Weekend Warriors Win; Self-Dx via Facebook; Eat This, Not That; +2 - the Five for Friday

Our editors' summaries of the 5 most newsworthy topics reported on Patient Care®this week.

Weekend warriors win. But so do the gym rats who work out every day. New research that involved nearly 90 000 people finds that the effects of intense physical activity over 1-2 days a week on reducing risk for CV events are comparable to those seen when exercise is spread over several days. The pattern of exercise doesn't matter so - Just Do It. More details, here.

Self-Dx via Facebook. The most common self-diagnosis based on social media consultation is anxiety, followed by depression, then ADHD. More than half of respondents to a recent survey rated YouTube as the top platform for diagnostic content, and less than half followed up with a medical professional after a self-diagnosis. More details, here.

Food will do when statins don't. For the 1 in 3 patients with hyperlipidemia who either can't or will not take a statin, or would rather not take medication at all, there is an optimal combination of dietary fiber, unsaturated fats, and plant sterols that appear to be essential to the success of any lipid management plan, says leading preventive cardiologist. More details, here.

Portable CBT Rx approved. The FDA approved a new app for patients with T2D that is physician-prescribed in 90-day increments, uses a proprietary cognitive behavioral approach, and in clinical trials led to mean A1c reductions of 1.3% in half of participants. The majority of patients were still engaged with the app at 6 months. More details here.

No anticoagulation for you. Less than half of patients with a new diagnosis of atrial fibrillation and at high risk of stroke are prescribed anticoagulation within 6 months. Factors associated with a prescription included male sex, White (vs Black)race, obesity, and CHF. More details, here.