Few Trials Examine Effects Of A Drug In Patients With Multiple Chronic Conditions.

This is advice that all physicians (young and old) need to remember in this age of "Evidence Based Medicine".

MedPage Today  (12/28, Walker) reports, "Few major randomized, controlled clinical trials examine the effects of a drug in patients who have multiple chronic conditions, even though more than one-quarter of all Americans are living with at least two chronic health conditions," according to "a research letter  published in the Dec. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association." Meanwhile, "the proportion is even greater for older individuals, two out of three of whom are likely to have at least two chronic health conditions, according to Alejandro Jadad, MD, and colleagues from the Centre for Health, Wellness and Cancer Survivorship at the University Health Network in Toronto." This "means that most trials on which the FDA bases its approval of new drugs are not generalizable to the US population."