To elucidate patterns of antibiotic prescribing, Zhang and colleagues used Medicare Part D data to examine geographic variation in antibiotic use among older adults in 306 Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care hospital referral regions, 50 states and the District of Columbia, and 4 national regions (South, West, Midwest, and Northeast). See invited commentary by Gonzales et al and letter by Fairlie et al.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of new-generation oral anticoagulant agents in patients receiving antiplatelet therapy after an acute coronary syndrome, Komócsi and colleagues searched electronic databases to identify prospective randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials that evaluated the effects of anti-Xa or direct thrombin inhibitors. See invited commentary by Hernandez.

Drug shortages present a practical and ethical dilemma to health care providers. Rosoff et al describe a comprehensive and ethically defensible policy to oversee allocation of scarce drugs.

Incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has reached global epidemic proportions. Tobias et al quantified adherence to healthy diet patterns among 4413 women at high risk for T2DM and report the results of a 16-year follow-up.

Prasad and colleagues review outcomes effects of current noninvasive testing practices for patients admitted with chest pains to the emergency department.