Alyssa Capel

Over the past several years, acquisitions of medical groups — including in gastroenter-ology — by private equity firms have become increasingly common.

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors is taking steps to identifying potential conflicts of interest through changes to a key form.

The consumption of processed meat containing nitrites is associated with an increased risk for colorectal cancer, according to a literature review published in Nutrients.

According to results published in JAMA Network Open, nonwhite, low-income, and underin-sured patients were more likely to view the cultural competency of providers as important and less likely to report being treated with respect.

Healthcare costs in the United States are approaching 18% of the country’s GDP, a figure greater than any other nation in the world. However, according to a 2012 analysis, up to 34% of this spending could be categorized as waste.

A recent study reported that approximately 9 of 10 US physicians practice defensive medicine to avoid malpractice claims.

Study results showed that although the percentage of women in internal medicine residency programs increased, the number of those pursuing in subspecialty fellowships decreased.

Because unmarried patients are less likely to choose surgery or radiotherapy treatments over other interventions, researchers often speculate that those patients have less “fighting spirit” or that having a life partner would give them “more to live for.”

Cirrhosis and chronic liver disease are endemic in the veteran population. These conditions — often associated with alcohol and substance use or obesity — can be exacer-bated by posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In turn, PTSD is often linked with great-er mortality from chronic liver disease.