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Found 949 results
  1. News Article
    The antiviral, molnupiravir, does not reduce coronavirus hospital admissions or deaths in vaccinated people at high risk, new research suggests. But the treatment was associated with a shorter recovery time, by four days, and reduced viral load. People who received molnupiravir reported feeling better compared to those who received usual care, the study found. Researchers suggest that while the drug could have some benefits in terms of symptom reduction, the cost of the drug may mean it is not the best choice for the general population, given the study findings. But it may be useful in reducing the pressure on UK health systems, they added. Chris Butler, professor of primary care in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences and co-chief investigator of Panoramic, said: “Finding effective, safe and scalable early treatments for Covid-19 in the community is the next major frontier in our research response to the ongoing worldwide pandemic. “It is in the community where treatments could have a massive reach and impact. “But decisions about who to treat should always be based on evidence from rigorous clinical trials that involve people who would most likely be prescribed the drugs.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 23 December 2022
  2. News Article
    A “decade of neglect” by successive Conservative administrations has weakened the NHS to the point that it will not be able to tackle the 7 million-strong backlog of care, a government-commissioned report has concluded. The paper by the King’s Fund says years of denying funding to the health service and failing to address its growing workforce crisis have left it with too few staff, too little equipment and too many outdated buildings to perform the amount of surgery needed. The UK’s poor public finances, health service staff suffering from exhaustion, and a wave of NHS strikes this winter will also lead to ministers being unable to deliver key pledges on eradicating routinely long waits, the thinktank says. “Though Covid certainly exacerbated the crisis in the NHS and social care, we are ultimately paying the price for a decade of neglect,” said the King’s Fund chief executive, Richard Murray. “The sporadic injections of cash during the austerity years after 2010 were at best meant to cover [the service’s] day-to-day running costs. This dearth of long-term investment has led to a health and care system hamstrung by a lack of staff and equipment and crumbling buildings. These critical challenges have been obvious for years. “The NHS in 2022 faces many of the same challenges it faced in 2000: unacceptably long waiting times and a service hobbled by staff shortages. To that is now added a cost of living crisis, industrial action by staff and a backdrop of a weak economy and weak public finances.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 December 2022
  3. News Article
    A blood test which can detect 50 cancers before symptoms start to show could be offered to a million people in a pilot programme from next summer, according to the head of the NHS. Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said the Galleri test has the potential to “transform cancer care forever”, according to reports. The liquid biopsy detects tiny fragments of tumour DNA in the bloodstream and alerts doctors as to whether a cancer signal has been detected and predicts where in the body that signal may have originated. If early results are successful, a pilot screening programme involving one million patients over two years is scheduled to begin next summer. The test is expected to find 5,000 potential cases of the disease every year. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 15 June 2023
  4. News Article
    Most women with early breast cancer now beat the disease thanks to huge improvements in treatments in recent years, a BMJ analysis has found. Their risk of dying within five years of diagnosis is estimated to be around 5% - down from 14% in the 1990s. The BMJ analysis tracked more than half a million women with early, invasive breast cancer - mostly stage one and two - diagnosed in the 1990s, 2000s and between 2010 and 2015. It found the prognosis for nearly all women "has improved substantially since the 1990s", with most becoming long-term cancer survivors. And based on those trends, the researchers behind the Oxford University-led study say women diagnosed today also have a much lower risk. "That's good news - and reassuring for clinicians and patients," oncologist and lead researcher Prof Carolyn Taylor says. Cancer Research UK says this offers "reassurance" to many women but warns more highly-trained staff are needed to meet rising demand. Read full story Source: BMJ, 14 June 2023
  5. News Article
    A study in 11 countries over four continents has shown the “catastrophic impact” of antibiotic resistance on babies with sepsis, with nearly one in five dying. The two year observational study enrolled 3204 babies with clinical sepsis in 19 hospitals in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. It found that 17.7% were blood culture pathogen positive, and mortality rates among infants up to 60 days old with culture positive sepsis was 17.7%. The research, published in PlOS Medicine, also highlighted wide variation in treatment and frequent switching of antibiotics because of resistance, with 206 antibiotic combinations used by the hospitals studied in Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Greece, India, Italy, Kenya, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam, and Uganda. Read full story Source: BMJ, 9 June 2023
  6. News Article
    Puberty blockers will only be prescribed to children attending gender identity services as part of clinical research, NHS England has announced. The move comes after an interim report into children's gender services said there were "gaps in evidence" around the drugs. Blockers are used to "pause puberty" and work by supressing hormone release. Dr Hilary Cass's report called for a transformation in the model of care for children with gender-related distress. Currently, if a child seeks medical help, the drugs are one of the options a doctor could offer to help delay the onset of physical changes that do not match a child's gender identity. This change will come into effect when new clinics replacing the Gender Identity and Development Service (Gids) begin to open later this year. No patients being treated by the current Gids service will be affected. Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 June 2023
  7. News Article
    Many media stories about ketamine as a treatment for psychiatric disorders such as depression “go well beyond the evidence base” by exaggerating the efficacy, safety and longevity of the drug or by overstating the risks, an analysis has found. Researchers examined 119 articles about ketamine and mental illness published by major print media in Australia, the US and UK over a five-year period. They found articles peaked in 2019, when the US Food and Drug Administration approved a ketamine-derived nasal spray known as esketamine for treatment-resistant depression. Researchers found 37% of articles contained inaccurate information, largely related to efficacy, safety information and the longevity of the effect of the treatment. Ketamine treatment was portrayed in an “extremely positive light” in 69% of articles, the review found. “Overly optimistic statements from medical professionals regarding efficacy or safety may encourage patients to seek treatments that may not be clinically appropriate,” says the paper, published in the journal BJPsych Open. “Disconcertingly, some articles included strong statements about treatment efficacy that went well beyond the evidence base. Conversely, exaggeration of the risks may discourage patients from pursuing a treatment that may be suitable for them.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 June 2023
  8. News Article
    Many people with Long Covid have a lower health-related quality of life than people with some advanced cancers, research suggests. Fatigue is the symptom with the greatest impact on the daily lives of Long Covid patients, according to a study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Exeter. They found that many were seriously ill and had fatigue scores worse than or similar to people with cancer-related anaemia or severe kidney disease. Their health-related quality of life scores were also lower than those of people with advanced metastatic cancers, such as stage 4 lung cancer. Overall, the impact of long Covid on the daily activities of patients was worse than that for stroke patients and comparable to people with Parkinson’s disease. The study co-author Prof William Henley, of Exeter University medical school, said: “Long Covid is an invisible condition, and many people are left trying to manage significant changes to how they can function. “Shockingly, our research has revealed that Long Covid can leave people with worse fatigue and quality of life than some cancers, yet the support and understanding is not at the same level. We urgently need more research to enable the development of evidence-based services to support people trying to manage this debilitating new condition.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 June 2023
  9. News Article
    A blood test for more than 50 types of cancer has shown real promise in a major NHS trial, researchers say. The test correctly revealed two out of every three cancers among 5,000 people who had visited their GP with suspected symptoms, in England or Wales. In 85% of those positive cases, it also pinpointed the original site of cancer. The Galleri test looks for distinct changes in bits of genetic code that leak from different cancers. Spotting treatable cancer early can save lives. The test remains very much a "work in progress", the researchers, from Oxford University, say, but could increase the number of cancers identified. Read full story Source: BBS News, 2 June 2023
  10. News Article
    Researchers have completed the first successful in-patient trial of liver dialysis. The DIALIVE device, invented by researchers at UCL’s Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, was found to be safe and effective, research suggests. According to a new study, the device is associated with substantial improvement in the severity of symptoms and organ function in a greater proportion of patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), when compared with patients receiving standard of care. The next step would be a larger clinical trial, which if successful could see DIALIVE approved for clinical use within the next three years. Read full story Source: The Independent, 1 June 2023
  11. News Article
    Lord O’Shaughnessy has carried out a widespread review of clinical trials in Britain and found it is falling behind in medical research. He has suggested a raft of reforms, which include financial incentives for GPs who carry out community drugs and treatments trials on their patients at local surgeries or in their own homes. Patients who receive genomic testing on the NHS should also be automatically asked to consent to their genetic data being used for research, the report recommends. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has been told to cut red tape and speed up approvals for medicines. It has also been asked to approve clinical trials within 60 days of submission. Writing in The Telegraph, Will Quince, Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care, said: “Cutting the time it takes for new medicines to reach patients is vital and has a direct impact on how patients recover faster or better manage conditions. “We want to make it easier for more people to be a part of life-changing research and giving the option to take part in trials virtually will improve the scope of who wants to, or can take part. “From cancer to obesity, these research studies can lead to billions of pounds in savings for the NHS and cut waiting lists through faster diagnosis and enhanced treatment.” Read full story (paywalled_ Source: The Telegraph, 26 May 2023
  12. News Article
    A new treatment could help people to stop taking addictive opioid painkillers for chronic pain, research suggests. Data suggests there are one million people at risk from longer-term continuous opioid prescriptions, and more than 50,000 have been taking these for six months or more. While recent NHS initiatives have managed to reduce opioid prescribing by 8%, saving an estimated 350 lives, the new research has found evidence that could help many more people stop their opioid painkiller use. A team of researchers and doctors has developed and successfully trialled a programme designed to guide people in coming off prescription painkillers, tapering their opioid intake and learning how to manage their pain using alternative techniques with a course which combines one-to-one and group support. According to the findings, after one year, one in five people were able to stop taking opioids without their pain increasing. The scientists suggest the new treatment is an alternative to opioid use and has potential to give patients a better quality of life. Read full story Source: The Independent, 23 May 2023
  13. News Article
    Antidepressants commonly used to treat chronic pain lack evidence as to whether or not they work, researchers have said, declaring the situation a global public health concern. Chronic pain, typically defined as pain lasting three months or more, is a widespread problem affecting up to one in three people, with conditions ranging from osteoarthritis to fibromyalgia. While exercise is often recommended, this is difficult for some patients, while there are concerns that opioids and other painkillers such as aspirin and paracetamol could do more harm than good. Increasing numbers of patients are prescribed antidepressants to treat their pain, with hundreds of thousands in the UK estimated to be taking amitriptyline. Antidepressants affect chemicals known as neurotransmitters, which is how they are thought to relieve pain. But a new Cochrane review, led by Prof Tamar Pincus, professor in health psychology at the University of Southampton, has revealed there is little evidence whether or not amitriptyline and many other common antidepressants work when it comes to tackling chronic pain. “The fact that we don’t find evidence whether it works or not, is not the same as finding evidence that it doesn’t work,” she said. “We don’t know. The studies simply are not good enough.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 May 2023
  14. News Article
    Patients who have had older types of hip replacement may be at greater risk of heart damage than previously thought, researchers have said, because of cobalt leaching out of so-called metal-on-metal implants. Tens of thousands of UK patients were fitted with these devices during the 2000s, when they were marketed as a solution for young, active patients who needed a hip replacement that would last a lifetime. The issue is that tiny metal ions made up of cobalt and chromium are thought to break off from the implants and leak into the blood, and there are fears this could cause muscle, bone and organ damage. Surgeons began to voice concerns about the implants in 2008, and in 2012 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued guidance recommending annual blood or MRI checks for patients who had received them. Since then, mounting evidence has suggested that such individuals may be at greater risk of heart disease. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 April 2023
  15. News Article
    Up to one in 20 new diabetes cases could be related to Covid infection, data suggests. The research adds to mounting evidence the pandemic may be contributing to a rapidly escalating diabetes crisis, with individuals who have experienced more severe Covid at greatest risk. However, lifestyle factors such as being overweight or obese continue to be the main driver for the increase, with 4.3 million officially diagnosed cases in the UK alone. Although previous research has hinted that Sars-CoV-2 infection may increase the risk of developing diabetes – possibly by damaging insulin-producing cells in the pancreas – these studies were either relatively small or limited to specific groups of individuals, such as US military veterans, who may not represent the general population. To delve deeper, Prof Naveed Janjua at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and his colleagues turned to the British Columbia Covid-19 Cohort, a surveillance platform that links data on Covid infections and vaccinations with sociodemographic and administrative health data. They examined records from 629,935 people who took a PCR test for Covid and found those who tested positive were significantly more likely to experience a new diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes in the following weeks and months – with 3-5% of new diabetes cases attributable to Covid overall. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 April 2023
  16. News Article
    People who survive cancer may be at heightened risk of cardiovascular disease in subsequent years, data suggests. However, heart scans may identify early heart damage, potentially opening the door to more tailored follow-up care for cancer survivors. Although previous studies have suggested that people who have been treated for cancer may be at greater risk of future cardiovascular problems such as stroke or heart failure, these have mainly focused on the first year after a cancer diagnosis. Few have looked at longer term risks or included cardiovascular imaging to pinpoint damage that has not yet resulted in symptoms. To plug these gaps, Dr Zahra Raisi-Estabragh at Queen Mary University of London and her colleagues assessed the cardiovascular health of 18,714 UK Biobank participants with a previous diagnosis of lung, breast, prostate, blood, womb or bowel cancer, and compared them with an equal number of participants with no cancer history, tracking their cardiovascular health for nearly 12 years. Almost a third of cancer survivors developed a cardiovascular problem during the study period, compared with a quarter of people in the control group. “This study adds to existing knowledge about the impact of some cancer treatments on cardiovascular disease in cancer survivors,” said Martin Ledwick, the head information nurse at Cancer Research UK. “It may help to inform strategies for how some cancer survivors need to be monitored long-term, especially in situations where they have been discharged from cancer follow-up to the care of their GPs.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 April 2023
  17. News Article
    In an enormous leap forward in the understanding of Parkinson’s disease (PD), researchers have discovered a new tool that can reveal a key pathology of the disease: abnormal alpha-synuclein — known as the “Parkinson’s protein” — in brain and body cells. The breakthrough published in the scientific journal The Lancet Neurology, opens a new chapter for research, with the promise of a future where every person living with Parkinson’s can expect improved care and treatments — and newly diagnosed individuals may never advance to full-blown symptoms. The tool, called the α-synuclein seeding amplification assay (αSyn-SAA), can detect pathology in spinal fluid not only of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but also in individuals who have not yet been diagnosed or shown clinical symptoms of the disease, but are at a high risk of developing it. By helping to identify people at the earliest stages of PD, “We could then study what happens at different biological stages of the disease,” says Dr. Sherer. Says Ken Marek, MD, PPMI principal investigator, “αSyn-SAA enables us to move to another level in effecting new strategies for prevention of disease.” Read full story Source: The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson' research, 13 April 2023
  18. News Article
    Giving women a third scan at the end of their pregnancy could dramatically reduce the number of unexpected breech births and the risk of babies being born with severe health problems, research suggests. Pregnant women in the UK have routine scans at 12 and 20 weeks only, with no further scan offered in the third trimester unless they are considered at risk of a complicated pregnancy. The researchers hope their findings could lead to a change in guidance for clinicians that will improve maternity care. Prof Asma Khalil, who led the study at St George’s, University of London, said: “For the first time we’ve shown that just one extra scan could save mothers-to-be from trauma, an emergency C-section, and their babies from having severe health complications which could otherwise have been prevented.” She said the two routine scans were “far too early” to establish how the baby would be positioned during labour. “That’s why a third scan at 36-37 weeks could be a gamechanger to pregnancy and birth care.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 7 April 2023
  19. News Article
    Life expectancy in the UK has grown at a slower rate than comparable countries over the past seven decades, according to researchers, who say this is the result of widening inequality. The UK lags behind all other countries in the group of G7 advanced economies except the US, according to a new analysis of global life expectancy rankings published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. While life expectancy has increased in absolute terms, similar countries have experienced larger increases, they wrote. In the 1950s, the UK had one of the longest life expectancies in the world, ranking seventh globally behind countries such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden, but in 2021 the UK was ranked 29th. The researchers said this was partly due to income inequality, which rose considerably in the UK during and after the 1980s. Prof Martin McKee, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “That rise also saw an increase in the variation in life expectancy between different social groups. One reason why the overall increase in life expectancy has been so sluggish in the UK is that in recent years it has fallen for poorer groups". Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 March 2023
  20. Content Article
    Methoxyflurane, an agent formerly used as a volatile anaesthetic but that has strong analgesic properties, will soon become available again in the UK and Europe in the form of a small hand-held inhaler. Gaskell et al. describe their experience in the use of inhaled methoxyflurane for procedural analgesia within a large tertiary hospital in New Zealand.
  21. Content Article
    Urinary tract infections (UTIs) exert a significant health and economic cost globally. Approximately one in four people with a previous history of UTI continue to develop recurrent or chronic infections. This review aims to present a novel perspective on chronic UTI by linking microbiology with immunology, which are commonly divergent in this field of research. It also describes the challenges in understanding chronic UTI pathogenesis and the human bladder immune response, largely conjectured from murine studies. Lastly, it outlines the shortcomings of current diagnostic methods in identifying individuals with chronic UTI and consequently treating them, potentially aggravating their disease due to mismanagement of prior episodes. This discourse highlights the need to consider these knowledge gaps and encourages more relevant studies of UTI in humans.
  22. Content Article
    There is little longitudinal information about the type and frequency of harm resulting from medication errors among outpatient children with cancer. This study aimed to characterise rates and types of medication errors and harm to outpatient children with leukaemia and lymphoma over 7 months of treatment.
  23. Content Article
    This chapter in Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses outlines how fatigue and sleepiness impact on the performance of nurses and consequently on patient safety. It highlights safety practices that can be implemented to counter the effects of fatigue, including restrictions on working hours, napping, use of bright lights and exercise.
  24. Content Article
    In this study, Hawkins and Morse explored nurses’ work in the context of medication administration, errors and the organisation. Secondary analysis of ethnographic data included 92 hours of non-participant observation, and 37 unstructured interviews with nurses, administrators, and pharmacists. Think-aloud observations and analysis of institutional documents supplemented these data. Findings revealed the nature of nurses’ work was characterised by chasing a standard of care, prioritising practice and renegotiating routines. The rich description identified characteristics of nurses’ work as cyclical, chaotic and complex, shattering studies that explained nurses’ work as linear. A new theoretical model was developed, illustrating the inseparability of nurses’ work from contextual contingencies and enhancing our understanding of the cascading components of work that result in days that spin out of the nurses’ control. These results deepen our understanding why present efforts targeting the reduction of medication errors may be ineffective and places administration accountable for the context in which medication errors occur.
  25. Content Article
    Ahead of World Cancer Day 2023, Cancer Research UK have published a new report that shows that the impact of cancer for people in the UK will only grow, and sets out the challenges that cancer services are already facing today. New modelling published in the report, Cancer in the UK: Overview 2023 shows that if current trends continue, cancer cases will rise from the 384,000 diagnosed each year now, to over half a million by 2040. To put that into context, that means around a third more people will be diagnosed with the condition every year in comparison to current levels. And we could see around a quarter more annual cancer deaths – 208,000 by 2040, With services barely treading water now, Governments across the UK must act if they are to effectively meet the increase in demand that this analysis anticipates, but efforts have been piecemeal so far.
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