UK doctors subject to complaints procedures are at significant risk of becoming severely depressed and suicidal, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ Open. Those referred to the UK professional regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), seem to be most at risk of mental ill health, the findings suggest. The researchers base their findings […]
Category: In the news
Few UK family doctors seem to be treating obesity/overweight appropriately
Patient health records suggest limited evidence of weight management in primary care Few UK family doctors seem to be treating overweight/obesity appropriately, with some not treating it all, suggests an analysis of patient records published in BMJ Open. The researchers scrutinised the anonymised health records of more than 90,000 obese and overweight adults, whose data […]
Concerns raised about variable performance of some UK personal use breathalysers
Ability of devices to detect potentially unsafe alcohol levels prompts questions about regulatory process The ability of some breathalysers widely sold to the UK public to detect potentially unsafe levels of breath alcohol for driving, varies considerably, reveals research published in BMJ Open. The findings call into question the regulatory process for approving these sorts […]
Less than half of UK prescriptions for antipsychotics issued for main licensed conditions
Less than half of UK prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs are being issued to treat the serious mental illnesses for which they are mainly licensed, reveals research published in BMJ Open. Instead, they may often be prescribed ‘off label’ to older people with other conditions, such as anxiety and dementia, despite the greater risk of potentially serious side effects in this age group, […]
Undergraduate bullying,skirt size and tobacco packaging: Most Read Articles in September
This month’s top ten most accessed articles includes a systematic review by Abu Dabrh et al. on the health assessment of commercial drivers, Marston et al’s study on anal sex and young people is still proving to be a popular read, Timm’s survey reporting on medical undergraduate students and bullying is a new entry, whilst Lusignan et al discuss patient’s online access […]
Moderate weekly alcohol intake linked to poorer sperm quality in healthy young men
Moderate alcohol intake of at least five units every week is linked to poorer sperm quality in otherwise healthy young men, suggests research published in the online journal BMJ Open. And the higher the weekly tally of units, the worse the sperm quality seems to be, the findings indicate, prompting the researchers to suggest that […]
Skirt size increase linked to 33% greater postmenopausal breast cancer risk
Going up a skirt size over a period of 10 years between your mid 20s and mid 50s is linked to a 33% greater risk of developing breast cancer after the menopause, finds a large observational study published in BMJ Open. Overall weight gain during adulthood is known to be a risk factor for breast cancer, […]
Gun deaths twice as high among African Americans as white citizens in US
Gun deaths are twice as high among African Americans as they are among white citizens in the US, finds a study of national data, published in the online journal BMJ Open. But the national figures, which have remained relatively steady over the past decade, mask wide variation in firearms deaths by ethnicity and state, the […]
Plain cigarette packs don’t hurt small retailers or boost trade in illicit tobacco
Plain packs for tobacco products don’t hurt small retailers, flood the market with very cheap cigarettes, or boost the trade in illicit tobacco, finds research on the early experience of the policy in Australia, and published in journal BMJ Open. The findings suggest there is no evidence for these particular arguments against the policy, put forward […]
Anal sex between young men and women often seems coercive and painful
Anal sex between young men and women often seems coercive and painful, suggests research published in BMJ Open. Feedback from young people reveals an oppressive culture around anal sex, with some young men apparently neglecting or not caring about young women’s consent or pleasure – both when they have anal sex and when they talk […]