American Medical Association Family Medical Guide - (AMA Family Medical Guide) 4th Edition (Hardcover)

About the Book

Diet, exercise, heart disease, cancer, stress reduction--these are among the key health issues facing contemporary American families. These issues and more are the centerpiece of the first revision in a decade of the American Medical Association Family Medical Guide. Selling more than 2 million copies since it was first published twenty years ago, the American Medical Association Family Medical Guide has established itself as the gold standard of family health references. With more than 90% new material, 50% more pages, thousands of illustrations, and 64 pages of full color, the new 4th Edition reflects the enormous advances in medical care over the past decade.

Book Synopsis

Organized into six major categories, the American Medical Association Family Medical Guide puts a wealth of information on health and disease directly into your home, including:
Part One: What You Should Know: Information to Keep You Healthy -- This all-new, full-color section highlights current key health issues such as preventive data on nutrition, exercise, weight, and stress reduction, as well as cutting-edge information about cancer treatments and genetics. You'll find a body mass index (BMI) chart, vitamin-mineral charts, and screening tests with recommendations for different sexes and ages.
Part Two: Your Healthy Body -- Provides up-to-the-minute specifics on preventive medicine. Why eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, reducing stress, and getting sufficient sleep have a profound effect on your health. This section concludes with a 32-page full-color section containing an Atlas of the Body (a handy reference for locating bones, muscles and other parts of the body), Visual Aids to Diagnosis (photos of sores, rashes and other recognizable signs and symptoms, with brief descriptions of conditions to which they might be linked), and Diagnostic Imaging Techniques (the different types of procedures your doctor might recommend, such as ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, how each test is done, and which disorders the test might help diagnose).
Part Three: First Aid and Home Caregiving -- Gives you step-by-step advice on how to handle injuries and emergencies including choking, bleeding, burns and heatstroke. This section includes advice on how to care for a person who is ill or disabled and modifying your home to make it easier to care for an older family member who has a disabling chronic disease such as Alzheimer's.
Part Four: What Are Your Symptoms? -- Organized like flow charts, the symptoms in this completely revised and updated section direct you through a series of questions with yes or no answers relating to specific symptoms to reach a possible diagnosis or recommendation. The charts help to know when it's important to call your doctor, when to go to a hospital emergency department, or when you can take care of the problem yourself at home.
Part Five: Health Issues Throughout Life -- This all-new section presents comprehensive chapters on children's health, adolescent health, sexuality, infertility, pregnancy and childbirth, and dying and death.

Part Six: Diseases, Disorders, and Other Problems -- Covers all the body systems, featuring essential advice on hundres of disorders of the heart and circulatory system, the brain and nervous system, the respiratory system, the digestive system, the immune system, the urinary tract, and male and female reproductive systems. It also covers hormonal disorders; emotional and mental health; cosmetic surgery; infections; behavioral disorders; genetic disorders; disorders of the bones, muscles, and joints; and problems with the ears, eyes, skin, and teeth.

From the Back Cover

The Long-Awaited Revision of the Bestselling Family Health Guide

"This completely updated fourth edition of our bestselling health reference is comprehensive, easy to understand, and even more user-friendly than the previous editions. We're excited to provide our patients with an invaluable resource to help them become more involved in their own health care. We think this is a book that belongs on the bookshelf in every home."
-AMA President John C. Nelson, MD, MPH

The American Medical Association is the nation's premier health authority-an organization that both patients and doctors look to for state-of-the-art medical information and guidance. Now, for the first time in 10 years, the AMA has updated its landmark medical reference-a book that belongs in every home.

This new edition of the American Medical Association Family Medical Guide has been thoroughly revised to bring it up to date and make it more accessible than ever before. Opening with a brand-new full-color section that walks you through key health issues, it follows with several new and expanded sections on everything from staying healthy and providing first aid and home care to diagnosing symptoms and treating hundreds of different diseases and disorders. This classic guide is the definitive home health reference for the twenty-first century-an indispensable book to keep you and your loved ones healthy.

• Authoritative guidance on hundreds of diseases and the latest tests, treatments, procedures, and drugs
• New or greatly expanded coverage of genetic testing, sexuality, learning disabilities, preventive health, infertility, pregnancy and childbirth, substance abuse, home caregiving, and first aid
• A host of new and updated features-including full-color spreads on important health topics, Q&A sections, first-person case histories, and newly designed symptoms flowcharts
• New chapters on diet and health, exercise and fitness, maintaining a healthy weight, reducing stress, genetics, complementary and alternative medicine, staying safe and preventing violence, cosmetic surgery, and preventive health care
• A new section on health issues at various life stages
• 64 pages in full color and almost 1,000 illustrations and photographs

Review Quotes

* "...a very nice update". (Library Journal, October 1, 2004)

Diet, exercise, heart disease, cancer, stress reduction--these are among the key health issues facing contemporary American families. These issues and more are the centerpiece of the first revision in a decade of the AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION FAMILY MEDICAL GUIDE (Wiley; September 10, 2004; Cloth/$45.00). Selling more than 2 million copies since it was first published twenty years ago, the AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION FAMILY MEDICAL GUIDE has established itself as the gold standard of family health references. With more than 90% new material, 50% more pages, thousands of illustrations, and 64 pages of full color, the new 4th Edition reflects the enormous advances in medical care over the past decade.
"Everyday, Americans hear news of the latest medical study or another medical breakthrough," writes Michael D. Maves, MD, MBA and Executive Vice President and CEO of the American Medical Association in the Foreword to this new edition. "These scientific advances, along with the latest techniques for diagnosing and treating diseases, are helping us live longer and in better health than ever before. With this all-new, completely revised fourth edition of our best-selling AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION FAMILY MEDICAL GUIDE, you have the tools you need to make sense of this abundance of information, enabling you to take charge of your health and health-care needs and make informed medical decisions."

About the Author

For more than 150 years, the AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION has been the leading group of medical experts in the United States and one of the most respected health-related organizations in the world. Its publications include the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) as well as popular patient guidebooks such as the American Medical Association Complete Guide to Men's Health, American Medical Association Guide to Home Caregiving, and American Medical Association Guide to Talking to Your Doctor, all from Wiley.