Articles tagged ‘’

The impact of air pollution on cardiac health is the subject of research recently published in The Lancet,¹ aiming to estimate the burden of disease generated worldwide by exposure to second-hand smoke. This was calculated from disease-specific relative risk estimates and area-specific estimates of the proportion of people exposed, by comparative risk-assessment methods, with data from 192 countries during 2004.

The National Stroke Foundation of Australia is this year, 2011, aiming to save 110,000 people from stroke-induced death and disability over a 10-year period. The foundation is at the forefront of educating the public about the link between atrial fibrillation and risk of stroke, as well as promoting greater awareness among healthcare professionals.

As the cold weather continues throughout the UK, it underlines warnings of problems in caring for the elderly from the British Geriatrics Society (BGS). A survey of BGS members has predicted that the third consecutive cold winter currently faced by Britain could mean patients will face many more delays than were experienced in the previous two winters (2008/9, 2009/10).¹

Research published recently by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies[1] reinforces the causal link between passive exposure to cigarette smoke and coronary disease. A recent report on Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects, commissioned by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), compiles and examines the body of evidence which now exists to support the connection.

New guidelines[1] for managing atrial fibrillation (AF) have been jointly published by the American Heart Association (AHA), American College of Cardiology (ACC), and Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), containing some information which may not be as comprehensive as the recently released AF guidelines from the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in September and October respectively.

The UK Stroke Association is in the process of planning an awareness campaign around atrial fibrillation (AF) and its link to stroke.

New research, funded by Diabetes UK, aims to establish whether regular doses of medication derived from fish oil could be used to prevent the onset of some of the serious complications of diabetes. Dr Keith McCormick, podiatrist and lecturer at the University of Southampton, has been awarded a three-year Allied Health Professional Fellowship worth £197,112 to conduct an 18-month clinical trial as part of a larger study supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) recently announced its plans to launch a market study into private healthcare. The study will examine the nature of competition in the market, and whether the market is fully competitive.

The second round of the national clinical audit of occupational health (OH) care on depression detection and management of staff on long-term sickness absence in England indicates that the quality of care is improving. Between April and June 2010, the average sickness absence rate for the NHS in England was 3.89%¹.

Recent research[1] led by Professor Massimo Santini, of the Department of Heart Cardiac Diseases, San Filippo Neri Hospital, Rome, evaluates the correlation between atrial tachycardia (AT) or atrial fibrillation (AF) and clinical outcomes in heart failure patients with an implanted cardiac resynchronization defibrillator (CRT-D).