Press Releases Saturday 9 January 1999
No 7176 Volume 318
Please remember to credit the BMJ as source when publicising
an
article and to tell your readers that they can read its full text on
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journal's web site (http://www.bmj.com).
If your story is posted on a website please include a link back to
the source BMJ article (URL's are given under titles).
(1) SMALL RISK OF PILL DISAPPEARS AFTER TEN YEARS
(2) MAJOR
HEART DEFECTS CAN BE IDENTIFIED IN FETUSES
BY 14 WEEKS OF GESTATION
(3) RELIEF
ORGANISATIONS NEGLECT MORAL SUPPORT FOR WORKERS
(1) SMALL RISK OF PILL DISAPPEARS AFTER TEN YEARS
(Mortality associated with oral contraceptive
use: 25 year follow up of cohort of
46,000 women from Royal College
of General Practitioners� oral contraception
study)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/318/7176/96
More than 300 million women throughout
the world have used oral contraceptives
since their inception in 1959. Although
the short term effects of the pill are well
documented, less is known about the long
term effects. In this week�s BMJ, Professor
Valerie Beral and colleagues from the
Imperial Cancer Research Fund and the Royal
College of General Practitioners report
the results of a 25 year follow up of 46,000
women in the Royal College of General
Practitioners� oral contraceptive study.
They found that women who had stopped using
the pill for ten or more years incurred
no more health risks than women who had
never used the pill. They conclude that the
small risks of using oral contraceptives
are relevant only while they are being used and
in the ten years after use ceases.
After this time period there is little evidence to suggest
any persistent adverse effects.
Contact:
Geoff Watts or Bryher Golding-Barrett
at Imperial Cancer Research Fund,
Communications Department
email: g.watts{at}icrf.icnet.uk
or b.golding-barrett{at}icrf.icnet
(2) MAJOR HEART DEFECTS
CAN BE IDENTIFIED IN FETUSES
BY 14 WEEKS
OF GESTATION
(Using fetal nuchal translucency
to screen for major congenital cardiac
defects at 10 - 14 weeks of
gestation: population based cohort study)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/318/7176/81
In fetuses, identifying increased nuchal
translucency thickness by
ultrasound scan at 10 - 14 weeks of gestation
reveals the majority (55 per
cent) of major defects of the heart and
arteries, according to a study in
this week�s BMJ. Dr Jon Hyett and
colleagues from King�s College Hospital
Medical School and Guy�s Hospital in London
report that this method of
screening is more accurate than the traditional
method of viewing the four
chambers of the fetal heart at 16 - 26
weeks, which only picks up a quarter
(26 per cent) of major defects.
In the fetus, fluid collects behind the
neck and this can be measured by
ultrasound scanning - the more fluid that
has accumulated the thicker the
nuchal translucency and the greater the
risk of an abnormality being
present. In their study of 29,154
pregnancies, the authors report that 50
(1.7 per 1000) involved a fetus with a
major heart defect.
Hyett et al recommend that fetuses identified
as having increased nuchal
translucency should be referred for specialist
fetal echocardiography.
Contact:
Professor Kypros Nicolaides,
Harris Birthright Research Centre for
Fetal Medicine,
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
King�s College Hospital Medical School,
London
(3) RELIEF ORGANISATIONS NEGLECT MORAL SUPPORT FOR WORKERS
(Selection, training and support
of relief workers: an occupational health
issue)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/318/7176/113
Relief organisations are neglecting the
psychological welfare of their
field workers involved in complex humanitarian
emergencies and therefore
should develop a coordinated and cooperative
approach to their training and
management, says a report published in
this week�s BMJ. Dr Maureen McCall
from the Red Deer Regional Hospital in
Canada and Dr Peter Salama from
Concern Worldwide, based in the Republic
of Ireland, say that disregard for
the psychological welfare of relief workers
is commonplace and that this is
harmful not only for their wellbeing,
but for that of the populations that
they are trying to assist.
The authors interviewed 12 of the leading
international humanitarian relief
organisations and found that most admitted
that their psychological support
mechanisms were underdeveloped.
They explain that complex humanitarian
emergencies generate more stress among
relief workers than �natural�
disasters (such as earthquakes). These
relief workers are faced with the
risk of violent personal assault; ethical
dilemmas, such as having to
negotiate with warlords; witnessing human
rights abuses, but being
prevented from responding by operational
considerations, as well as having
to deal with the concern that their assistance
is perpetuating the
conflict. These factors are notwithstanding
the trauma of caring for
people with serious injuries and handling
dead bodies.
McCall and Salama have drawn up recommendations
on how relief organisations
could improve their practice of providing
psychological support. These
include standardising the recruitment
procedure, including a means of
ascertaining psychological resiliency
of potential candidates as well as
making candidates aware of the psychological
risks they are taking. They
conclude that greater research into this
previously uncharted area is
needed to obtain a greater understanding
of the problem and how it can be
countered .
Contact:
Dr Peter Salama,
Emergency Medical Coordinator,
Concern Worldwide,
Camden Street,
Dublin 2 Republic of Ireland
email: peter.salama{at}concern.ie
Dr Maureen McCall,
Primary Care Physician,
Red Deer Regional Hospital,
Red Deer,
Alberta, Canada
FOR ACCREDITED JOURNALISTS
Embargoed press releases and articles are available from:
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BMA House
Tavistock Square
London WC1H 9JR
(contact Jill Shepherd;pressoffice{at}bma.org.uk)
and from:
the EurekAlert website, run by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science
(http://www.eurekalert.org)
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