Do patients with severe asthma run an increased risk from ischaemic heart disease?
These findings suggest that subjects with severe asthma, especially women, have an increased mortality from ischaemic heart disease. The results may reflect confounding, mainly smoking and physical inactivity. Other explanations may be side effects of the antiasthmatic drugs or an effect of longstanding airway obstruction.
General antidepressant requests increase depression history taking, including screening for suicide. Patients' requests for medication do not appear to short-circuit history taking for depression or distract the physician's attention from coexisting musculoskeletal conditions.