 2026

Children's mental health concerns increasingly addressed during primary care visits

A new study led by researchers at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston University, Boston Medical Center, UMass Chan Medical School, and Brown University finds that children's mental health concerns are appearing more often during routine visits with primary care doctors.

18 May 2026

New therapies could help type 1 diabetes care move beyond insulin alone

Disease-modifying therapies for type 1 diabetes are beginning to move care beyond insulin replacement by targeting immune dysregulation, beta-cell stress, and preservation of endogenous beta-cell function. Teplizumab marks a major clinical milestone, but the review emphasizes that durable metabolic remission will likely require earlier screening, better patient selection, and sequential or combination therapies.

18 May 2026

AI beats primary care doctors in simulated diagnosis study using images and ECGs

Multi-modal AMIE used state-aware reasoning to interpret patient history alongside skin photos, ECGs, and clinical documents during simulated telehealth consultations. In a blinded exploratory OSCE-style study, AMIE outperformed primary care physicians across most diagnostic, communication, empathy, and multimodal reasoning measures, but still requires real-world clinical validation.

17 May 2026

Addressing depression and anxiety in primary care improves chronic pain management

A study published this month in the American Journal of Managed Care explores how integrating behavioral health care into primary care can improve outcomes and be cost-effective for adults with depression, anxiety and chronic pain who are on long-term opioid therapy.

15 May 2026

Perioperative medicine emerges as a system wide strategy for better surgery outcomes

Perioperative medicine is emerging as a transformative, comprehensive, system-wide approach to patient care before, during, and after surgery – that reduces complication rates and hospital days, provides better health outcomes, and improves health system performance, according to a special article in the Online First edition of Anesthesiology, the peer-reviewed medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).

14 May 2026

Study warns of rising cognitive impairment following a heart attack

The chance of developing cognitive impairment was significantly higher for people who have had a heart attack, according to a study published today in Stroke, the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association.

14 May 2026

Why experts say PCOS needs a new name

A Lancet Health Policy paper reports an international consensus process that selected polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) as the new name for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The change aims to shift the focus away from ovarian cysts and better reflect the condition’s endocrine, metabolic, and ovarian features.

13 May 2026

Perimenopausal women face higher risk of low heart health

Perimenopausal women were two times more likely to have a low cardiovascular health score compared to women having regular menstrual cycles, according to an analysis of nationwide U.S. data published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

13 May 2026

Sports coaches can improve health for athletes with disabilities

Research highlights the role of sports coaches in enhancing health for athletes with disabilities, focusing on collaboration and effective health promotion.

13 May 2026

Why are so many mothers missing diabetes follow-up after childbirth?

A New York City cohort study found that few women with postpartum-onset diabetes received guideline-recommended A1C monitoring over three years. Non-Hispanic Black women and mothers with more children faced lower monitoring rates, while Medicaid coverage was linked to better follow-up.

11 May 2026

Two leading heart risk tools pass a major global test

A multinational Nature Medicine validation study found that PREVENT and SCORE2 cardiovascular risk equations performed generally well across 6.4 million people from observational cohorts and randomized trials. The findings support broader use of these tools for CVD risk stratification, while highlighting the need for local calibration and more validation in underrepresented regions.

11 May 2026

Ibasho concept offers a community-led approach to disaster psychiatry

As disasters increasingly disrupt lives through displacement, conflict, and climate-related emergencies, addressing long-term mental health recovery remains a major challenge.

11 May 2026

Endometriosis linked to slightly higher birth defect risk in infants

For babies born to people with endometriosis, there is a small but significant increased risk of congenital anomalies, often called birth defects, according to new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.250439.

11 May 2026

Could a fingerprick at home flag your Alzheimer's risk? New study says yes

Researchers demonstrated that self-administered fingerprick blood tests measuring p-tau217 and GFAP, returned by post, correlate strongly with venous blood biomarkers and cognitive performance across the Alzheimer's disease continuum. Combined with computerized cognitive testing, this at-home approach offers a scalable, patient-friendly tool for triaging individuals at risk of AD-related impairment.

10 May 2026

Study warns of rising severe malaria risk due to testing delays

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), in collaboration with colleagues across the country, found that more than one in four pediatric patients treated for malaria in the United States had a delay in their initial diagnosis, increasing the risk of more severe infection.

8 May 2026

Heart disease risk prediction tool proves effective across global populations

A tool developed by the American Heart Association (AHA), proven to accurately predict heart disease risk for Americans, can be applied to the global population, a new study led by NYU Langone Health shows.

7 May 2026

Advancing Menopause Care: Non-Hormonal Treatments for Vasomotor Symptoms

Menopause symptoms like hot flushes can be debilitating. Dr. Katie Barber highlights new treatments, including fezolinetant, for improved patient care.

7 May 2026