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• A healthy menu: Group Health approaches to weight-loss and obesity research

  Nearly one in three Americans are obese and the condition doubled among American adults from 1980 to 2000, say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
• Is combined treatment key?

  Most U.S. health care costs go to caring for the 133 million Americans with chronic conditions. Almost half have at least two chronic illnesses. One of those chronic illnesses is often depression, which can hinder a person’s ability to manage everything.
• Medical home pays off, improving primary care and cutting cost at 2 years

  In a two-year evaluation at Group Health Cooperative, transforming primary care into a “patient-centered medical home” model paid off. The evaluation compared the medical home prototype to GH's other medical centers, showing that the quality of care was higher, patients reported having better experiences, and clinicians said they felt less “burned out.”
• Higher opioid dose linked to overdose risk in chronic pain patients

  More and more Americans with chronic pain not caused by cancer are taking medically prescribed opioids like Oxycontin (oxycodone) and Vicodin (hydrocodone). The January 19 Annals of Internal Medicine features the first study to explore the risk of overdose in patients prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain in general health care. The study, published with an accompanying editorial, links risk of fatal and nonfatal opioid overdose to prescription use—strongly associating the risk with the prescribed dose.
• Study of aging in Group Health patients renewed with $12 million grant

  Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) joint project between GHRI and the University of Washington focuses on finding ways to delay or prevent dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, and declines in memory and thinking.
• The Group Health Biostatistics unit

  The Group Health Biostatistics unit: Team science at its best.
• Acupuncture eases chronic low back pain in SPINE trial

  Acupuncture can help people with chronic low back pain feel less bothered by their symptoms and function better in their daily activities, according to the largest U.S. randomized trial of its kind, published in the May 11, 2009 Archives of Internal Medicine. But the SPINE (Stimulating Points to Investigate Needling Efficacy) trial raises questions about how the ancient practice actually works.