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Found 948 results
  1. News Article
    There has been an unusual rise in the number of children and teenagers around the world diagnosed with type 1 diabetes since Covid, say researchers. A new study in JAMA Network Open journal has collated available data from different countries, including the UK, on more than 38,000 young people diagnosed during the pandemic. The authors describe the increase in cases of diabetes as "substantial". More work is needed to understand why the rise is happening, they say. Some of the rise could be attributed to catch-up - from backlogs and delays when health services were shut - but does not explain all of the newly diagnosed cases, say scientists. Before the pandemic, the incidence rate of childhood type 1 diabetes was already increasing - by about 3% a year.
  2. News Article
    A new six-year study, which aims to prevent the ‘silencing’ of patient voices and improve patient trust in the healthcare system, is due to begin thanks to a major funding award Researchers at the University of Nottingham, University of Bristol and University of Birmingham have received a £2.6M Wellcome Discovery Grant for the 'Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare (EPIC)’ project. The study will use philosophical expertise to explore forms of 'silencing'. Patients regularly report that their testimonies and perspectives are ignored, dismissed or explained away by the healthcare profession. These experiences are injustices because they are unfair and harmful - and philosophers call them ‘epistemic injustices’ because they jeopardise patient care and undermine trust in healthcare staff and systems. By studying these epistemic injustices, EPIC will find ways to correct them and improve the relationship between patients and healthcare practitioners. "Patients have long reported feeling ignored, dismissed, or silenced in ways that jeopardise their care and intensify their suffering. The challenge is to understand how this silencing happens and what can be done about it, in ways that can help patients and healthcare practitioners alike. The NHS is right to seek 'patient perspectives' and listen to 'patient voices'. Project EPIC will help them to do that better by fully diagnosing the causes of that silencing." Dr Ian James Kidd, EPIC Co-Investigator & Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy. Read more Source: University of Nottingham
  3. News Article
    Scientists have developed a virus-killing plastic that could make it harder for bugs, including Covid, to spread in hospitals and care homes. The team at Queen's University Belfast say their plastic film is cheap and could be fashioned into protective gear such as aprons. It works by reacting with light to release chemicals that break the virus. The study showed it could kill viruses by the million, even in tough species which linger on clothes and surfaces. The research was accelerated as part of the UK's response to the Covid pandemic. Studies had shown the Covid virus was able to survive for up to 72 hours on some surfaces, but that is nothing compared to sturdier species. Norovirus - known as the winter vomiting bug - can survive outside the body for two weeks while waiting for somebody new to infect. "This is the first time that anything like this has been developed," said Prof Andrew Mills, from the university's chemistry department. He added: "This film could replace many of the disposable plastic films used in the healthcare industry as it has the added value of being self-sterilising at no real extra cost." He said current personal protective equipment used in hospitals did a good job, but "infections can take place when you take off or put on the PPE, so this can help". Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 September 2022
  4. News Article
    A group of top researchers, clinicians and patients have stepped up efforts to combat Long Covid, launching a new billionaire-backed initiative to search for drivers of the poorly understood condition and ultimately find treatments to help the millions of people around the world living with the disease. The Long Covid Research Initiative (LCRI) hopes to accelerate efforts to understand and treat Long Covid, a sometimes disabling condition that lingers for months or years after infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The group’s first goal—supported by $15 million dollars in funding from Balvi, a scientific investment fund led by crypto billionaire and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin—will be to investigate the causes Long Covid, with a particular focus on whether the virus stubbornly persists in the body after initial infection. Dr. Amy Proal, a microbiologist at the PolyBio Research Foundation and LCRI’s chief scientific officer, told Forbes the research is not just geared towards identifying the presence of the virus in the body but is also aimed at understanding the downstream impact it has on things like blood clotting and the immune system. Proal said another key aim of LCRI’s research program is to identify measurable features of Long Covid that could form the backbone of clinical trials and help develop much-needed treatments for the condition. LCRI has already secured a commitment for further funding from the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, led by biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong (the final amount has yet to be settled), and Scott-Green said the group is aiming to raise $100 million in order to help patients as soon as possible. Read full story Source: Forbes, 8 September 2022
  5. News Article
    Ongoing research underway at The University of Queensland in Australia is focusing on stopping children undergoing chemotherapy from feeling pain and other debilitating side effects. Dr Hana Starobova from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience has been awarded a Fellowship Grant from the Children’s Hospital Foundation to continue her research to relieve children from the side effects of cancer treatments. “Although children have a higher survival rate than adults following cancer treatments, they can still be suffering side-effects well into their adulthood,” Dr Starobova said. “A five-year-old cancer patient could be suffering severe pain, gastrointestinal problems or difficulty walking 20 years on from treatment. “There has been a lack of studies on children, which is an issue because they are not just small adults — they suffer from different cancers, their immune systems work differently and they have a faster metabolism, all of which affect how treatments work. “Our aim is to treat children before the damage happens so that the side-effects are dramatically reduced or don’t occur in the first place.” Dr Starobova is currently analysing how specific drugs could prevent a cascade of inflammation caused by chemotherapy drugs, which lead to tingling and numbness in hands and feet, and muscle pain and weakness that makes everyday tasks, like walking and doing up buttons, a challenge. She is focusing on Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in children, with over 700 children diagnosed in Australia each year. “We are studying the most commonly used chemotherapy treatment for children, which is a mix of drugs that are very toxic, but have to be used to treat cancer fast and stop it becoming resistant to the drugs,” Dr Starobova said. “It’s a fine balance — too little chemotherapy and cancer won’t be killed but sometimes the side effects are so bad, patients have to stop the therapy. “I hope that by having a treatment to reduce side-effects, it will be one less thing for these kids and their families to worry about.” Read full story Source: The Print, 15 August 2022
  6. News Article
    Two years after having Covid-19, diagnoses of brain fog, dementia and epilepsy are more common than after other respiratory infections, a study by the University of Oxford suggests. But anxiety and depression are no more likely in adults or children two years on, the research found. More research is needed to understand how and why Covid could lead to other conditions. This study looked at the risks of 14 different disorders in 1.25 million patients two years on from Covid, mostly in the US. It then compared them with a closely-matched group of 1.25 million people who had a different respiratory infection. In the group who had Covid, after two years, there were more new cases of: dementia, stroke and brain fog in adults aged over 65 brain fog in adults aged 18-64 epilepsy and psychotic disorders in children, although the overall risks were small. Some disorders became less common two years after Covid, including: anxiety and depression in children and adults psychotic disorders in adults. The increased risk of depression and anxiety in adults lasts less than two months before returning to normal levels, the research found. Read full story Source BBC News, 18 August 2022
  7. News Article
    One in eight Covid-19 patients (12.7%) is likely to experience long term symptoms, a study from the Netherlands has reported. Using digital questionnaires, researchers collected data on the frequency of 23 symptoms commonly associated with Covid in an uninfected population and in people who had had a Covid diagnosis. The findings, published in the Lancet, found that 21.4% of adults who had had Covid experienced at least one new or severely increased symptom three to five months after infection when compared with before. This compared with only 8.7% of uninfected people followed over the same period. The core Long Covid symptoms highlighted by the researchers include chest pain, difficulties breathing, pain when breathing, painful muscles, loss of taste and smell, tingling extremities, lump in throat, feeling hot and cold, heavy arms or legs, and general tiredness. Read full story Source: BMJ, 4 August 2022
  8. News Article
    Prescribing potentially harmful antipsychotic drugs to people with dementia has increased by more than 50% on average in care homes during the pandemic, new research suggests. It found that the number of people with dementia receiving these prescriptions had soared from 18% to 28% since 2018 – with prescription rates of over 50% in a third of care homes. Professor Clive Ballard, who was part of a national campaign in 2009 to reduce antipsychotic prescribing by half, said: “Covid-19 put tremendous pressure on care homes, and the majority of them must be applauded for maintaining relatively low antipsychotic prescribing levels amid incredibly difficult circumstances." “However, there were very significant rises in antipsychotic prescribing in one third of care homes and we urgently need to find ways to prioritise support to prevent people with dementia being exposed to significant harms.” Antipsychotic drugs are used to treat some of the more distressing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, such as agitation and psychotic episodes. They have only very limited, short-term benefits in treating psychiatric symptoms in people with dementia – but significantly increase the risk of serious side effects, including stroke, accelerated decline and death. Dr Richard Oakley, from the Alzheimer’s Society, added: “This study shows the shocking and dangerous scale of the use of antipsychotic drugs to treat people with dementia in care homes. “Alzheimer’s Society has been campaigning for a move away from the model of ‘medicate first’ and funded research into alternatives to antipsychotic prescriptions, focused on putting people living with dementia at the centre of their own care. “This drug-free, tailored care can help avoid the loss of lives associated with the harmful side effects of antipsychotic medications.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 4 August 2022
  9. News Article
    Patients who contract Covid-19 are at increased risk of being diagnosed with cardiovascular disorders and diabetes in the three months following infection, although the risk then declines back to baseline levels, a large UK study has found. Researchers from King’s College London say patients recovering from Covid-19 should be advised to consider measures to reduce diabetes risk including adopting a healthy diet and taking exercise. The GP medical records from more than 428,650 Covid-19 patients were matched with the same number of controls and followed up to January 2022. All patients with pre-existing diabetes or cardiovascular disease were excluded from the study, published in the open access journal PLOS Medicine. According to the analysis, diabetes mellitus diagnoses were increased by 81% in acute covid-19 and remained elevated by 27% from 4 to 12 weeks after infection. Lead study author Emma Rezel-Potts said, “While it is in the first four weeks that covid-19 patients are most at risk of these outcomes, the risk of diabetes mellitus remains increased for at least 12 weeks. Clinical and public health interventions focusing on reducing diabetes risk among those recovering from covid-19 over the longer term may be beneficial.” The researchers said that people without pre-existing cardiovascular disease or diabetes who become infected with covid-19 do not appear to have a long term increase in incidence of these conditions. Read full story Source: BMJ, 22 July 2022
  10. News Article
    A possible link between blood clots and ongoing symptoms of Covid is under scrutiny by researchers in the UK. While Covid can cause a period of acute illness, it can also lead to longer-term problems. Research has suggested fewer than a third of patients who have ongoing Covid symptoms after being hospitalised with the disease feel fully recovered a year later. Now researchers are due to begin a number of trials to explore whether blood thinners may help those who have had the disease. Prof Ami Banerjee, of University College London, who is leading a study called Stimulate-ICP, said it was known that a Covid infection increases the risk of blood clots, and that people who have had the disease have a greater risk of related conditions including stroke, heart attacks and deep vein thrombosis. In addition, Banerjee said research from scientists in South Africa had suggested that people with long Covid have microclots in their blood, while studies in the UK suggested almost a third of long Covid patients have clotting abnormalities. But he said it was not clear if the findings were generalisable, and while there had been calls on social media for anticoagulants to be made available on the basis of such findings, further research was needed, not least as blood thinners can lead to an increased risk of bleeds. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 June 2022
  11. News Article
    Covid vaccines cut the global death toll by 20 million in the first year after they were available, according to the first major analysis. The study, which modelled the spread of the disease in 185 countries and territories between December 2020 and December 2021, found that without Covid vaccines 31.4 million people would have died, and that 19.8 million of these deaths were avoided. The study is the first attempt to quantify the number of deaths prevented directly and indirectly as a result of Covid-19 vaccinations. “We knew it was going to be a large number, but I did not think it would be as high as 20 million deaths during just the first year,” said Oliver Watson, of Imperial College London, who is a co-first author on the study carried out by scientists at the university. Many more deaths could have been prevented if access to vaccines had been more equal worldwide. Nearly 600,000 additional deaths – one in five of the Covid deaths in low-income countries – could have been prevented if the World Health Organization’s global goal of vaccinating 40% of each country’s population by the end of 2021 had been met, the research found. “Our findings show that millions of lives have likely been saved by making vaccines available to people everywhere, regardless of their wealth,” said Watson. “However, more could have been done.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 June 2022
  12. News Article
    Health trackers worn on the wrist could be used to spot Covid-19 days before any symptoms appear, according to researchers. Growing numbers of people worldwide use the devices to monitor changes in skin temperature, heart and breathing rates. Now a new study shows that this data could be combined with artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose Covid-19 even before the first tell-tale signs of the disease appear. “Wearable sensor technology can enable Covid-19 detection during the presymptomatic period,” the researchers concluded. The findings were published in the journal BMJ Open. The discovery could lead to health trackers being adapted with AI to detect Covid-19 early, simply by spotting basic physiological changes. This could help provide an early warning system to users that they may be infected, which may in turn help to prevent the spread of the disease more widely. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 21 June 2022
  13. News Article
    More than 80% of UK medical certificates recording stillbirths contain errors, research reveals. More than half the inaccurate certificates contained a significant error that could cause medical staff to misinterpret what had happened. The study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, also shows that three out of four stillbirths certified as having an "unknown cause of death" could, in fact, be explained. A team from the Universities of Edinburgh and Manchester examined more than 1,120 medical certificates of stillbirths, which were issued at 76 UK obstetric units in 2018. Of the 421 which were resolved, 195 were re-designated as foetal growth restriction (FGR), and 184 as placental insufficiency. Dr Michael Rimmer, clinical research fellow at Edinburgh University’s MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, said: “This study shows some medical certificates of stillbirths contain significant errors. "Reducing these errors and accurately recording contributing factors to a stillbirth is important in shaping research and health policies aimed at reducing the number of stillbirths. Read full story Source: The Herald, 21 June 2022
  14. News Article
    A clinical trial to test pregnant women for Group B Strep (GBS) – the most common cause of life-threatening infection in newborn babies – will fail unless the Government intervenes, experts have warned. Some 80 hospitals are needed for the trial to go ahead but only 32 have committed to it, with a deadline for registering of September. The trial is being funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and will look at whether testing women for Group B Strep reduces the risk of babies dying or suffering harm. Now Dr Jane Plumb, chief executive of Group B Strep Support, who lost her son Theo to the infection, is calling on the Government and NHS England to intervene to make sure the trial goes ahead. She said: “The reality is that unless a further 48 hospitals sign up for this trial, then it will fail. “The Government is waiting for the results from this trial to determine whether to test pregnant women for Group B Strep. “Yet there seems to be little acknowledgement that this trial is heading towards failure. “We need more hospitals on board and we need to make sure that the investment in this trial is not wasted. “This is about saving the lives of babies, and it really is now or never.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 20 June 2022
  15. News Article
    When Jenny* had a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she believed the major surgery to remove her breast, although traumatic, had saved her life. She described feeling “rage” when at a follow-up appointment three years later, she said to her surgeon, “I would probably be dead by now” if she had not received the surgery, to which he replied: “Probably not.” It was only then, after she had already undergone invasive and life-changing treatment, that Jenny learned about “overdiagnosis”. While breast cancer screening programs are essential and save lives, sometimes they also detect lumps that may never go on to cause harm in a woman’s lifetime, leading to overtreatment, and psychological and financial suffering. Jenny is 1 of 12 women from the UK, US, Canada and Australia whose stories were published in the medical journal BMJ Open. It is the first study to interview breast cancer patients who believe they may have received unnecessary and harmful treatment, highlighting the effect this has had on their lives. “The usual story of breast cancer screening is ‘screening saves lives’,” an author of the study and a professor of public health at the University of Sydney in Australia, Alexandra Barratt, said. “This study reports the other side of the story – how breast cancer screening can cause harm through overdiagnosis and overtreatment.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 June 2022
  16. News Article
    Black people are more than a third less likely than white people to be diagnosed with cancer via screening in England, according to the first study of its kind, prompting calls for targeted efforts to improve their levels of uptake. Screening programmes save lives by preventing cancer from occurring or spotting it earlier, when treatment is more likely to be effective. In England, screening for cervical cancer is offered to women aged 25 to 64, breast cancer screening is offered to women aged 50 to 70, and everyone aged 60 to 74 is offered a bowel cancer screening home test kit every two years. The latest research, however, lays bare stark disparities in screening diagnosis rates between different ethnic groups for the first time. The study of more than 240,000 cancer patients over a decade found that 8.61% of patients were diagnosed via screening. Broken down by ethnicity, the figure for white people was 8.27%, almost exactly the same as the national average, but among black people it was 5.11%. The findings suggests that black people are 38% less likely to be diagnosed via screening than white people. Diagnosis via screening in mixed-race patients was much higher at 9.49%, and higher still in Asian patients at 10.09%, almost double the rate for black patients. The results were published in the British Journal of Cancer. Jabeer Butt, the chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, said the findings should prompt urgent action. “Cancer screening saves lives,” he said. “That’s why it is so important that effective outreach and culturally appropriate interventions are prioritised to reduce health inequalities. “We know that awareness of cancer symptoms is lower among minority ethnic groups, particularly black Africans, with higher reported barriers to seeking help. But we also know from previous research on colorectal cancer interventions that speaking to someone who explains the steps of the screening process ahead of time can lead to improvements in screening uptake in minority patients." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 6 June 2022
  17. News Article
    Covid-19 may not have taken as great a toll on the mental health of most people as earlier research has indicated, a new study suggests. The pandemic resulted in “minimal” changes in mental health symptoms among the general population, according to a review of 137 studies from around the world led by researchers at McGill University in Canada, and published in the British Medical Journal. Brett Thombs, a psychiatry professor at McGill University and senior author, said some of the public narrative around the mental health impacts of Covid-19 were based on “poor-quality studies and anecdotes”, which became “self-fulfilling prophecies”, adding that there was a need for more “rigorous science”. However, some experts disputed this, warning such readings could obscure the impact on individual groups such as children, women and people with low incomes or pre-existing mental health problems. They also said other robust studies had reached different conclusions. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 March 2023
  18. News Article
    The state of clinical trials in the NHS is “much worse than it has been in years” with patients losing access to cutting-edge cancer and dementia treatments, one of the UK’s most senior clinicians has warned. Sir John Bell, the regius professor of medicine at the University of Oxford and a government life sciences adviser, said the UK’s approach needed “a full overhaul, top to bottom” to prevent a collapse in the number of clinical trials being conducted in the NHS. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that companies are choosing not to evaluate their drugs in the UK,” he said. “The risks [to patients] are much bigger than have been alluded to.” The intervention comes after the government launched an independent review led by the former health minister James O’Shaughnessy into why the NHS had seen a 44% drop in participants recruited to commercial clinical trials in the past five years. The UK is rapidly losing ground to countries such as Spain, Poland and Australia, falling from fourth to 10th internationally for phase III trials. Reduced access to trials is particularly concerning for patients with limited routine treatment options, such as the roughly 3.5 million people living with rare diseases and patients with dementia and advanced cancer. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 February 2023
  19. News Article
    Ministers have spent only £15m in five years on research into tackling brain tumours, the biggest killer of adults and children under 40, while boasting about delivering £40m, MPs have found. The revelation emerged in a damning report seen by the Guardian that is due to be published this week by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on brain tumours after a two-year inquiry. The research system is “unfit for purpose”, patients are being denied access to clinical trials, and families have been let down by promises of “millions of pounds of investment which hasn’t materialised”, the report says. The APPG report also highlights a “valley of death” in which potential new treatments developed in the laboratory “fail to reach patients” because of unnecessary red tape. Some children are being denied access to clinical trials, and the national brain tumour research database is “not reliable”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 February 2023
  20. News Article
    Prostate cancer screening may be a step closer after a study suggested that harms linked to testing have reduced thanks to advances in medical technology. Screening for prostate cancer has been heavily debated in medical circles due to potential harms including side effects from biopsies and unnecessary testing for those with no clinically significant cancer. A new study set out to examine whether the “seesaw has been tipped” in favour of screening. Researchers from Prostate Cancer UK combined the results of the latest clinical trials and real-world data on the “prostate cancer screening pathway” to examine the risk-to-harm benefit. Prostate Cancer UK said that on average 67%t fewer men experienced harm during the diagnostic process with the newer techniques compared with older methods. Prostate Cancer UK said the UK National Screening Committee, which makes recommendations to the Government, is to re-examine prostate cancer screening. Dr Matthew Hobbs, lead researcher on the analysis and director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “We’ve known for some time now that testing more men reduces prostate cancer deaths, but there have always been concerns about how many men would be harmed to achieve this. “However, our evidence shows that screening may now be a lot safer than previously thought. That’s why we are so pleased that the committee is going to review the evidence once more. Read full story Source: The Independent, 23 February 2023
  21. News Article
    A US government watchdog called for greater federal oversight of ethics boards that sign off on scientific studies, finding that for-profit companies have taken an outsize role in approving certain research and questioning whether financial motivations could put human subjects at risk. Federal regulations require that certain research on human subjects — including those testing the safety of new drugs — first get approval from a registered institutional research board. These boards, which are made up of at least five members and can include researchers and academics, are designed to make sure that a study poses as little risk as possible and that participants have enough information to give consent. While the majority of these boards are affiliated with universities, a small number have no affiliation with institutions conducting research. But according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), these independent boards now account for the largest share of reviews of studies involving new drugs and biologics. The GAO found that federal agencies overseeing the ethics panels inspect relatively few of them and lack ways to evaluate how well they protect people participating in research. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Washington Post, 16 February 2023
  22. News Article
    Every year, millions of people live fuller lives because of a medical device implanted somewhere in their body - from hip joints, to teeth, to heart valves. Known as Foreign Body Response (FBR), inflammation and scarring around an implant is natural, but in some cases, it can severely damage healthy tissue and can even lead to death if the implant is not removed. FBR-related implant failure rates range widely among different medical devices, but reducing those rates has been difficult because scientists still don’t understand the underlying biology that causes FBR. Now, researchers from the University of Maryland have discovered the molecular basis for FBR, identifying a key biological pathway that future drug therapies could target to reduce the risk of implant rejection. Shaik O. Rahaman, an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at UMD, and his colleagues identified a specific cellular signaling system that kicks in when the body recognises the inherent difference in stiffness between an implant and the surrounding tissue. This system detects the mismatch and triggers inflammation and scarring, which is part of the body’s normal defense system. But in FBR, the signaling system can set up a cycle of chronic inflammation and continual scar-tissue build-up that leads to implant rejection. “This is a huge leap forward in this field,” Rahaman said. “So far, the medical industry has been making biomedical implants randomly, out of materials they think might work without knowing the molecular basis of the foreign body response that leads to rejection. We don’t know why it happens, and until we do, we can’t effectively develop strategies to prevent it.” Read full story Source: College of Agriculture and Nature Resources, 19 January 2023
  23. News Article
    High levels of microplastics have been found in operating theatres by researchers who highlighted the “astoundingly high” amounts of single-use plastic used in modern surgical procedures. A team from the University of Hull found the amount of microplastics in a cardiothoracic operating theatre was almost three times that found in homes, and said this identifies another route through which the tiny particles can enter the human body, with unknown consequences. The study, published in the journal Environment International, is the first to examine the prevalence of microplastics in surgical environments. The team analysed levels in the operating theatre and the anaesthetic room in cardiothoracic surgeries and discovered an average of 5,000 microplastics per metre squared when the theatre was in use. Jeanette Rotchell, professor of environmental toxicology at the university, said the types of microplastic particles identified relate to common plastic wrapping materials and could also come from blister packs, surgical gowns, hairnets and drapes for patients. Prof Rotchell said: “Although we know microplastics are in the air in a variety of settings, we can’t yet say what the consequences are or whether microplastics are harmful to health. Researchers have yet to establish this. Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 January 2023
  24. News Article
    Older women are at higher risk than older men of experiencing adverse reactions to drugs prescribed by their family doctor, and older patients taking more than 10 medicines are at higher risk than those taking fewer, according to a study. Overall, one in four older people experience adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to pills prescribed by their GP, the research published in the British Journal of General Practice suggests. It has prompted calls for GPs to consider deprescribing ineffective medications and prioritise patients taking lots of drugs for a regular review of their prescriptions. The medicines most commonly associated with ADRs included those used to treat high blood pressure and other cardiac conditions, strong painkillers such as tramadol, and antibiotics such as amoxicillin, according to the study. The study monitored 592 patients aged 70 and older across 15 general practices in the Republic of Ireland over a six-year period. One in four experienced at least one ADR. Patients prescribed 10 or more medicines had a threefold increased risk of experiencing a reaction, researchers said. Women were at least 50% more likely to have ADRs than men, the study found. “ADRs can be difficult to identify in medically complex older adults as they often present as non-specific symptoms,” the researchers wrote in the British Journal of General Practice. “GPs are well placed to detect the occurrence of ADRs from drugs prescribed in primary care as well as in other care settings. Deprescribing of ineffective medications and those no longer clinically indicated is one approach to reducing the risk of ADRs in older patients.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 January 2023
  25. News Article
    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval for the Alzheimer’s disease drug lecanemab, one of the first experimental dementia drugs to appear to slow the progression of cognitive decline. Lecanemab will be marketed as Leqembi, the FDA statement said. It has shown “potential” as an Alzheimer’s disease treatment by appearing to slow progression, according to Phase 3 trial results, but it has raised safety concerns due to its association with certain serious adverse events, including brain swelling and bleeding. In July, the FDA accepted Eisai’s Biologics License Application for lecanemab under the accelerated approval pathway and granted the drug priority review, according to the company. The accelerated approval programme allows for earlier approval of medications that treat serious conditions and “fill an unmet medical need” while the drugs continue to be studied in larger and longer trials. If those trials confirm that the drug provides a clinical benefit, the FDA could grant traditional approval. But if the confirmatory trial does not show benefit, the FDA has the regulatory procedures that could lead to taking the drug off the market. Read full story Source: CNN Health, 7 January 2023
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