Staying #Up2Date 🚨

1: Fish Oil Makes Waves in Hemodialysis Care

A double-blind RCT explored whether fish-oil supplementation can improve cardiovascular outcomes in adults receiving hemodialysis — and the results were striking. Over 3.5 years, the rate of serious cardiovascular events was significantly lower in the fish-oil group compared to placebo (HR 0.57; 95% CI, 0.47–0.70; P < .001). Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in people on hemodialysis, making a daily supplement with measurable impact a notable finding.

2: BP Trouble in Your Teens Could Mean Artery Trouble Later

A cohort study found that higher blood pressure levels in adolescence are associated with a higher risk of coronary atherosclerosis in middle age — and the effect is dose-dependent. Teens with severe hypertension were more likely to develop severe coronary stenosis decades later. The data point toward a long arc of cardiovascular risk that begins earlier than many clinicians may expect.

3: When It Comes to Stage 5 CKD, Women Get Less Care and Worse Outcomes

A cohort study of 7.5K adults with stage 5 CKD examined how mortality and kidney-replacement therapy differ between men and women. After 8 years, females experienced a survival disadvantage and were less likely to receive dialysis or kidney replacement compared with their male counterparts. Women younger than 55 had the worst outcomes across both mortality and access to treatment, highlighting potential inequities that warrant further scrutiny.

Q&A With Diabetes Canada

It’s Diabetes Awareness Month, and we checked in with Laura O’Driscoll, Senior Manager, Policy at Diabetes Canada to unpack where diabetes misinformation is still popping up, and what clinicians should know right now.

Q. What’s the current landscape of diabetes in Canada?

Laura: More than 4 million Canadians are living with diagnosed diabetes, and many more are likely undiagnosed. Screening matters — Type 2 can appear in people who don’t fit the traditional profile, so adding HbA1c testing more routinely can catch cases earlier.

Q. What should clinicians prioritize during routine visits?

Laura: Think beyond labs. Use the ABCDs: A1C, blood pressure, cholesterol, and discussions around diet and activity. And always check feet — diabetes is still the leading cause of lower-limb amputation. Mental health screening is also important given the burden of chronic disease.

Q. What are the biggest misconceptions about Type 2 diabetes?

Laura: The belief that people “did it to themselves.” Diabetes is multifactorial and complex; shame doesn’t improve outcomes. What helps is giving patients tangible, achievable steps for improving diet, movement, and overall self-management.

Q. Why is the patient–physician relationship such a critical factor?

Laura: Trust opens the door to real conversations. Patients are far more likely to disclose issues like food insecurity, medication costs, or difficulty adhering to treatment when they feel respected and heard, and those insights directly shape care plans.

Q. Any final takeaways for front-line clinicians?

Laura: Screen early and often. Too many diagnoses still happen in the ER when complications are already advanced. Reducing stigma and helping people understand symptoms sooner can prevent severe outcomes like vision loss and amputations.

Smoke Signals 🚬

The conversation around smoking habits is shifting, highlighting that even a single cigarette may raise the risk of heart disease

What happened: A new study found that smoking roughly 100 cigarettes over a lifetime could be enough to raise a person’s risk of heart disease and death.

Why it matters: Researchers from Johns Hopkins University tracked the smoking habits of more than 300,000 adults for almost 20 years. They found that people who smoked as few as 2 cigarettes a day had a 60% higher risk of death compared to people who don’t smoke. The smoking group also had a 50% higher risk of heart disease. 

While quitting smoking is always a good idea, the study’s authors say kicking the habit may not fully reverse the harm already done. Former smokers still carry elevated risk even 20 years after quitting. 

Adult smoking in Canada has declined rapidly since 1965, when 49% of Canadians aged 15 and older smoked cigarettes. By 2022, this rate had dropped to 12% of Canadians who smoked daily. Despite this progress, about 3.5 million Canadians still smoke every day. Rather than asking patients to simply cut back, doctors should be counselling them to quit entirely, experts say.

And the benefits of quitting are biggest in the first 10 years. Even though it takes time for the body to readjust, it’s important for patients to know that when they stop, their risk starts dropping right away.  

"We actually have the evidence… to say that even less than one cigarette a day can increase different multiple cardiovascular outcomes, and it's not something that's clinically insignificant," Dr. Erfan Tasdighi, co-author of the study, told ABC News.

But: The study's authors emphasized that the findings offer benefits for both patients and clinicians. They stressed that doctors may want to revisit how they ask about smoking habits. That’s because the number of packs someone smokes per year doesn’t always line up with their long-term risk. Instead, they recommend asking about a patient’s current smoking status and intensity.

Bottom line: Regardless of the approach, reminding patients that no amount of smoking is safe remains one of the clearest messages clinicians can offer. 

Free Webinar: AI in Healthcare

Cut Through the AI Noise: A Framework for Canadian Clinicians

December 4, 2025 | 7:00–8:00 PM EST

AI is everywhere in healthcare—but are you ready to evaluate it critically? This free webinar gives you the ethical toolkit to confidently assess AI tools, ask vendors the right questions, and protect your patients.

Led by Dr. Joshua August Skorburg, PhD
Associate Professor of Philosophy & Academic Co-Director, CARE-AI Centre, University of Guelph. Published expert on AI in bioethics and clinical practice.

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Register now → (Spaces limited. Registration closes Dec 4, 5pm EST)

Hot Off The Press

1: 🦠 A Washington State man has died from H5N5 — the 1st human infection of this strain ever recorded. Health officials say the public risk is still low, with no evidence of human-to-human spread, but the case widens the map of what avian flu strains are capable of. The patient had extensive contact with sick birds, underscoring how quickly these viruses mutate and jump species.

2: 🥛 Yoplait’s YOP drinkable yogurt has been recalled across Canada after plastic fragments were found in select 200-mL bottles. No injuries have been reported, but consumers are being told to stop using affected lots immediately. If there’s YOP in the fridge, it’s worth checking those codes before anyone cracks a bottle.

3: 🥶 A deep freeze may be coming: a mass of Arctic air is forecast to sweep into Western and Central Canada in the next few weeks, with daytime highs potentially 10–15°C below seasonal norms. The shift could bring heavier snow and icy conditions — a good moment to swap to winter tires if you haven’t already.

4: 👾 TikTok is rolling out a “see less AI” slider after clocking 1.3 billion AI-generated videos on the app. It’s backing the feature with invisible watermarks so synthetic clips stay labeled even after they’re chopped up, re-edited, or reposted. And because tech alone won’t fix the problem, TikTok is also throwing $2M at AI-literacy creators — a sign that taming the feed now takes better tools and a better-trained audience.

Notable Numbers 🔢

$300,000: the price LA Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s 2024 game-used bat fetched at auction. It’s the highest ever paid for one of his bats, turning his record-setting season into a collector’s trophy.

$1 trillion: the market value Eli Lilly reached last week — the first health-care company in history to reach the milestone. Demand for its weight-loss and diabetes drugs helped push it into 13-digit territory.

84%: of Canadian physicians who are closely watching government actions like Alberta’s Bill 26 and Quebec’s Bill 2. For many clinicians, the policy shifts feel close enough to touch — and hard to ignore.

111: the age of Viola Ford Fletcher, the last known survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, who passed away Monday. She never stopped pushing for accountability for one of the deadliest episodes of racial violence in US history.

Page-A-Friend Giveaway Winner 🎉

Congrats to Dr. Michelle Graham, our grand prize winner of the Postcall Page-A-Friend Giveaway! She’s taking home a $250 Luuna Scrubs gift card.

Dr. Graham is a cardiologist in Edmonton with training that spans Western (Undergrad + IM), Ottawa U (Med School), Dalhousie (Cardiology), and the University of Calgary (Interventional Cardiology). She now serves as Head of Cardiology at the University of Alberta and the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute.

She decided on medicine early — at age 10, after reading a biography of Elizabeth Blackwell. A Grade 7 project on cardiovascular physiology sealed the deal. “No regrets!”

A newer Postcall reader, Dr. Graham discovered us through social media and says the newsletter brings “interesting medical news outside my specialty, and some fun… Makes the day a little lighter!”

Congrats, Dr. Graham!

Postcall Picks ✅

🏠 Invest: in private real estate with a beginner-friendly guide built for physicians who want steady cash flow and long-term financial stability.

💰 Save: on Black Friday & Cyber Monday with a curated list of deals — Apple, Garmin watches, a cold-press juicer, and more — without the doom-scrolling.

🍴 Make: a deeply comforting roast-chicken soup, slow-simmered with vegetables and herbs — perfect for warming up after a long shift.

😂 Laugh: at this video imagining what each medical specialty would grab if the hospital were on fire.

@medschoolbro

Only the necessities 🤣 #medstudent #medschool #medicalschool #medhumor #medschoolhumor #doctor #medicalhumor

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