TO THE EDITOR: I have read American...

TO THE EDITOR: I have read American Family Physician for a lengthy time. I am basically retired and surprise if I am so far behind the times that I am the sole one having trouble with all the articles that use abbreviations for words? In many articles, it becomes confusing to me and I believe it displays only laziness on the part of the authors and editors. to what degree many extra letters and or lines would be used to in a strict sense identify what one is saying? I would gues in all the articles combined it would add les than undivided fourth of a page.

Wouldn't it be best to make certain that there is no misunderstanding at spelling out the words?

ALLEN M CLAGUE, MD

977 W Mosby Rd

Harrisonburg, VA 22801

IN REPLY: I appreciate Dr Clague's suggestions, and agree that clarity win with a trumps conciseness when it comes to abbreviations. At AFP, our fashion is to always spell public the term on first mention, then use abbreviations when: (1) the abbreviation is in general use (for example, COPD for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), or if it is used more often than the words it stands for (for example, HIV for human immunodeficiency virus, AIDS for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and ACTH for adrenocorticotropin hormone); or (2) when the confine is used so repeatedly in the article that it would become cumbersome to period it out at each instance (for example, CHF for congestive heart failure). In other instances, I agree with Dr Clague that it's best to make a mistake on the side of spelling things revealed (for example, we have readers for whom English is not their first language). We will be more vigilant at applying these masterys and thank Dr. Clague for keeping us onward our toes.

JAY SIWEK, MD

Medical Editor

American Family Physician

COPYRIGHT 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians

COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group