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Guidelines
Two new guidelines for acute migraine treatment
The American College of Physicians (ACP) has issued two key recommendations for the treatment of migraine – the disabling condition ranking as the second...
People with heart issues may play competitive sports, new guidance says
Athletes with cardiovascular abnormalities who were previously considered ineligible for competitive sports participation, may take part quite safely, new evidence indicates.
A joint scientific statement...
UK regulator updates valproate advisory
A reminder advisory has been issued for healthcare professionals by Britain’s Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency regarding valproate (Belvo, Convulex, Depakote, Dyzantil, Epilim,...
AHA advisory supports endovascular thrombectomy for stroke treatment
Results of six recent trials of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) for patients with large-core ischaemic stroke (LCIS) provide strong evidence for the benefit of this...
Obesity measure must go beyond BMI, suggest global experts
A group of global experts is proposing a new way to define and diagnose obesity, reducing the emphasis on the controversial body mass index...
FDA wants rethink on oximeters and skin tone discrepancy
New guidelines have been proposed by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for blood oxygen monitoring devices to improve their performance across skin...
FDA limits toxic lead in some baby foods
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has set maximum levels for lead in baby foods like jarred fruits and vegetables, yogurts, and dry cereal,...
New SA guidelines not a green light for heritable human genome editing
The recently updated South African Ethics in Health Research Guidelines have caused ripples of concern, with some researchers and bioethicists interpreting them as allowing what’s known as...
SA mental health and motherhood guidelines ineffective without resources
In South Africa, mothers and pregnant women suffer from high levels of mental health issues, with at least one out of every three experiencing...
Revisiting new vitamin D guidelines
An expert who helped craft guidelines for vitamin D supplementation more than a decade ago, reviews the updated guidance published last year by the...
Ditch blue inhalers for asthma treatment, doctors advised
British doctors have been advised, in new guidelines, to avoid prescribing blue inhalers to asthma patients, the carbon footprint for which is being compared...
Updated guidance for resuscitation after drowning
The American Heart Association and the American Academy of Paediatrics have updated their recommendations for untrained lay rescuers and trained rescuers resuscitating adults and...
EMA reverses decision over early Alzheimer’s treatment
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) human medicines committee (CHMP), after re-examining its initial opinion, has recommended granting a marketing authorisation to Leqembi (lecanemab) for...
Despite ethics changes, GM babies still illegal in SA
South African scientists who reacted with concern to a recent change in the country’s research guidelines have been reassured that the creation of genetically...
Criticism over updated menopause guidelines
New guidelines which recommend women with menopause symptoms be offered hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a first-line treatment, not therapy, have been slated by...
Updated SA guideline on bedwetting
An updated guideline has been released on enuresis (bedwetting), intended for general practitioners, urologists, paediatricians, paediatric nephrologists and hospital administrators in South Africa, and...
Updated stroke guidelines highlight risks for women
New guidelines for preventing strokes spell out, for the first time, the risks faced by women, noting that pre-term births and conditions like endometriosis...
WHO issues guidance to limit antibiotic-makers’ pollution
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released new guidance on what it calls an “important but neglected challenge” in efforts to tackle antimicrobial resistance...
Updated SA guidelines for rheumatoid arthritis management
Updated guidelines to managing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) include a treat-to-target strategy using a composite disease activity score, with frequent follow-up and escalation or switching...
Updated guidelines for IUDs acknowledge insertion pain
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated guidelines on intrauterine contraceptive devices(IUD) insertions to include pain management.
In the first update...
Lancet adds to dementia risk factors list
The Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention, and care has increased to 14 the number of modifiable risk factors definitively linked to cognitive loss,...
WHO issues ‘quit tobacco’ guidelines
The World Health Organisation has issued its very first guidelines aimed at helping smokers to give up the habit, and encouraged member states to...
Draft codeine guideline now out for comment
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has released its new draft guideline it hopes will help stem the misuse of codeine, and...
Aussie Health minister's concern over chiropractic spinal manipulation of babies
New guidelines by Australia’s Chiropractic Board have been criticised by the country’s Health minister, who has demanded an urgent explanation for why practitioners are...
American Academy: Updated guidelines for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), has issued the first update in eight years to the Clinical Practice Guideline(CPG) for Management of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome...
SA heart groups urge stricter testing to prevent ASCVD
SA heart groups are calling for stricter low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) targets and lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) testing to be incorporated into routine practice for preventing...
Updated guidelines for prostate cancer screening in South Africa
The SA Urological Association and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of SA have developed evidence-based recommendations to guide clinicians on screening and early diagnosis of...
Written consent now a must for pelvic exams at US hospitals
American hospitals must now obtain written informed consent from patients before they undergo intimate physical exams, including those performed under anaesthesia – otherwise they...
WHO guidelines to reduce catheter infections
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published the first global guidelines to prevent the occurrence of bloodstream and other infections caused by use of...
WHO guidance aims to cut medicine harm
The World Health Organisation (WHO), which has launched new guidance aimed at reducing avoidable medicine harm, says one in 20 patients experience avoidable side...
FDA allows ‘yoghurt can lower diabetes risk’ claim
Yoghurt makers are now permitted to claim that their products can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, says the US Food and Drug...
Updated sepsis guidelines in UK
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the health watchdog in England, has issued updated guidance recommending that people who are severely...
New Crohn’s guidelines highlight use of stool biomarkers
New guidelines from the American Gastroenterological Association recommend biomarkers found in blood and stools be used in the management of Crohn’s disease, sparing some...
Updated US guidelines urge more lung cancer screening
Updated guidelines from the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommend that around 5m additional people should be screened for lung cancer, including older adults who...
WHO releases AMR guidelines
The World Health Organisation has released a package of 13 interventions to guide prioritisation when developing, implementing and monitoring action plans on antimicrobial resistance...
New draft ethics guidelines create confusion
A long overdue and much needed revised draft version of South Africa’s Ethics Guidelines – last updated in 2015 – has been released to...
New guidelines for determining brain death
An updated set of guidelines to determine brain death was released in the US this week, the first amended recommendations in more than a...
Swedish study changes guidelines for genetic breast cancer tests
A recent study has had implications for genetic breast cancer investigations and criteria for who should be offered testing, with Swedish national guidelines for...
CDC issues new guidelines on sepsis management
The US Centres for Disease Control & Prevention has released new guidelines for hospitals to detect and treat sepsis, a factor in 1.7m admissions...
How to identify sudden cardiac arrest risk in young people
Although often seen as an issue for the elderly, sudden cardiac arrest – responsible for 65 000 deaths in Germany annually – can also...