News you can use in hospital medicine

Joined October 2025
Welcome to Evidence Rounds! You might be an Evidence Rounder if you drown in literature that rarely helps and want trustworthy, curated evidence Follow for weekly updates featuring practice-changing studies and the most promising ideas that shape hospital medicine
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More fluids or earlier vasopressors for septic shock? ARISE FLUIDS trial found no difference in days alive & out of the hospital between the two strategies after patients had received ~1.5L of initial fluid. Either approach appears reasonable; tailor the next step to the patient
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Evidence Rounds retweeted
In a double-blind RCT of 108 obese AUD pts motivated for sobriety, semaglutide reduced heavy drinking days by 13% (absolute) vs placebo Reduction in drinking strongly correlated w/ weight los Suggests shared mechanism or functional unblinding, which might exaggerate benefits
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In a proof-of-concept AI second opinion study of 76 ED visits, an LLM exceeded 2 independent MD reviewers on diagnostic performance at 3 touchpoints (ER triage, ER physician & admit) Whether it outperforms physicians in real-world practice is yet to be determined
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In a double-blind RCT of 108 obese AUD pts motivated for sobriety, semaglutide reduced heavy drinking days by 13% (absolute) vs placebo Reduction in drinking strongly correlated w/ weight los Suggests shared mechanism or functional unblinding, which might exaggerate benefits
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Do patients on a low dose of levothyroxine truly have hypothyroidism? In a multicenter longitudinal descriptive study, 64% on a levothyroxine dose of 50 µg/d or lower were able to successfully discontinue treatment, suggesting that very low doses more often reflect overtreatment
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In a head-to-head trial for VTE treatment, apixaban was safer than rivaroxaban with similar effecacy at 90 days, with ~4% less clinically relevant bleeding (RR 0.5) Since the safety advantage was confined to the loading-dose phase, its not relevant for atrial fibrillation
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The SOHO trial confirms the use of high-flow nasal cannula for acute hypoxic respiratory failure with less intubation (NNT ~17; benefit by day 1, plateaus by day 4) and less dyspnea (NNT ~7; ~5-point improvement on a 100-point scale)
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Even if the primary outcome of mortality didn't improve, avoiding intubation and improving breathlessness are meaningful benefits xitter.cf/i/status/2034109033142…
John is right. Its uncommon to celebrate secondary outcomes as a win This is why appraisal & EBM aren't rote 5 reasons to reframe it as 'positive' 1. Its a pragmatic trial of two established ways to oxygenate, at least in well resourced hospitals. Not a new fangled intervention or risky safety profile 2. Patients, nurses & clinicians ALREADY favor HFNC for comfort, ease of use, less worry about aspiration. A "negative" trial on mortality wont overcome these obvious benefits of HFNC unless it was clearly harmful (narrator: its not) 3. Bad study design to choose mortality as primary outcome. Anyone paying attention to critical care understands few things move the needle to extending life when that sick, and this ain't one of them 4. Preventing intubations is a clear win. This isnt just delay either. Close to 6% avoided intubation. Benefits are near immediate too. At scale this is huge. Cheaper. Frees up limited ICU capacity. Avoids subsequent ICU harms like VAP, sedation harms, lines, pressors from sedation/MV related hypotension, stress ulcer bleeds, and the over medicalization of being in the ICU (constant beeping, many labs, daily imaging, empiric vanc/zosyn just cause you move from floor to ICU). At population level would see mortality benefits IMO 5. Less dyspnea matters, especially when people are struggling to breathe. We are here to make people feel better or live longer. Many things we prescribe may do neither.
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