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(2) FATHER'S
GENES MAY PLAY A ROLE IN
TIMING OF BIRTH
(3) MOBILE
PHONES COULD BE ALLOWED IN
SOME PARTS
OF HOSPITALS
(4) MEDIA MAY FACILITATE SUICIDAL ACTS
(1) VITAMIN D
CAN PREVENT FRACTURES IN
OLDER PEOPLE
(Effect of four monthly oral vitamin
D3 (cholecalciferol)
supplementation on fractures and
mortality in men and
women living in the community: randomised
double blind
controlled trial)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7387/469
Vitamin D supplements reduce fractures
in men and
women aged over 65 living in the general
community,
finds a study in this week's BMJ.
Researchers identified 2,686 people (2,037
men and
649 women) aged 65-85 years living in
the community.
They sent one capsule containing 100,000
IU vitamin D3
(cholecalciferol) or matching placebo
by post every four
months for five years (15 doses in total).
They asked
participants to take the capsule immediately
and
complete and return a checklist of events
(fracture or
major illness).
Participants in the vitamin D treatment
group had a 22%
lower rate for first fracture at any site
and a 33% lower
rate for a fracture occurring in common
osteoporotic
sites (hip, wrist or forearm, or vertebrae).
Many interventions effective in high risk
groups are not
feasible in the general population owing
to poor
compliance or side effects or are not
cost effective, say
the authors. In contrast, the cost of
four monthly vitamin
D capsules is less than £1 annually,
they conclude.
Contact:
Kay Tee Khaw, Professor of Clinical Gerontology,
Clinical Gerontology Unit, University
of Cambridge
School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke's
Hospital,
Cambridge, UK
Email: kk101@medschl.cam.ac.uk
(2) FATHER'S GENES
MAY PLAY A ROLE IN
TIMING OF BIRTH
(Risk of recurrence of prolonged
pregnancy)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7387/476
A father's genes may play a role in the
timing of birth and
in the risk of repeating a prolonged pregnancy,
suggest
researchers in this week's BMJ.
Prolonged pregnancy - a pregnancy with
a gestational
length of 294 days or more - occurs in
about 5% of all
births. It is associated with a higher
incidence of
complications in the mother and child,
but little is known
about it causes.
The team identified all women with a prolonged
pregnancy in the first delivery and in
a subsequent
delivery during 1980-94, and a sample
of women with
two or more pregnancies recorded in the
period
1980-92 (only the first two deliveries
were used for
analysis).
The post-term group included all women
who had a
singleton live infant born post-term (42
weeks or more)
and a subsequent live infant. The term
group included all
women who had a singleton live infant
born at term
(37-41 weeks) and a subsequent live infant.
This gave
21,746 sibling pairs in the post-term
group and 7,009
sibling pairs in the term group.
The risk of recurrence of post-term delivery
was 19.9%.
It increased with increasing gestational
age to
approximately 30% for a gestational age
of 44 weeks. In
the term group, 7.7% were post-term in
the subsequent
birth.
However, the risk of recurrence of post-term
delivery
was reduced to 15.4% when the first and
second child
had different fathers. Length of pregnancy
differed by
more than one week in women who had changed
partners, compared with those who had
not.
We believe that this is a new observation,
say the
authors. It suggests that the timing of
birth may, in part,
be determined by paternal genes, they
conclude.
Contact:
Annette Wind Olesen, Research Fellow, Danish
Epidemiology Science Centre, University
of Aarhus,
Denmark
Email: awo@soci.au.dk
(3) MOBILE PHONES
COULD BE ALLOWED IN
SOME PARTS OF HOSPITALS
(Editorial: Mobile phones in hospitals)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7387/460
The use of mobile phones in hospitals is
not as hazardous
as believed and they could be allowed
in selected areas,
say doctors at the John Radcliffe Hospital
in this week's
BMJ.
Anecdotal reports exist of interference
with medical
electrical equipment, but the evidence
for serious harm is
flimsy. A study by the UK Medical Devices
Agency
found some interference from monitors
and pacemakers.
However, the effects are temporary and
very localised
and do not seem to justify the outright
ban on mobile
phones and hostility towards users, say
the authors.
Furthermore, the provision of phones for
patients and
relatives on wards is often inadequate
and goes only
some way towards addressing the needs
of patients, they
add.
It is time we took a more sensible and
considered
approach to the use of mobile phones in
hospitals, say
the authors. It seems sensible to restrict
their use in
clinical areas and on wards, but they
should be allowed
in all non-clinical areas (such as corridors,
offices,
entrance halls, and cafeterias) and outpatient
waiting
areas.
The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in
London
already has such an enlightened approach
to mobile
phone use and relatives say that they
find being able to
use their mobile phones in selected areas
invaluable.
"We hope that hospital managers and clinical
directors
will consider the points raised here and
adopt a more
sensible and flexible policy towards mobile
phones. A
practical balance can be achieved, and
it is hoped that
this would remove the aggressive overreaction
of some
staff and members of the public to their
use in hospitals,"
they conclude.
Contact:
Saul Myerson, Clinical Lecturer Department
of
Cardiology, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford,
UK
Email: saul.myerson@cardiov.ox.ac.uk
(4) MEDIA MAY FACILITATE SUICIDAL ACTS
(Letters: Media influence on suicide)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7387/498
The media should be more aware of their
potential
influence on suicide, according to several
letters in this
week's BMJ.
Two letters examine the effect of the death
from cervical
cancer of a television character (Alma
in Coronation
Street) on the NHS cervical screening
programme.
Researchers in Manchester found that 14,000
additional
cervical smear tests were performed as
a result of the
storyline (a 21% increase on the previous
year) and led
to a huge strain on local laboratories.
Another team,
based in London, found that the same story
triggered up
to 300 additional weekly enquiries to
CancerBACUP's
helpline (the United Kingdom's leading
cancer
information charity).
They suggest that television programme
makers should
realise the power of such stories, while
those responsible
for promoting health need to engage public
programme
makers in a full ethical debate.
A third letter reveals the alarming escalation
of charcoal
burning suicide in Hong Kong after an
incident in 1998
was widely reported in the media. In 2001
it replaced
hanging as the second commonest method
of suicide,
accounting for 25% of all deaths from
suicide.
As a result, concerns have been raised
about the
potentially contagious impact of media
reporting.
However news editors have expressed reservations
and
remain unconvinced about guidelines on
suicide
reporting.
Contacts:
Andy Howe, Specialist Registrar in Public
Health,
Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority,
Manchester, UK
Email: andyhowe@clara.co.uk
Daisy O'Clee, Press Officer, CancerBACUP,
London,
UK
Email: doclee@cancerbacup.org
Kathy Chan, Adjunct Associate Professor,
Chinese
University of Hong Kong, China
Email: chanpm@ha.org.hk
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