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(1) TRAUMATIC
LIFE EVENTS AROUND THE TIME OF
CONCEPTION
MAY MAKE IT MORE LIKELY THAT YOU
HAVE A GIRL
(2) DRUG
COMPANIES RESPONDED POORLY TO REQUESTS
FOR INFORMATION
FROM DOCTORS IN PAKISTAN
(1) TRAUMATIC LIFE EVENTS
AROUND THE TIME OF
CONCEPTION MAY MAKE IT MORE LIKELY
THAT YOU
HAVE A GIRL
(Severe periconceptional life events
and the sex ratio in offspring:
follow up study based on five national
registers)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/319/7209/548
Psychological stress associated with severe
life events around the time
of conception seem to lower the odds of
having a male baby, suggest
researchers in a paper in this week's
BMJ. Dr Dorthe Hansen, from
the John F Kennedy Institute and the Danish
Epidemiology Science
Centre and colleagues from the Centre
for Research in Health and
Social Statistics and the Danish Epidemiology
Science Centre
analysed the male to female ratio of 3072
babies who had been
conceived amidst traumatic events. They
found that the proportion of
boys was 49 per cent as opposed to 51.2
per cent in their control
group.
Hansen et al conclude that psychological
stress related to severe life
events may alter the sex ratio of offspring
through changes in sexual
activity, changes in hormones around the
time of conception, reduced
semen quality or an increased rate in
miscarriage of male babies.
Contact:
Dr Dorthe Hansen, Paediatrician, John F
Kennedy Institute, Glostrup,
Denmark
Email: hcl@kenndy.dk
(2) DRUG COMPANIES RESPONDED
POORLY TO REQUESTS
FOR INFORMATION FROM DOCTORS IN PAKISTAN
(Responses from pharmaceutical companies
to doctors' requests for
more drug information in Pakistan)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/319/7209/547
Many doctors in the developing world do
not receive adequate or
appropriate responses then they request
product information from
drug companies, claim doctors from Pakistan
in this week's BMJ.
Assad Hafeez from Khan Research Laboratories
Hospital in
Islamabad and Zafar Mirza from The Network
for Rational Use of
Medication in Pakistan believe that the
decision to respond to a
request for more information seems to
depend on how favourable it
might be to the interests of the company.
The authors asses how seriously pharmaceutical
companies take their
responsibility to provide information
on request, by recording the
promptness, nature and adequacy of their
replies to doctors. They
found that of 152 requests to 45 companies
(made by 24 doctors in
different cities in Pakistan), only just
over a quarter (26 per cent; 39
responses) received a response. Of these
39 responses only six met
the WHO criteria for optimal drug information.
Hafeez and Mirza also found that the specialists
who made requests
received twice as many responses as the
general practitioners, which
they claim is because "specialists are
seen as opinion formers and
more important to the companies that general
practitioners." They
conclude that objective drug information
is essential for effective
prescribing and they call upon the Pakistan
ministry of health,
academic institutes and non-governmental
organisations to make
available unbiased information on drugs.
Contact:
Dr Assad Hafeez, Consultant Paediatrician,
Paediatric Department,
Khan Research Laboratories Hospital, Islamabad,
Pakistan
Email: assad01@paknet2.ptc.pk
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