HomeA Focus
A Focus
No increased mortality risk from HRT — 18-year study
Among postmenopausal women in the Women’s Health Initiative trials, use of hormone therapy (HRT) for five to seven years was not associated with risk...
HPCSA ups the battle against bogus medical practitioners
A Health Professions Council of SA unit is conducting about 400 investigations into bogus medical practitioners, with more than 40 arrests to date. Data from the...
Elite athletes especially excel at beating the drug tests
A scientific study has found that doping is far more common in professional sport than the rates suggested by blood and urine tests of...
Statins cut heart disease mortality by 28% — 20-year UK study
Previous research has shown the benefit of statins for reducing high cholesterol and coronary heart disease risk amongst different patient populations. However, until now...
Widely used diabetes test may not be suitable for Africans
People of African descent may mistakenly get the all-clear from a widely used type 2 diabetes test called HbA1c, according to an international study. The...
Penile transplant surgery in SA questioned – Stellenbosch study
Roughly 250 traditional circumcisions lead to penile amputation every year in South Africa, with one response being penile transplantation, as carried out in 2014...
New studies show critical impact of behaviour on dementia risk
17A wealth of new data, assembled in a Lancet Commission report, suggests that behaviour can have a significant impact on the risk of getting...
Moderate consumption of fat and carbs is best for good health
Research with more than 135,000 people across five continents has shown that a diet which includes a moderate intake of fat and fruits and...
Caution urged over 'new frontier' anti-inflammatory that slashes CVD and cancer risk
A pioneering drug, currently used to treat juvenile arthritis, has been found in a trial to also to cut the risk of heart attack...
The Tobacco Papers: How Nicotine Replacement Therapy was hijacked
The tobacco industry first viewed nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, inhalers and nasal sprays – called Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) - as a threat, but...
SA's weak economy threatens gains made in public health sector
Our weak economy threatens to undermine the significant progress made in the public health sector over the past decade, including a 10-year increase in...
Peanut allergy may be cured with probiotics and peanut oral immunotherapy
An oral treatment for one of the most deadly allergies, to peanuts, is still effective four years after it was administered, a study has...
SSRIs: Media claims that antidepressants don't work is rebutted
The theory that antidepressant drugs, such as the SSRIs, do not work, which has gained considerable international media attention, has been rebutted by an...
A toast to moderate alcohol use – Danish and US studies
Moderate alcohol consumption over three-to-four days a week is associated with a markedly reduced risk of diabetes in both men and women, according to...
Vaccination programmes successfully wipe out HBV and HAV
A universal hepatitis B vaccination programme introduced for all newborn Alaskan children in the 1980s has wiped out hepatitis B (HBV) infection and liver...
CTE almost universal among ex-NFL football players
13A study of the brains of 202 former American football players found that 87% showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain...
Reversal of brain volume loss in a toddler after drowning
US specialists report the case of the reversal of brain volume loss in a two-year-old drowning victim unresponsive to all stimuli treated with normo-baric...
ACE's role in opioid addiction and later higher healthcare usage
Physical, sexual or emotional abuse as a child, or other childhood stresses, can lead to higher levels of health service use throughout adulthood, found...
Artificial sweeteners may leave a bitter aftertaste
Artificial sweeteners may be linked to risk of weight gain and a greater risk of obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease, found...
Wealthy foot bill for 87% of SA's private and state healthcare – Econex
The way healthcare‚ hospitals and doctors are paid for in SA does not 'punish the poor' as the National Health Insurance policy papers...
Brain Health Crossword — ACROSS: Risk factors (9) DOWN: Stress scenarios (27)
One third of dementia cases might be prevented if brain health is improved throughout life by targeting 9 risk factors, reports a Lancet Commission....
British experts want UN Rights of the Child intervention to remove the tackle from rugby
A cautionary approach requires the removal of the tackle from school rugby as the quickest and most effective method of reducing high injury rates...
Long-term PPI usage is linked to increased mortality risk
Long-term use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), widely used as an over-the-counter treatment for heartburn, ulcers and other gastrointestinal problems, is linked to a 25%...
SA Law Reform Commission examines spiralling medico-legal claims
Comment is sought by the SA Law Reform Commission on an issue paper exploring reasons for spiralling number of medico-legal claims, particularly against the state,...
New countrywide training initiative to combat lifestyle diseases
A new approach to patient care has been launched, developed at Stellenbosch University and spearheaded by Pharma Dynamics. The training initiative, aimed at reducing chronic lifestyle diseases,...
Two large studies link coffee consumption with longer lifespan
A coffee drinking habit is associated with longer lifespan, according to two major international studies. Researchers cautioned against media hype, noting that the studies...
'Not even its supporters agree' on what NHI means for private health
Even supporters of the National Health Insurance disagree on what the shift will mean, especially for private medical schemes, writes Amy Green in a...
EthiQal and MPS take up the debate on mediation for medical negligence claims
Graham Howarth, the Medical Protection Society's head of medical services Africa, and JP Ellis, EthiQal's medical malpractice legal manager, respond to Advocate Alan Nelson's...
Study queries usefulness of genome sequencing in primary care
For all the promises of genomics ushering in a new era, with scientists urging people to get their DNA sequenced, a first pilot study...
NHI White Paper 'a fantasy that ignores the SA economic downturn'
The SA National Health Insurance White Paper is a 'wan fantasy' that ignores SA's ailing economy poor regulatory mechanisms and the role of private...
Red meat consumption associated with significantly increased risk of dying
Eating more red meat, both processed and unprocessed, is associated with a 26% increased risk of dying from eight common diseases as well as...
Gauteng’s negligent medical ‘professionals' get off scot-free
Gauteng Health has paid out over R1bn since January 2015 to settle medical negligence, yet not a single disciplinary actionhas been taken against any...
100-year-old technique has 'significant benefits' for fertility
Rates of pregnancy and live births were higher among women who underwent fallopian tube flushing with oil contrast than with water contrast. Almost 40% of...
SA ups its game but still ranks in bottom half of global healthcare access survey
South Africa was ranked 119 out of 195 countries in the latest Healthcare Access and Quality Index, one rank below Namibia.It was, however, among...
Hawks widen investigation into SA medical school 'places for sale'
Three Durban restaurateurs arrested by the Hawks, accused of selling places to study at the University of KwaZulu Natal's medical school for up to half...
Strong recommendation against knee arthroscopy
Knee arthroscopy is strongly recommended against in almost all patients with degenerative knee disease, a panel of international experts report in The BMJ. A...
Ant-vax movement gains traction by targeting vulnerable groups
Anti-vaccine groups are targeting specific vulnerable communities, reports The Washington Post. In one Somali community in Minnesota, the vaccination rate for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) among immigrant...
Tranexamic acid decreasing death risk from post-partum blood loss
Tranexamic acid has gone largely unused in maternity wards since its development in Japan in the 1960s. Now a massive international trial has shown...
UK's experiment with cancer drugs' funding 'a failure'
A special UK Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) set up to help patients receive cancer drugs not routinely paid for by the NHS, spent over $1.55bn failed...
Taking some antibiotics may raise miscarriage risk
A large Canadian study found that taking several classes of antibiotic – including macrolides, quinolones, tetracyclines, sulphonamides and metronidazolethe – raised the chances of having...