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Source: NHS News Feed
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Total 273 results found since Jan 2013.
Following UK dietary advice may cut heart disease risk
Conclusion
This study showed that following dietary recommendations closely for 12 weeks can reduce blood pressure by a significant amount, which is likely to cut the chances of having a heart attack or stroke for an average healthy middle-aged person. The diet also affects cholesterol levels, but the overall effect of this may be modest.
The study appears to have been carefully conducted to avoid biasing the results. The researchers gave butter or margarine spread and cooking oil to people in both groups, for example, and asked everyone to fill out food diaries, as well as taking urine samples for nutrient analysis.
Thi...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 19, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Heart/lungs Source Type: news
New blood test could help prevent antibiotic misuse
Conclusion
This new test shows promising results in distinguishing between viral and bacterial infections. This is important because of increasing antibacterial resistance and could help doctors to tailor treatment quicker when someone is admitted with a suspected infection.
At present, distinguishing between different types of infections is complex and relies on symptoms, signs, a variety of clinical tests and clinical judgement. One of these tests is the CRP, which is used as an indicator of the severity of infection or inflammation, and is often used to monitor this over time. It is surprising that it has been used as...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 19, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Medication Source Type: news
HRT review finds increased risk of blood clots and stroke
Conclusion
This updated Cochrane review has found that oral HRT increases risk of stroke and blood clots, and does not appear to reduce overall risk of cardiovascular disease or death during follow-up.
More exploratory analyses suggested that HRT might reduce risk of death from heart disease or non-fatal heart attack if it was started within 10 years of menopause, but this finding needs further confirmation.
The review was carried out using robust methods and the trials were of good quality. Its findings are in line with the previous version of the review, and also with other reviews.
There are some points to note:
Thi...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 10, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news
How alcohol intake can change over a lifetime
ConclusionThis research combined information from nine studies, to model how alcohol intake changes over a lifetime in men and women in the UK, and is reportedly the first to do this.There are some points and potential limitations to note: The authors note that the different studies captured information on drinking in different ways, and although they tried to standardise this, they were not able to obtain complete information on drinking patterns. The data on which the models are based come from different periods, when alcohol consumption habits and strength of alcohol available may have differed. The authors looked ...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 9, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Older people Source Type: news
Being optimistic after heart attack may help with recovery
Conclusion
This well-designed study found that people who have a higher level of optimism are less likely to smoke or have depressive symptoms, more likely to be eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, and have a slightly higher physical health score. It also found that people who have low optimism and depressive symptoms are more than twice as likely to have a major cardiac event than people with high optimism and no depressive symptoms.
In many ways the overall findings that a greater sense of wellbeing could be transferred into positive lifestyle changes, which could be linked to lower risk of subsequent he...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 6, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Mental health Source Type: news
Does a wife's illness lead to divorce?
Conclusion
This US cohort study of older married couples (over the age of 50) finds links between the onset of serious illness in the wife and subsequent divorce, but the same link wasn't found with illness in the husband. Meanwhile, serious illness in either spouse was, rather unsurprisingly, associated with a higher risk of widowhood in a subsequent assessment.
This study has the strength of using a large, nationally representative dataset. However, it cannot prove direct causative links, and does not prove that wives are more likely to stick with their spouse during serious physical illness than husbands.
Though the st...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 6, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Mental health Source Type: news
People with gout have lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease
Conclusion
This population-based study has found that people with gout had a 24% reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. It was a well-designed study, in that there were large numbers of people in each group and multiple potential confounding factors were taken into account. The validation of the study was also valuable in showing the expected lack of a link between osteoarthritis and Alzheimer’s disease.
However, there are some limitations with this type of study, with a major one being that it cannot prove cause and effect. While some potential confounding factors were accounted for in the statistical analysi...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 5, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Neurology Older people Source Type: news
Is long-term paracetamol use not as safe as we thought?
Conclusion
This is a valuable review that has searched the literature and identified eight observational studies in adults that have looked at the adverse effects that may be associated with paracetamol use. As the researchers say, it will add to information on the potential harms of paracetamol – an area where up-to-date information has been lacking.
The studies included very large population sizes, and collectively provide some evidence suggesting potential effects upon the cardiovascular system, kidney and gastrointestinal system. There was also a suggestion of increased risk of all-cause mortality.
However, it is v...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 3, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news
Over two hours screen time a day may raise a child's blood pressure
Conclusion
The study found a worryingly high incidence of high blood pressure in children of just over 10%, instead of the expected 5%. It also found that low levels of physical activity and high levels of “screen time” raised the risk.
Although researchers adjusted their analysis for a range of other factors which might affect blood pressure (called confounders), it is always possible that other unmeasured factors could have affected the results. In addition, the study was reliant on parental estimates of the amount of sedentary behaviour their children had per day, which may be an over- or underestimate. Wearing the ...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 26, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Pregnancy/child Source Type: news
Over two hours screen time a day may raise a child’s blood pressure
Conclusion
The study found a worryingly high incidence of high blood pressure in children of just over 10%, instead of the expected 5%. It also found that low levels of physical activity and high levels of “screen time” raised the risk.
Although researchers adjusted their analysis for a range of other factors which might affect blood pressure (called confounders), it is always possible that other unmeasured factors could have affected the results. In addition, the study was reliant on parental estimates of the amount of sedentary behaviour their children had per day, which may be an over- or underestimate. Wearing the ...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 26, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Pregnancy/child Source Type: news
Longer sleep linked to stroke
Conclusion
This cohort study found that, overall, people who sleep for more than eight hours have a 46% increased risk of stroke. When analysed separately, there was no statistically significant association for men, but a much higher increased risk for women, of 80%.
A major strength of the study is the number of potential confounding factors that the researchers tried to account for, including many cardiovascular risk factors. However, it did not account for other illnesses such as sleep apnoea or cancer, which may have had an effect on the amount of sleep and risk of stroke.
In addition, the study is reliant on the i...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 26, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Neurology Older people Source Type: news
Nanoparticles used to treat damaged arteries
Conclusion
This exciting study in mice has shown that nanoparticles can be manufactured to target the plaques that form in atherosclerosis, and help stabilise them. It appears that the nanoparticles honed in on the plaques, rather than affecting other organs such as the spleen or liver, which gives an early indication that there may not be substantial side effects. However, it will be necessary to see if the same holds true for other organs.
As with all mice studies, they give an indication of the likely biological effects of a new technique, but they do not provide the full picture of what may happen in humans, especially...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 19, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medical practice Medication Source Type: news
HRT increases ovarian cancer risk by small amount
Conclusion
This systematic review and meta-analysis showed that ovarian cancer risk was significantly increased in current HRT users, even in those with less than five years of HRT use (the average was three years). In ex-users, risks decreased the longer ago HRT use had stopped, but risks during the first few years after stopping remained significant. Furthermore, about a decade after stopping, long-duration hormone therapy use (average nine years of HRT use), there still seemed to be a small excess risk.
The review has a few limitations, however. The main one is that the review was heavily influenced by just two of t...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 13, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Medication Older people Source Type: news
Long-term smoking 'may cause' brain shrinkage
Conclusion
This study has shown an association between smoking and a thinner cortex, though it cannot prove that smoking caused the cortex to thin. The study was cross sectional, so cannot say which came first – the smoking or the cortex differences. Also, confounding factors other than smoking may be contributing.
Strengths of the study include:
Having access to measurements of cognitive ability when the participants were 11 years old, before most of them would have started smoking, as a potential indicator of cortex thickness.
The radiologists were blinded to which MRIs came from each group, reducing the risk of ...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 12, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Neurology Source Type: news
Type 1 diabetes 'more dangerous' in women
ConclusionThis systematic review suggests that type 1 diabetes is associated with a greater increase in risk of death in women than men.A systematic review is the best way to identify and summarise the best-quality studies available to answer a given question. The pooling (meta-analysis) of the studies' results means the review includes more people than the individual studies, and is therefore better able to detect differences between groups.The figures presented are comparisons of the relative increases in risk of death associated with type 1 diabetes within each gender. As women generally live longer than men, even thou...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 9, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Diabetes Source Type: news
