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A faster resting pulse goes with higher risk in large cohorts. Trials that slowed the heart with a drug helped one group of heart-failure patients and not people with stable coronary disease. What that says about reading your own number.
Near focus fades with age for almost everyone. What reading glasses, multifocal contact lenses, the newer pupil-constricting drops and lens replacement have each been tested on, what the trials measured, and where the trade-offs are.
Calorie restriction, omega-3 and small lifestyle studies have all been reported to slow or reverse an epigenetic clock. What the trials measured, in whom, how large the changes were, and why a lower reading is not yet a longer life.
Skipped or extra beats are usually premature beats. What a basic workup includes, which findings change the picture — burden, heart structure, beats after exercise — and what trials of drugs, ablation and coffee actually measured.
The 2010 definition of sarcopenia required low muscle mass. EWGSOP2 and the SDOC statements now start with strength, and SDOC leaves DXA lean mass out. Why the order changed, how the cut-offs differ, and what the treatment evidence shows.
For meniscus and ACL tears, randomised trials, including one against sham surgery, have compared surgery with rehabilitation. What they found, what a meniscal tear on MRI means after 50, and what the trials leave open.
“Keep your waist to less than half your height” is a boundary drawn from screening studies, not a biological switch. Where 0.5 and the higher 0.6 band come from, what the studies behind them measured, and where the same number means less than it seems.
Finding something early is not the same as changing what happens next. Which common screening tests for adults over forty have trial or USPSTF support, which are recommended against, and where the evidence stops.
A raised fasting glucose next to a normal HbA1c, or the reverse, does not by itself mean either result is wrong. The two tests reflect different things, and some conditions shift HbA1c without any change in blood sugar.
BMI misses about half of people with excess body fat, different bioimpedance devices diverge from DXA by several percentage points, and DXA itself has day-to-day noise. Which body composition measurements actually change decisions — waist, a series on one device, strength before mass — and what is proven versus merely associated.
The thresholds for a meaningful change in walking speed — 0.05 and 0.10 m/s — were derived on groups, while the test's own error between two visits reaches 0.50 m/s. What is known about slowing and speeding up over time, what dual-task walking adds, and why the best trial in the field reduced mobility loss without ever separating from the control arm on the short speed test.
In most children a flat foot is a shape, not a disease: the arch matures on its own in the first decade. What decides is whether the foot is flexible and whether it hurts. What the insole trials showed, how a rigid foot differs from a flexible one, when surgery is discussed at all, and what to ask the orthopaedic surgeon.
Articles in this section are educational and are not medical advice, a diagnosis, or a prescription. Consult a qualified professional before acting on anything you read here.