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Court of Appeal swayed by surgeon's detailed med scheme notes
North West surgeon Dr Samuel Smith's detailed motivation to a patient's medical scheme for keyhole surgery instead of riskier open surgery finally, after two years...
Crossword and number puzzle habits link to sharper brain in later life
Older adults who regularly take part in word and number puzzles have sharper brains, according to the largest online study to date. The more...
Intermittent fasting: From Pythagoras to Fung
Intermittent fasting has been around since Pythagoras but has now reached new heights of popularity because of extravagant claims by the likes of Dr Jason Fung,...
Training for a first marathon reverses vascular ageing
Novice marathoners experienced a four-year reduction in arterial age and a 4 mmHg drop in systolic blood pressure.s, found a study on London Marathon participants. Older...
New findings may mean hundreds of thousands misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's
Hundreds of thousands of older people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease are probably suffering from a different disease, which is why drugs trials keep failing,...
SA policies on medical treatment for aliens again face court scrutiny
An Ethiopian asylum seeker who was after three months of treatment denied dialysis at Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg because she lacks the "appropriate" documentation,...
IAAF decision on testosterone 'a victory for female athletes everywhere'
There has been widespread condemnation of the International Association of Athletics FederationS ordering the control of natural testosterone levels in female athletes in some...
Work stress and impaired sleep linked to 3x higher CVD risk
Work stress and impaired sleep are linked to a threefold higher risk of cardiovascular death in employees with hypertension, found a German study with...
Gynaecologist’s jail sentence for negligence a worrying precedent — SASOG
The SA Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has "noted with significant concern" a High Court judgment that upheld the sentence of of five years direct...
Drugs to prevent stroke and dementia show promise in small trial
Treatments that prevent recurrence of types of stroke and dementia caused by damage to small blood vessels in the brain have moved a step...
Report on 'breakthrough' slimming pill — European Congress on Obesity
A "breakthrough" slimming pill that expands in the stomach was twice as successful as a placebo, according to research presented at the European Congress on Obesity....
High Court rejects gynae's appeal against 5-years' jail for deadly negligence
The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has confirmed the conviction and sentence of five years direct imprisonment for Dr Danie van der Walt, a gynaecologist...
Misdiagnosis of multiple sclerosis found to be common
The misdiagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) was almost 20% in a US study, which found that of the people misdiagnosed, many received MS treatment for...
First malaria vaccination for children launched in Malawi
Malawi will begin immunising young children against malaria this week, in a landmark large-scale pilot programme of the first vaccine to give partial protection...
Novel 5-minute breathing workout improves BP, may boost brain function – clinical trial
Researchers found significant drops in blood pressure, improvements in large-artery function, and improved performance on certain cognitive and memory tests, by subject who performed Inspiratory Muscle Strength...
Nutritious foods but not dietary supplements linked to lower mortality risk
Adequate intake of certain nutrients is associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality when the nutrient source is foods, but not supplements, according to...
Large UK study finds statins fail to lower cholesterol in over half of patients
Experts have warned a more tailored approach is needed to the prescribing of statins, following a study suggesting they are ineffective at lowering cholesterol...
Severe burnout among SA anaesthetists is 3x international average
The levels of stress and long working hours among SA anaesthetists are increasingly unsustainable with 40% of those in the state sector suffering from burnout,...
Psychiatrist guilty of unprofessional conduct for using outdated diagnostic scale
A Johannesburg child psychiatrist who has written a book about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been fined R40,000 by the Health Professionals Council of...
Consider non-surgical brain stimulation for major depression — trials review
Non-surgical brain stimulation techniques, such as electro-convulsive therapy and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, should be considered as alternative or add-on treatments for adults with...
Red and processed meats – in any amounts – may increase mortality risk
Eating red and processed meats in any quantities may increase the risk of death from all causes, especially cardiovascular disease, found a large, 11-year...
The Carnivore Dieter: Ripped torsos, bad breath and zero scientific evidence
The carnivore diet gives us the ripped-torso new kid on the block, surviving on beef and water with urine strips always at hand to...
Two-thirds of SA patients prescribed unnecessary antibiotics by their GP
In South Africa, 78% of 'mystery' patients sent to a public clinic and 67% of patients sent to a private general practitioner (GP) received...
Only 6% of patients follow statin regimen that can halve cardiovascular risk
Patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease cut their risk of a second major adverse cardiovascular event by almost 50%, if they adhere to taking a...
Napping cuts hypertension as much as does salt and alcohol reduction
Research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 68th Annual Scientific Session found that people who took advantage of a midday snooze were more...
Mind the gap: National disparities in age-related health problems
The age-related health problems of a 76-year-old in Japan and a 46-year-olds in Papua New Guinea have the same level as an ‘average’ person...
Non-disclosure: Doctors should not attack medical schemes for acting
Deception by patients of medical schemes through the non-disclosure of health information is sharply on the increase, writes Elmarie Jensen, marketing manager of Genesis...
Appeal Court rejects Kenyan doctors’ claims of ‘intellectual slave labour’ to white researchers
Claims by a group of Kenyan doctors against ‘apartheid-style’discrimination by the Kenya Medical Research Institute have been rejected by the country’s Court of Appeal,...
'Protective effect of obesity' against dementia challenged in 2 studies
Two new studies appear to refute some earlier research suggesting obesity might protect against dementia. A large UK study over 15 years found that...
Home births 3x more dangerous than hospital deliveries
Women who give birth in non-hospital settings are three times more likely to encounter complications and perinatal mortality compared with hospital births, according to...
Comprehensive study debunks, again, the MMR/autism link
A massive 13-year followup study of more than 650,000 children strongly supports previous findings that MMR vaccination does not increase the risk for autism,...
GPs exceed antibiotic duration guidelines for most infections
For most common infections treated in primary care, a substantial proportion of antibiotic prescriptions have durations exceeding those recommended in guidelines. Substantial reductions in...
Remodulating hospital microbiota cuts infections and costs
The spread of antimicrobial resistance in hospitals can be limited by sanitation methods that re-modulate the hospital microbiota, according to a multi-centre trial conducted...
Bag-mask ventilation helps to save lives
Among critically ill adults undergoing tracheal intubation, patients receiving bag-mask ventilation had higher oxygen saturations and a lower incidence of severe hypoxaemia, found the...
CMS coy on why it prematurely terminated probe into Bonitas
New questions have been raised by Business Day about the Council for Medical Schemes' decision in 2018 inexplicably to terminate a two-year investigation into allegations of trustee...
Eastern Cape Health hostage to ‘brutal thuggery’ of unions — Judge
A Labour Court judge says Eastern Cape Health appears to be held hostage by a concentrated union campaign of "violence and intimidation" at its Fort...
Is interval training the magic bullet for fat loss? — Systematic review
Interval training may shed almost 30% more kilos than a continuous moderate intensity workout, suggests an international pooled analysis of the available evidence in...
Forget 'resiliency training' for doctors – the entire system needs to change
It's absurd to try to train doctors to become more "resilient", MedicalBrief's Alastair McAlpine writes in his Digital Clubbing column. Doctors are unhappy, depressed, and are...
Expert panel strongly recommends against almost all shoulder pain surgery
Surgery should not be performed in almost all patients with a common cause of shoulder pain known as subacromial pain syndrome or SAPS (also...
'Watchful waiting' rather than surgery for benign ovarian cysts
'Watchful waiting' rather than removal is suitable for most women diagnosed with non-cancerous ovarian cysts, avoiding potential surgical complications, found a two-year study following 1919...