Children's Health
A study published today links migraine and colic [1]. In this research, children and adolescents aged 6-18 who suffered from migraine were much more likely to have had colic as infants compared to children without migraine (about 73 per cent versus 26 per cent). Statistics like these suggest that migraine and colic may have a […]
Brain and Behaviour
I came across this report earlier this week about a piece of research which apparently found that older individuals who think of themselves as elderly and frail are more likely to end up actually being old and frail. The details of the research are not to be found on-line, but reading this report immediately reminded […]
Food and Medical Politics
I’m sometimes uncomfortable about the way we doctors deal with our patients. I am a doctor, and I’m wary about apparently criticising other doctors in a way that comes across as though I regard myself as somehow virtuous and without flaw. I am human, like everyone else, and I’m clearly fallible. However, I also struggle […]
Food and Medical Politics
Two weeks ago I wrote about a review of the evidence for the cholesterol-lowering drug ezetimibe [1]. The authors of the review brought, quite rightfully, our attention to the fact that ezetimibe has never been tested on its own and its health impact compared to placebo. They also admitted, that when ezetimibe is combined with […]
Exercise and Activity
I’ve seen this week a few reports of a study which compared the potential effects of running and walking on a variety of health markers and outcomes including blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. The study followed about 33,000 regular runners and about 16,000 regular walkers over a period of about 6 years [1]. For […]
Healthy Eating
We have, for a long time, been wary that certain dietary habits are linked to and perhaps predispose people to cancer. The usual whipping boy here is ‘red meat’ – which is often said to be a potential trigger factor in, say, colon cancer. This belief will tend to add the comfort and security some […]
Cholesterol and Statins
In my work as a doctor I see a quite-steady stream of individuals who are concerned about their cholesterol-levels. Usually, these people are male, quite young (often in their 40s) and have been diagnosed with ‘raised cholesterol’. They are also often fit, healthy, non-smoking and free of diabetes and high blood pressure. Despite the fact […]
Cholesterol and Statins
Uncategorized
Although medical practice has a sheen of being ‘evidence-based’, you don’t have to look to far to find a lot of what we do as doctors to be either untested or proven ineffective. I wrote about this recently here where I highlight an initiative by the British Medical Journal entitled ‘Too Much Medicine’ which seeks […]
Healthy Eating
Epidemiology is a branch of research which analyses data to look for associations between things. This brand of research will very often throw up ‘facts’ like ‘red wine lowers risk of heart disease’, because of evidence that red wine drinkers are at reduced risk of heart disease. However, epidemiological evidence can never tell us if […]