Family Medicine

Some of the more important developments in family medicine include new approaches to cancer prevention through aspirin therapy and diet, new information on measles vaccine, better methods to increase compliance in women with abnormal Papanicolaou test results, new understanding of regimens to prevent atherosclerotic disease and its complications, helpful information concerning diagnosing and treating musculoskeletal disorders, and hope for using hormones in symptomatic patients after breast cancer. Health maintenance practices may change as a result of a study showing that aspirin taken at least twice weekly (in variable but low doses) was associated with a one-third reduction (relative risk, 0.68) in colon cancer and a one-half reduction (relative risk, 0.51) in metastatic and fatal colon cancer in more than 50 000 men.1 While this study does not prove directly that aspirin reduces the risk, it suggests yet one more benefit from a practice already followed by many patients for.