Posts Tagged ‘british medical journal’
Written by Rahul on 04 September 2009
Melbourne, Sept 4 (ANI): The thinner your thighs, the greater your risk of heart disease – that’s the conclusion of a new study.
According to the research, which looked at more than 2800 men and women with an average age of around 50, thigh circumference is linked to the risk of heart disease and premature death.
The study has been published in today’s edition of the British Medical Journal.
It found that heart disease risk more than doubled for both men and women who had a thigh circumference of less than 55 centimetres. Those volunteers with thighs between 55 and 60 centimetres received a protective effect against heart disease. However, that protective effect reduced for people with thighs above 60 centimetres in circumference, reports ABC Science.
According to associate Professor David Cameron-Smith, of Deakin University in Melbourne, thigh circumference is a broad indicator of physical activity and muscle mass is related to how much exercise you do.
“[If] you don’t use it, you lose it,” he said.
Cameron-Smith says using muscles has a very strong protective effect against heart disease and diabetes.
“It’s been known for a long time that muscle mass and strength are important determinants of longevity and health. Even moving from no activity to some activity has a dramatic effect,” he said. (ANI)
Tags: abc science, british medical journal, cameron smith, david cameron, deakin university, Determinants, dramatic effect, heart disease, heart disease and diabetes, heart disease risk, longevity, muscle mass, muscles, physical activity, premature death, professor david, risk of heart disease, thigh circumference, Thinner Thighs, thunder thighs, university in melbourne
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Written by Rahul on 20 February 2009
London, Feb 20 (ANI): Brit experts have cautioned that repeated breast screening tests could lead to unnecessary treatment while women remain ignorant of the risks.
Attacking the Government’s “unethical” leaflets for mammograms, they have said that these pieces of paper “do not come close to telling the truth.”
Twenty-three leading specialists have warned that breast cancer screening can lead to patients being given unnecessary surgery or chemotherapy.
They also claimed that in case cancers detected by the programme were left alone, many “might never appear in a woman’s natural lifespan.”
The warning comes in line with an analysis by the Nordic Cochrane Centre, which found that if 2,000 women were screened for ten years, 10 would be treated unnecessarily.
And a warning letter, signed by public health specialists, epidemiologists, oncologists, GPs and patient representatives, has been sent to the Times newspaper.
The criticism follows the warning by doctors that recent trends to reduce the physical marks caused by breast cancer surgery risk “losing some of the gain in survival” seen in the past decade.
And experts have cautioned that the stress on ensuring that breast surgery does not look unsightly may be at the risk of survival rates.
Monica Morrow, chief of the Breast Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, said that minimally invasive surgery might not be the best for patients.
“Failure to demand a rigorous evaluation of oncological outcomes as well as cosmetic ones runs the risk of losing some of the gains in survival seen in the past decade,” the Telegraph quoted her as writing in the British Medical Journal.
She added: “The local treatment of breast cancer is based on the results of numerous high quality clinical trials and is therefore a model for evidence based care. As we attempt to advance from good to great cosmetic outcomes it is important that we remember this.” (ANI)
Tags: breast cancer, breast cancer screening, breast cancer surgery, breast screening, breast surgery, british medical journal, cancer centre, cosmetic outcomes, london feb, memorial sloan kettering, Monica Morrow, natural lifespan, nordic cochrane centre, patient representatives, public health specialists, rigorous evaluation, sloan kettering cancer, treatment of breast cancer, unnecessary surgery, unnecessary treatment
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Written by Rahul on 18 February 2009
London, Feb 18 (ANI): Neither affluence nor being female offers a defence against the ill heath caused by smoking, according to a new study.
The study has shown that smoking itself is a greater source of health inequalities than social position.
Among both men and women, smokers of all social classes had a much higher risk of premature death than non-smokers from even the lowest social classes.
Surprisingly, non-smoking women in the lowest social classes had one of the lowest death rates.
The research also found that the survival advantage that women normally have over men is cancelled out by smoking.
Dr Laurence Gruer and Dr David Gordon from NHS Health Scotland and Professor Graham Watt and Dr Carole Hart from the University of Glasgow studied the impact of smoking on the survival rates of 15,000 men and women recruited in 1972-76 from Renfrew and Paisley in the West of Scotland.
The participants were grouped by gender and social class and further divided into smokers, never-smokers and ex-smokers. The social class category was sub-divided as I and II (highest); III non manual; III manual; and IV and V (lowest).
Death rates for the participants were assessed after 14 years and 28 years.
The researchers found that, during both follow-up periods, smokers had much higher death rates than never-smokers among both women and men and in every social class.
After 28 years of follow-up, 56 percent of female never-smokers and 36 percent of male never-smokers in the lowest social classes (IV and V) were still alive compared with only 41 percent of female smokers and 24 percent of male smokers in the top two social class groups (I and II). Smokers in the lowest social classes fared even worse.
On a positive note, the researchers found that the death rates of ex-smokers were much closer to those of never-smokers than smokers, showing that quitting does make a difference regardless of social position.
The study has been published online in the British Medical Journal. (ANI)
Tags: british medical journal, class category, class groups, death rates, dr laurence, female smokers, graham watt, health inequalities, london feb, male smokers, nhs health, premature death, professor graham, renfrew, smoking women, social position, survival advantage, survival rates, university of glasgow, women smokers
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Written by Rahul on 18 February 2009
London, February 18 (ANI): People are increasingly risking their health by turning to “tan jabs”, says an editorial.
Michael Evans-Brown of Liverpool John Moores University highlights the fact that drugs like Melanotan I and Melanotan II, used to tan the skin, are easily available via the Internet, tanning salons and hairdressers.
While the actual number of people having tan jabs is unknown, he says that a thriving online community of users exists.
He pointed out that the largest online community, Melanotan.org, has more than 5,000 members.
He is afraid that people using such drugs might be risking their health.
“Serious concerns exist about the quality of the preparations that are currently available – not only the drug content and dose, but also contaminants and sterility. Some users, especially those who are injecting drugs for the first time, are reusing or sharing injecting equipment, which places them and others at risk of infections, including blood borne viruses,” the British Medical Journal quoted him as saying.
Clinical trials have so far linked melanotans to only facial flushing, nausea and vomiting, one of the greatest concerns.
However, the authors of the current editorial say that one of the greatest concerns is that the drugs may interact with how the body functions, especially given that people who want to maintain a tan will be using it for a long time.
While both melanotan I and melanotan II tan the skin, the latter also causes penile erections and increases in sexual desire.
The authors argue that health professionals need to respond to this growing trend by warning patients about the dangers of using illicitly supplied drugs as well as reporting any adverse reactions.
Evans-Brown concludes that this issue will not go away given that society’s appetite for drugs for lifestyle reasons appears to be “insatiable”. (ANI)
Tags: adverse reactions, blood borne viruses, british medical journal, drug content, erections, facial flushing, hairdressers, health professionals, injecting drugs, jabs, john moores university, largest online community, liverpool john moores, liverpool john moores university, melanotan ii, michael evans, public health concern, serious concerns, sexual desire, sterility
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Written by Rahul on 13 February 2009
London, Feb 13 (ANI): A new study has found that many women are not complying with the nutrition and lifestyle advice before pregnancy, even when it is planned.
Good health and nutrition before pregnancy may be at least as important as during pregnancy because the time around conception is vital for the development of the baby.
The researchers found very few women, who later got pregnant, were taking enough folic acid or met recommendations on alcohol intake.
During the study, the researchers interviewed 12,445 non-pregnant women aged 20-34 between 1998 and 2002, and examined the degree to which women complied with the recommendations before they became pregnant.
A total of 238 women became pregnant within three months of interview.
At interview, 23 pct of the 238 women who became pregnant said that they did not anticipate trying for a baby in the next 12 months.
In the ‘unplanned’ group, only one woman who became pregnant complied with the alcohol and folic acid recommendations, but among the remainder, who were, in some sense, ‘planning’ a pregnancy, the percentage was only slightly higher at 3.3pct.
It was found that women who became pregnant were only marginally more likely to comply with the alcohol and folic acid recommendations than those who did not become pregnant, reports British Medical Journal.
Only 2.9 pct of the women were taking the recommended daily dose of 400µg folic acid, and drinking no more than four units of alcohol per week, compared with 0.66 pct of those who did not become pregnant.
Women in both groups were equally likely to consume five or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day, but only 57 pct of those who became pregnant had taken any strenuous exercise in the past three months compared with 64pct of those who did not become pregnant.
The authors said that the data show limited evidence of changes in health behaviours before pregnancy. (ANI)
Tags: 12 months, alcohol intake, british medical journal, changes in health, daily dose, fruit and vegetables, good health, health and nutrition, health behaviours, healthy lifestyle, lifestyle advice, lifestyle guidelines, london feb, pct, planning a pregnancy, pregnant women, remainder, strenuous exercise, three months, trying for a baby
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Written by Rahul on 07 February 2009
London, Feb 6 (ANI): Use of fertility drugs does not raise a woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer, according to a new study.
The study has been published online in the British Medical journal.
For the past 30 years, debate has been going on as to whether use of fertility drugs increases a woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer.
Previous studies have given conflicting results and concerns remain.
Therefore, Allan Jensen and colleagues at the Danish Cancer Society examined the effects of fertility drugs on ovarian cancer risk by using data from the largest cohort of infertile women to date.
The study included 54,362 women with infertility problems referred to all Danish fertility clinics between 1963 and 1998. 156 of these women had ovarian cancer. After adjusting for several risk factors, the researchers assessed the effects of four groups of fertility drugs over an average period of 16 years.
They found no overall increased risk for ovarian cancer after use of any fertility drug. They also found no increased risk among women who had undergone 10 or more cycles of treatment or among those who did not become pregnant.
Although the authors did observe a statistically significant increase in risk of the most common serious type of ovarian cancer among women who had used the drug clomiphene, they stress that this was probably a chance association. (ANI)
Tags: british medical journal, cancer risk, clomiphene, cohort, colleagues, danish cancer society, dugs, fertility clinics, fertility drug, fertility drugs, infertile women, infertility, infertility problems, jensen, london feb, ovarian cancer, risk factors
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Written by Rahul on 28 January 2009
London, Jan 28 (ANI): A new study has claimed that when compared to placebo, the pain relieving effects of acupuncture are limited and seem to lack clinical relevance.
For the study, the researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen examined evidence from thirteen acupuncture pain trials, which involved over 3,000 patients, reports the British Medical Journal.
The trials compared three arms of treatment (real acupuncture, placebo or ‘pretend’ acupuncture or no acupuncture) for a broad range of common conditions such as knee osteoarthritis, migraine, low back pain and post-operative pain.
To minimise bias, the researchers even considered differences in study design and quality before the analysis.
The researchers found a small analgesic effect of real acupuncture compared to placebo acupuncture, which was equivalent to a reduction in pain levels of about 4mm on a 100mm pain scoring scale.
A 10mm reduction on this scale is classed as ‘minimal’ or ‘little change’ so the apparent analgesic effect of acupuncture seems to be below a clinically relevant pain improvement, say the authors.
They found a moderate difference between placebo acupuncture and no acupuncture (10mm on a 100mm pain scoring scale), but the effect of placebo acupuncture varied considerably.
Some large trials reported effects of placebo that were of clear clinical relevance (24mm), whereas other large trials found effects that seemed clinically irrelevant (5mm).
The authors could not explain this variation, but they did not find an association between the type of placebo acupuncture and its effect.
But they said that their findings correspond with several Cochrane reviews on acupuncture for various types of pain, which all concluded that there was no clear evidence of an analgesic effect of acupuncture.
They further added that their findings also question both the traditional foundation of acupuncture and the prevailing theory that acupuncture has important effect on pain in general.
They believe that future research should focus on comparing acupuncture with best existing treatments for different conditions.
The research, titled ‘Acupuncture treatment for pain; Systematic review of randomized clinical trials with acupuncture, placebo acupuncture and no acupuncture groups’ is published on bmj.com. (ANI)
Tags: Acupuncture, analgesic effect, bias, british medical journal, clear evidence, clinical relevance, cochrane reviews, Copenhagen, jan 28, knee osteoarthritis, london jan, low back pain, migraine, nordic cochrane centre, operative pain, osteoarthritis, placebo, variation
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Written by Rahul on 28 January 2009
London, Jan 28 (ANI): ‘Tan jabs’, the unlicensed medicine used to produce a suntan, has been linked to rapid changes in the appearance of skin moles, a new study has claimed.
According to skin experts, Melanotan dubbed as ‘tan jabs’ are of two types Melanotan I and Melanotan II and they work by increasing the levels of melanin (the body’s natural pigment that protects us from the sun) resulting in a tan.
Citing the example of two patients attending their dermatology clinic with rapidly changing moles, the researchers revealed that both were sunbed users and injected Melanotan I and II, bought from the Internet, reports the British Medical Journal.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MRHA) had recently raised concerns about the health risks of these counterfeit drugs, say the authors.
These cases highlight a further area of concern – changes in the appearance of existing moles.
They authors warn that unregulated use of Melanotan may lead to an increase in the number of patients seeking medical advice about changing moles and may even confuse the diagnosis.
They suggest healthcare professionals look out for unexpected tanning as a clue to such use.(ANI)
Tags: british medical journal, clue, counterfeit drugs, dermatology clinic, health risks, healthcare products regulatory agency, healthcare professionals, jabs, jan 28, london jan, medical advice, medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency, melanin, melanotan ii, mrha, natural pigment, rapid changes, skin moles, suntan, tanning
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Written by Rahul on 27 January 2009
London, Jan 27 (ANI): A new study has cast doubt on the proposal to promote smokeless tobacco as a safer alternative to cigarettes.
Previous studies of smokers in Sweden have suggested that many have quit smoking by switching to smokeless tobacco. While not without health risks, smokeless tobacco is less harmful than cigarettes.
“In Sweden, many smokers have quit smoking by switching to snus,” the British Medical Journal quoted Shu-Hong Zhu, Ph.D., Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine in the UCSD School of Medicine as saying.
Snus is a form of moist, powdered tobacco that comes in a small sachet and is placed under the lip.
“This has piqued a lot of interest, because anything that helps people quit cigarettes could have huge benefits due to the great harm caused by smoking,” Zhu added.
“Historically, there has been no campaign to promote snus to Swedes as a safer alternative to cigarettes,” said Hans Gilljam, M.D. a Professor at the Karolinska Institutet and a study author.
“But snus has been popular among male smokers, and has helped them quit cigarettes. In fact, Swedish men have a higher smoking cessation rate than Swedish women, few of whom use snus,” Gilljam added.
However, public health officials say that smokeless tobacco should not be promoted so fast.
The researchers looked for a similar effect among the U.S. smokers. While, U.S. men are much more likely than women to use smokeless tobacco but it does not boost their rate of quitting smoking.
“With an ongoing tobacco control effort, men in the U.S. seem to be quitting smoking at higher rates than men in Sweden. And U.S. women are quitting at the same rate, unlike their counterparts in Sweden,” Zhu said.
The current study examined data from the Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey, 2002, with one-year follow-up in 2003.
The results showed both male and female smokers in the U.S. appear to have higher quit rates for smoking than their Swedish counterparts, despite greater use of smokeless tobacco in Sweden. (ANI)
Tags: british medical journal, control effort, female smokers, hong zhu, karolinska institutet, london jan, male smokers, population survey, preventive medicine, public health officials, quitting smoking, sachet, school of medicine, smoking cessation, study author, swedish men, swedish women, tobacco control, tobacco use, ucsd school
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