Limited evidence to decide whether visual screening reduces the death rate for oral cancer

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Yesterday we looked at a review of the effectiveness of oral examination to detect potentially malignant disorders and mouth cancer today we are looking the latest version of the Cochrane review on screening programmes for the detection and prevention of oral cancer. The overall aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness of current [read the full story…]

Financial incentives don’t increase depression screening for patients with chronic illness

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The lines between physical health and mental health are blurred in lots of ways, and one example is the fact that people with chronic physical conditions are also more likely to suffer from depression. As well as adding to their burden of illness, there’s also some evidence that those patients with comorbid depression have worse [read the full story…]

WEAVE RCT: GP training, but not screening, may benefit women who have experienced intimate partner violence

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Behaviour within an intimate relationship which causes psychological, physical or sexual harm to either party is known as intimate partner violence (IPV). This violence is perpetrated by both men and women, but significant injuries are more commonly sustained by women. Consequently, IPV is a major public health concern as it contributes majorly to mortality in [read the full story…]

Primary care interventions for alcohol misuse: US Preventative Services Task Force recommendations

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Alcohol misuse is recognised as one of the major health care issues in the US. Specifically, alcohol misuse is ranked third in causes of preventable deaths (after tobacco and obesity) affecting 30% of the population. Alcohol dependence has 4% prevalence in the US, but hazardous drinking patterns are believed to be evident in 21% of [read the full story…]

Dementia and the drive to increase diagnosis rates: the debate goes on

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As part of its excellent ‘Too Much Medicine’ series, the British Medical Journal last week published an important analysis of the current direction of travel in the field of dementia care. The article is hard to ignore, written as it is by highly authoritative academics from the UK and Australia, including Professor Carol Brayne, an [read the full story…]

Sexual knowledge of women with learning disabilities in secure settings attitudes and shows wide range of misunderstandings and confusions

There is sparse evidence for the efficacy and safety of antipsychotics in people with learning disabilities.

Research in the field of mental health has suggested associations between risky sexual behaviour and common psychiatric conditions, with higher than prevalence rates of HIV than found in the national average, risk of sexual coercion and high rates of relationship breakdown. The authors of this paper suggest that there are encouraging signs of positive attitudes [read the full story…]

Missing you Mum: mothers who bring their babies to emergency departments often have undetected post-natal depression

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While depression is the leading cause of disability for both males and females, the burden of depression is 50% higher for females. In fact, depression is the leading cause of disease burden for women in both high-income and low- and middle-income countries (WHO, 2008). Research has shown that women with unidentified and untreated maternal depression [read the full story…]

Guest blog: Screening for dementia – beware the zeal of an evangelist

If you missed Martin Brunet's blog on dementia screening back in December, read it now.

This article originally appeared on the Binscombe Doctor blog on 14 Dec 2012 and is reproduced with kind permission from Dr Martin Brunet. There’s an old joke about a Pastor and an Evangelist going on a bear hunt. Once they have arrived at their log cabin hunting lodge the Pastor starts to unpack their supplies [read the full story…]

New RCT reports a promising primary care solution to diagnosing and managing postnatal depression

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Postnatal (or postpartum) depression is moderate to severe depression that affects women just after they have given birth. It’s a relatively common illness, affecting 7-15% of childbearing women. Suffering from depression in the first few weeks of motherhood can have a significant impact, not just on the health of the mother, but also on her [read the full story…]

Clinical screening tests for assessing movement control in low-back pain: a systematic review

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Today is the final day of the International Federation of Orthopaedic Manipulative Therapists (IFOMPT) Conference in Quebec, Canada. The conference includes presentations from international experts on a wide array of issues related to clinical assessment and treatment. In a previous blog I looked at an article on whether or not  individuals’ movement patterns can be altered as [read the full story…]