How much holiday people take a year could have a direct impact on health, scientists in Sweden have found. A 40-year study carried out by the University of Helsinki concluded that men who took less than three weeks’ annual leave…
Study finds dementia risk linked to use of anticholinergics
An extensive new study has found links between dementia and people who use anticholinergics over a long period of time. Researchers at the University of East Anglia made the associations after studying the medical records of more than 40,000 patients…
‘Healthy’ vegetable oil could increase plaque build-ups in brain
A vegetable oil that is marketed as being less expensive and healthier than some other cooking oils could lead to a build-up of plaques in the brain associated with dementia. In a new study, canola oil was also found to…
Clinical trials show potential migraine treatment breakthrough
Practitioners treating patients suffering from migraine could soon be able to offer a more effective method of cutting attacks. The results of two clinical trials have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, one of which found 50 per…
Four million children in UK are now overweight, WHO warns
An international study has found that four in ten children aged between five and 19 are overweight or medically obese – with ten per cent of youngsters in the UK deemed at an unhealthy weight. The research, published by Imperial…
More accurate blood test for heart attacks could save the NHS millions
A simple blood test offered to patients suspected of having a heart attack could save the NHS millions of pounds every year, says new research. More than 65 per cent of people who visit A&E with chest pains are not…
Commissioning cost-saving complementary medicine is the future for integrated health
Retired barrister Richard Eaton blogs on why both complementary and conventional medical practitioners – and their patients – should be lobbying the Government on the increased use of complementary medicine in mainstream care… In October 2005, further to its commission…
Self-care is critical to the Five Year Forward Plan… but social prescription alone will never be enough
Teaching patients self-care is the future for UK health, says Dr Michael Dixon, National Clinical Lead for Social Prescription for NHS England, but only if the whole community – from Government to grassroots get involved… The great medical iconoclast, Ivan…