Potential consequences of health anxiety underlines need to treat it, say researchers People who needlessly worry that they have, or will develop, serious illness—popularly referred to as ‘the worried well’—may be boosting their risk of developing heart disease, suggests research published in the online journal BMJ Open. Anxiety is a known risk factor for heart […]
Category: In the news
Current system unlikely to pick up surgeons with above average patient death rates
Performance within ‘expected’ range not good enough to detect outliers, say researchers Publishing the patient death rates of individual surgeons in England is unlikely to pick up those whose mortality rates are above average, because the caseload varies so much, concludes the first analysis of its kind published in the online journal BMJ Open. Performance […]
Women catching up with men in alcohol consumption and its associated harms
Trend most evident among young adults, international analysis shows Women are catching up with men in terms of their alcohol consumption and its impact on their health, finds an analysis of the available international evidence, spanning over a century and published in the online journal BMJ Open. The trend, known as ‘sex convergence’, is most evident […]
School sex education often negative, heterosexist, and out of touch
And taught by poorly trained, embarrassed teachers, say young people School sex education is often negative, heterosexist, and out of touch, and taught by poorly trained, embarrassed teachers, finds a synthesis of the views and experiences of young people in different countries, published in the online journal BMJ Open. Schools’ failure to acknowledge that sex education […]
Volunteering in middle age and senior years linked to enhanced mental health
No positive association seen before age of 40, suggesting link varies across life course Volunteering in middle and older age is linked to good mental health/emotional wellbeing, finds a large study of British adults, published in the online journal BMJ Open. But no such association was seen before the age of 40, suggesting that the […]
Third to half of UK population lives with chronic pain
Proportion likely to rise as population ages; major cause of disability and distress Between a third and half (43%) of the UK population—roughly 28 million adults—lives with chronic pain, finds an analysis of the available evidence, published in the online journal BMJ Open. This proportion is likely to rise as the population ages, warn the […]
Drug treatment of hyperactivity in kids may have levelled off in UK
But it lasts much longer than it does in rest of Europe or US The tendency to treat childhood hyperactivity (ADHD) with drugs may have reached a plateau in the UK, following a steep rise in the number of prescriptions for these medicines over the past 20 years, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ […]
Radiotherapy during surgery could save millions of travel miles and tonnes of CO2
…plus free up thousands of hours for women with early stage breast cancer, every year One targeted dose of radiotherapy given during surgery to remove early stage breast cancer could save millions of travel miles, enough CO2 emissions for a 100 hectare forest, and free up thousands of hours of women’s time, concludes research published […]
Hospital self-harm cases have steadily risen among men in England since 2008
But only half of those going to hospital afterwards get mental health assessment The number of hospital cases of self-inflicted harm, such as cutting and overdosing on prescription meds, has risen steadily since 2008 in England among men, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ Open. But only around half of those who go […]
Metal hip replacements implanted since 2006 more prone to failure
Higher rate of issues in manufacturing process since this date may be to blame, say researchers Metal on metal hip replacements implanted since 2006 are more prone to failure and the need for further surgery, finds research looking at revision rates at one hospital trust for the DePuy Pinnacle device, and published in the online […]