No 7151 Volume 317
Press Releases Saturday 11 July 1998
(1) FINANCIAL STRAIN IS MAJOR CAUSE OF PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS
(2) ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS ARE UNDER REPORTED
(3) HOW TO IMPROVE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
PRIMARY CARE
AND SOCIAL SERVICES
(4) DELIBERATE SELF HARM IS AN OVERLOOKED
TRAGEDY IN
THE DEVELOPING
WORLD
(1) FINANCIAL STRAIN IS MAJOR CAUSE OF PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS
(Poverty, unemployment and common mental disorders: population
based
cohort study)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/317/7151/115
The prevalence of the most common mental disorders, anxiety and depression,
has been shown to be consistently associated with unemployment and
poverty,
independent of occupational social class. In this week's BMJ
Dr Scott
Weich from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine and Professor
Glyn
Lewis from the University of Wales reveal their findings in a study
of
mental disorders among 7726 adults in England, Wales and Scotland.
The authors found that even though unemployment and poverty were associated
with the maintenance of episodes of the most common mental disorders
they
were not in fact responsible for their onset. They discovered
that
financial strain was a powerful predictor of both the onset and maintenance
of cases of mental disorders, even after taking account of different
standards of living.
Weich and Lewis conclude that further research is needed to better
understand the impact on mental health of financial strain and
unemployment.
Contact:
Dr Scott Weich, Senior Lecturer, University Department of Psychiatry,
Royal
Free Hospital School of Medicine, London
email: scott{at}rfhsm.ac.uk
(2) ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS ARE UNDER REPORTED
(Under reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions to newly marketed
("black triangle") drugs in general practice: observational study)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/317/7151/119
In this week's BMJ Dr Richard Martin from the Drug Safety Research Unit
at
Southampton and colleagues from the School of Medicine at the University
of
Southampton report that general practitioners under-report to the Committee
on Safety of Medicines suspected adverse reactions to newly marketed
drugs.
Severe and previously unknown adverse drug reactions to new products
are
more likely to be reported to the Committee. The authors believe
that
under-reporting and this bias in reporting needs to be addressed and
that
doctors should report all adverse reactions, however minor, that their
patients have to drugs that have recently been launched onto the market,
to
enable effective postmarketing surveillance to take place.
Contact:
Dr Richard Martin, Clinical Research Fellow, Drug Safety Research Unit,
Southampton
email: drmann{at}dsru.u-net.com
or
Professor Ronald Mann, Senior Professional Fellow, DRSU, Southampton
email: drmann{at}dsru.u-net.com
(3) HOW TO IMPROVE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PRIMARY
CARE
AND SOCIAL SERVICES
(From collaboration to commissioning: developing relationships
between
primary health and social services)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/317/7151/122
Since the publication in 1989 of the white paper "Caring for People",
the
benefits of collaboration between primary health and social services
has
been emphasised, write Caroline Glendinning et al from the University
of
Manchester in this week?s BMJ. While basing a social worker or
care
manager in general practice can be of benefit to both professionals
and
patients, the authors stress that planning services together can have
longer term benefits.
The authors discuss what needs to be done to ensure that patients have
speedier access to a wider range of services and conclude that the
success
of joint commissioning initiatives will depend upon the joint ownership
and
equal involvement of primary health and social services staff.
Contact:
Ms Caroline Glendinning, Senior Research Fellow, National Primary Care
Research and Development Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester
email: caroline.glendinning{at}man.ac.uk
(4) DELIBERATE SELF HARM IS AN OVERLOOKED TRAGEDY
IN
THE DEVELOPING WORLD
(Deliberate self harm in Sri Lanka: an overlooked tragedy in the
developing world)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/317/7151/133
Deliberate harm is common in the developing world, write Dr Michael
Eddleston et al from universities in Oxford and Colombo, in this week's
BMJ
They suggest that research to find ways to reduce deliberate self harm
is just
as urgently required as attempts to eradicate physical illnesses.
Sri Lanka has a high incidence of suicide with at least 40 suicides
per
100,000 people each year, compared to 8 in the UK. Eddleston
et al's
research showed that most suicides (two thirds) are under the age of
30.
For most of the youngsters, deliberate harm seemed to be a means of
dealing
with a difficult situation and they did not really intend to kill
themselves. The reasons for this high mortality in Sri Lanka
is the high
toxicity of the substances or poisons commonly used and the difficulties
of
treating them.
Self poisoning with agricultural pesticides or natural poisons, such
as
oleander seeds, is an important cause of death in many rural areas.
The
authors believe that medical management of acute self poisoning is
currently poor and that the introduction of better management protocols
would reduce mortality.
Contact:
Dr Michael Eddleston, Research Fellow, Centre for Tropical Medicine,
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital,
Oxford
email: EddlestonM{at}aol.com
(Discrimination against gay and lesbian doctors goes against GMC's
guidance)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/317/7151/149
Susan Bewley, a consultant obstetrician, and David Harvey, a Professor
of
Paediatrics and Neonatal Medicine, are co-chairs of the Gay and Lesbian
Association of Doctors and Dentists (GLADD). In a letter in this
week?s
BMJ they write about the fact that some gay and lesbian doctors in
training
in the NHS are still reluctant to be open about their sexuality for
fear of
discrimination by colleagues, despite General Medical Council guidance
to
the contrary.
Contact:
David Harvey, Professor of Paediatrics and Neonatal Medicine or Susan
Bewley, Consultant Obstetrician, GLADD, PO Box 5606, London
FOR ACCREDITED JOURNALISTS
Embargoed press releases:
These are available from:
Public Affairs Division
BMA House
Tavistock Square
London WC1H 9JR
(contact Jill Shepherd;jshepher{at}bma.org.uk)
and from:
the EurekAlert website, run by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (http://www.eurekalert.org)
Please remember to credit the BMJ as source when publicising an article
and to inform your readers that they can read its full text on the
journal's web site (http://www.bmj.com).
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