Ibuprofen 'barely better than placebo' at treating back pain
Conclusion
There was evidence that NSAIDs were effective in reducing pain and disability in patients with spinal pain, but treatment does not seem much more effective than a placebo and is not clinically important according to the researchers.
Moreover, for every six patients treated with NSAIDs rather than a placebo, only one additional patient would benefit in the short-term. People taking NSAIDs also have a higher risk of gastrointestinal adverse reactions. Patients might like to consider if this seems like a chance worth taking.
NSAIDs are currently recommended to treat back pain, but the authors suggest new, more effe...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 3, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Medical practice Medication Source Type: news
Poor sleep may affect good sex in later life
Conclusion
These results show that women who sleep better are more satisfied with their sex lives, and more likely to be sexually active with a partner. However, the study can't tell us why this is. So many factors have the potential to affect both sleep and sexual satisfaction, that it's always going to be difficult to un-tangle the relationship between the two.
There are a few limitations to the study that make the results less reliable. Although it was a big study, a large proportion of the women chose not to answer the questions about sex. The questionnaire included the option to tick "prefer not to say". Th...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 2, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Older people Source Type: news
'Breakthrough in communication for patients with severe MND', study claims
Conclusion
It's hard to imagine the situation of being alert, aware of what's happening around you, but unable to move, respond or communicate with the outside world.
So it is comforting, then, to hear that people with complete locked-in syndrome may be able to communicate – and may be relatively content with their situation.
However, it's important to remember the limitations of this study.
It's very small. Only four people took part, and full results are available for only three of them.
The results may only apply to people with this very specific type of neurodegenerative disease, not to people with other types of pa...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 1, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Source Type: news
'Computer helps patients with severe MND communicate'
Conclusion
It's hard to imagine the situation of being alert, aware of what's happening around you, but unable to move, respond or communicate with the outside world.
So it is comforting, then, to hear that people with complete locked-in syndrome may be able to communicate – and may be relatively content with their situation.
However, it's important to remember the limitations of this study.
It's very small. Only four people took part, and full results are available for only three of them.
The results may only apply to people with this very specific type of neurodegenerative disease, not to people with other types of pa...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 1, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Source Type: news
Diabetes could be a warning sign of pancreatic cancer
Conclusion
This study uses a large prescription database to investigate the link between diabetes and pancreatic cancer, looking at the timing of first diabetes prescription and change in drugs prescribed.
Among people with type 2 diabetes, diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was linked with recent onset of diabetes or rapidly deteriorating diabetes. This suggests these could both be potential warning signs of hidden pancreatic cancer and indicate the need for more investigations.
While diabetes has previously been linked with pancreatic cancer, the nature of the cause and effect relationship remains unclear. It could be that d...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 31, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Diabetes Cancer Source Type: news
Breath test shows potential for detecting cancer
Conclusion
This study aimed to see whether a breath test could be used to detect stomach and oesophageal cancers.
The researchers found that the breath test was fairly accurate in distinguishing between those with and without cancer.
The lead researcher, Dr Markar, said: "Because cancer cells are different to healthy ones, they produce a different mixture of chemicals. This study suggests that we may be able detect these differences and use a breath test to indicate which patients are likely to have cancer of the oesophagus and stomach, and which do not."
However he went on to say that the findings of this study ...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 30, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Source Type: news
Vitamin A deficiency linked to Alzheimer's disease
Conclusions
Overall, this study finds a link between vitamin A deficiency, or marginal deficiency, and poorer cognitive performance in older adults.
Alzheimer's mice fed a marginally deficient diet showed greater production of the amyloid protein plaques – and the researchers showed that the offspring of mice fed this diet had poorer spatial learning.
However, caution must be taking when drawing any conclusions from this study, and the results certainly should not be taken as a reason to start taking vitamin A supplements.
The human study was a one-off assessment of blood vitamin A levels and cognitive function that doe...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 27, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Pregnancy/child Food/diet Source Type: news
Anxiety and depression linked to increased cancer death risk
Conclusion
Studies like this can be distressing for people with mental health difficulties and their families and friends. It's important to point out that having anxiety or depression, which are common illnesses, does not mean you will go on to get, or die from, cancer. It may be your risk of it higher, but cancer risk is complex. It includes many factors such as our genes, our environment and our lifestyle.
We don't know from the study whether mental distress is a cause of cancer, or of cancer mortality. It could be a reflection of another confounding factor – for example, people with poor mental health may have a poo...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 26, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Cancer Source Type: news
UK survey finds around 1 in 13 women report pain during sex
Conclusion
Overall, the findings of this study indicate painful sex is experienced by around 1 in 13 sexually active women in the UK.
The findings also indicate there are a large number of factors, including relationships, health and attitudes toward sex, associated with painful sex.
The large number of women included in the study, and the adjustments made by researchers, mean the findings are broadly representative of the UK population aged between 16 and 74.
However, this study has a number of limitations:
The survey cannot prove painful sex was caused by the factors investigated, only that there was an association. ...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 26, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Mental health Source Type: news
New drug treatment for pancreatic cancer 'extends survival'
Conclusion
Pancreatic cancer is one of the toughest cancers to treat, with lower survival rates than many other cancers.
Surgery is usually the first treatment, where possible. Some people also have chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Recent studies have looked into how different types of chemotherapy might help improve survival.
This study shows that a combination of two chemotherapy drugs may help people live longer than taking one drug alone after surgery.
But this doesn't mean everyone taking those drugs will survive at least five years, despite the media headlines.
The researchers estimate 28.8%, or just over a quarter...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 25, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Source Type: news
New insights into why breast cancer drugs fail for some women
Conclusion
This laboratory study aimed to investigate the mechanism behind how some oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer tumours develop resistance to the hormone drugs tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors.
This resistance effectively makes these drugs powerless, causing the cancer to return.
The researchers seemed to find at least part of the answer as to why resistance to aromatase inhibitors can develop.
In some cases, they found treatment triggered the amplification of the CYP19A1 gene, which increased the production of aromatase, essentially allowing the cells to keep making their own oestrogen.
But this doesn't...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 24, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Medication Genetics/stem cells Source Type: news
Warning over 'burnt toast chemical' acrylamide's cancer risk
"Browned toast and potatoes are 'potential cancer risk', say food scientists," BBC News reports.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched a campaign about the possible health risk of acrylamide, a chemical formed when starchy foods are subjected to a high temperature.
The campaign is called Go for Gold – a reference to the advice that when frying, baking, toasting or roasting starchy foods like potatoes, you should aim for a golden yellow colour (or lighter).
What are the risks associated with acrylamide?
Acrylamide is a chemical compound naturally produced when foods high in starch are fried or baked a...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 23, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: QA articles Food/diet Cancer Source Type: news
Warning over 'burnt toast chemical' acrylamide ’s cancer risk
"Browned toast and potatoes are 'potential cancer risk', say food scientists," BBC News reports.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched a campaign about the possible health risk of acrylamide; a chemical formed when starchy foods are subjected to a high temperature.
The campaign is titled Go for Gold – a reference to the advice that when frying, baking, toasting or roasting starchy foods like potatoes, you should aim for a golden yellow colour (or lighter).
What are the risks associated with acrylamide?
Acrylamide is a chemical compound naturally produced when foods high in starch are fried or baked...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 23, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: QA articles Food/diet Cancer Source Type: news
Youngest children in class 'more likely to be given ADHD drugs'
Conclusion
Overall, this study suggests that in Western Australia – and reportedly in other countries, too – the youngest children in a given school year are more likely to be diagnosed with and treated for ADHD than the eldest in the year.
However, it's important not to draw too many conclusions from this brief report. The authors provide very limited information about their methods, so it's not possible to critique how they conducted their study.
We don't know why they selected the 2013 school year, for example. It was said to be recommended, but we don't know why. It could be it was known there were an unusual...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 23, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Mental health Neurology Medication Source Type: news
MRI scans could spare 25% of men from prostate biopsies
"Every man with suspected prostate cancer should have an MRI scan," The Guardian reports. That is the conclusion of a study looking at how well MRI scans compare with the current practice of biopsies; removing sections of prostate tissue for analysis.
Disadvantages of prostate biopsies include the fact that they can lead to a small risk of side effects, some of which can be serious, such as sepsis.
Researchers were looking at an advanced type of MRI scan, known as a multi-parametric MRI, which as well as looking at the shape and size of the prostate, can also assess other factors such as blood flow through the gl...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 20, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Medical practice Source Type: news
