Improving the Introductions of Manuscripts

  1. Matthew P. Smith, MD;
  2. Jason S. Haukoos, MD, MS; and
  3. Roger J. Lewis, MD, PhD
  1. From San Francisco General Hospital and University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA 94143; Denver Health Medical Center and University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO 80204; and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Torrance, CA 90509.

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    TO THE EDITOR:

    Background: Introductions of manuscripts are crucial because they place clinical problems into context. The importance of a clinical problem is influenced by its incidence, morbidity, mortality, and costs. Quantifying these factors requires attention to denominators. For example, …

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