Time to update recommendations on healthy use of electronic devices, say researchers The longer a teen spends on screen time throughout the day before going to bed, the worse quality sleep s/he is likely to have, suggests a large study published in BMJ Open. It’s time to update the recommendations on the healthy use of […]
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Sharp and sustained rise in suicides in Greece linked to austerity measures
Give greater weight to mental health fall-out of future policies, urge researchers Suicides in Greece reached a 30 year all-time high in 2012, with a sustained upward trend starting in June 2011, the month that the government introduced further austerity measures to help pay down the country’s debts, reveals a 30 year study, published in […]
Falls in blood pressure and cholesterol have saved 20,000+ lives in England
Impact of statins greatest among most affluent but drugs only accounted for 14% of total fall in deaths Falls in blood pressure and total cholesterol staved off more than 20,000 deaths from coronary heart disease in England between 2000 and 2007, shows a mathematical analysis published in BMJ Open. The impact of statins was greatest […]
UK doctors facing complaints dogged by severe depression and suicidal thoughts
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 […]
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 […]
Antipsychotics, vitamin D and alcohol consumption: Most read articles in December
December’s most read articles include a cohort study by Marston et al. on the prescribing of antipsychotics in UK primary care. We also have a paper which focuses on the impact of Australia’s introduction of tobacco plain packs by Dunlop et al., as well as featuring articles by Shi et al and their paper on how equity is addressed […]
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, […]
Erik Martin: Author Profile
We are happy to introduce a new feature called Author Profiles where we interview BMJ Open authors to find out more about them and their work. For our first author profile, we spoke to Erik Martin from Deakin University, Australia, to find out more about his research and his thoughts on Open Access. Erik is […]
Alcohol vs semen quality, Tamiflu trials and mindfulness: The Most Read Articles in October
October’s most read articles include a cross-sectional study by Jensen et al. on the association of habitual alcohol consumption and reduced semen quality in young men. We also have a report on the risk of bias in industry-funded oseltamivir (Tamiflu) trials by Jefferson et al., and the ever popular paper on a web-based mindfulness course for the relief of anxiety and […]