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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Psychiatrist guilty of unprofessional conduct for using outdated diagnostic scale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...
After years of uncertainty, meta-analysis finds statins benefit all ages
A new analysis of clinical trials reverses current thinking on giving statins to most people over 75, finding that the cholesterol-lowering drugs benefit all...
Fake news and celebrity fads 'put lives at risk’ — joint editorial
The editors of more than two dozen cardiology-related scientific journals worldwide have published a joint editorial to sound the alarm that medical misinformation is...
Provincial health services at risk over R80.4bn in medical negligence claims
A "near exponential" increase in medical negligence claims against the state has left provincial health departments with R80.4bn in contingent liabilities, equivalent to more...
Major study debunks race and class theories of intelligence
Babies of different races are born with equal intelligence. The seven-year, global INTERGROWTH-21st Project, led by the University of Oxford, says its research debunks...
Adopting modern marketing strategies to promote PrEP and avoid stigma
Current pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) strategies can slow roll-out and contribute to stigma surrounding PrEP use, found a study in The Lancet. The authors propose...
Aspirin risk in patients without cardiovascular disease — trials review
A systematic review of large trials found that among those with no known history of cardiovascular disease, regular aspirin use was associated with a...
Air pollution as bad as smoking for miscarriage risk
Short-term exposure to elevated levels of air pollutants was associated with 16% higher risk for miscarriage, equivalent to the effect of smoking in first...
'Compelling' evidence for a 'good-fibre' diet over a low-carb diet
A systematic review of studies over almost 40 years, commissioned to inform new World Health Organisation guidelines, found that higher levels of fibre and...
Obesity, especially around the waist, linked to brain shrinkage
Obesity, especially around the middle, was associated with lower grey matter brain volumes, a large British analysis found. Existing research has linked brain shrinkage to...
Breakthrough AI tools to detect cancers in women
A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool from the UK Institute of Cancer Research scans tumour cells to pick out women with especially aggressive...
Foreign-trained SA doctors head to court over lack of internships
Some 105 foreign-trained medical doctors battling for internship placements are heading to court, claiming they are being side-lined, reports The Times. The Health Department,...
No compelling evidence of health benefit from non-sugar sweeteners
There is no compelling evidence to indicate important health benefits - weight, glycaemic control, oral health, cancer, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease - of non-sugar...
Brain training does not halt mental decline
A Scottish study shows that people who regularly do intellectual activities throughout life have higher mental abilities. This provides a 'higher cognitive point' from...
Cosatu angered by delays and Health Dept divisions over NHI
The slow pace at which the government is moving on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill has drawn the ire of Cosatu, which plans...
McAlpine’s Law: Quacks rush to fill a vacuum
Science doesn’t have all the answers but the money-making quacks are quick to fill the vacuum, writes MedicalBrief columnist Alastair McAlpine. The unique dependency...
Ice Maidens show women can be as physically resilient as men
Women who underwent extreme physical training and completed a trans-Antarctic expedition did not show any more negative health effects than would be expected in...
Exit of more than 8,000 Cuban doctors puts Brazil in a 'state of panic'
A rupture between Havana and Brazil's new far-right president-elect has triggered the immediate withdrawal of all the more than 8,000 doctors that were part...