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
the
journal's web site (http://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).
(2) PRISONS
ARE DAMAGING THE MENTAL
HEALTH OF INMATES
AND PRISON STAFF
(3) BISPHOSPHONATE
DRUGS REDUCE THE RISK
OF BROKEN BONES
IN BREAST CANCER
PATIENTS
(4) OFFICE
WORKERS WITH NECK PAIN ARE
PRESCRIBED
THERAPIES THAT DO NOT WORK
(5) BETTER
TREATMENT IS NEEDED FOR
CONSTIPATION
(1) PSYCHIATRIC
DISORDERS MORE COMMON IN
CHIDREN BORN LATE IN THE SCHOOL YEAR
(Child psychiatric disorder and relative
age within school
year: cross sectional survey of
large population sample)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7413/472
Research in this weeks BMJ reveals that
being one of
the youngest children in your school year
puts you at
greater risk of developing mental health
problems.
The authors surveyed over 10,000 school
children in
England, Scotland and Wales by using reports
from
teachers, parents and the pupils themselves.
The
questions probed aspects of the children's
emotions,
behaviour, activity levels, peer relationships
and social
behaviour. The answers were used to generate
a
measure of their mental health.
In England and Wales the oldest children
in the school
year are born in September and the youngest
in August.
Comparison of their mental health scores
showed that
children born in the summer months were
much more
likely to have suffered from psychiatric
disorders.
In Scotland, the oldest children in a school
year are born
in March and the youngest in February.
Despite the
differences in the education system a
similar trend was
shown in Scotland confirming that it is
the child's age,
relative to their peers, that influences
mental health rather
than simply the season in which they were
born.
The researchers concluded that encouraging
teachers be
more aware of the age differences between
students and
adopting a more flexible approach to a
child's
progression through school may reduce
the number of
children with psychiatric disorders.
Contact:
Professor Robert Goodman Department of
Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry,
Kings
College, London, UK
Email: r.goodman@iop.kcl.ac.uk
(2) PRISONS ARE
DAMAGING THE MENTAL
HEALTH OF INMATES AND PRISON STAFF
(Influence of environmental factors
on mental health
within prisons: focus group study)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7413/480
A study in this week's BMJ suggests that
many aspects
of prison life damage the mental health
of both prisoners
and prison staff and that a better understanding
of the
prison environment is needed if prisoners
are to be
successfully rehabilitated into society
The research team set up focus groups in
a prison in
southern England to look at how the prison
environment
influences the mental health of prisoners
and prison staff.
Prisoner and prison staff focus groups
were attended by
31 (18 men, 13 women) and 21 (15 men,
6 women)
people respectively. The prisoner focus
group included
sentenced and remand inmates as well as
rule 45
prisoners (those at risk from harm from
the general
population).
Some of the key factors influencing the
mental health of
prisoners included isolation and lack
of mental
stimulation, drug misuse, poor relations
with prison staff,
bullying and a lack of family contact.
Prison staff thought
that reduced staffing levels, a lack of
management
support, a negative work culture and worries
about their
safety all contributed to high levels
of stress.
Prisoners also identified a cycle of negative
attitudes that
exists between staff and prisoners. Prisoners
who feel
harshly treated often make the prison
officers life harder
causing more stress.
The authors conclude that factors which
cause stress in
prisons need to be fully understood so
that policy
makers can attempt to address the mental
health
problems facing both prisoners and prison
staff. The
current trend of increasing prison numbers
will
exacerbate the problems identified in
this study making
the long-term rehabilitation of prisoners
back in to
society an much more difficult task.
Contact:
Dr Jo Nurse Consultant in Public Health,
Southampton
Primary Care Trust, Oatlands House, Winchester
Road,
Southampton, Hampshire, UK
Email: jonurse66@hotmail.com
(3) BISPHOSPHONATE
DRUGS REDUCE THE RISK
OF BROKEN BONES IN BREAST CANCER
PATIENTS
(Systematic review of role of bisphosphonates
on
skeletal morbidity in metastatic
cancer)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7413/469
Bisphosphonate drugs reduce the risk of
bone
complications when used in patients whose
cancer has
spread to the bone, according to a new
study in the
BMJ.
Researchers reviewed over 30 studies examining
the
effect of bisphosphonates - a group of
drugs commonly
used to treat osteoporosis - on complications
of
secondary bone cancer. Cancers that commonly
spread
to the bone include breast cancer, prostate
cancer and
multiple myeloma.
They found that patients given bisphosphonate
drugs
were much less likely to suffer from fractures,
or need
orthopaedic surgery or radiotherapy. The
researchers
also found that patients given bisphosphonate
drugs
remained free of bone complications for
a significantly
longer period of time compared to those
who did not
receive the drug. However, patients given
bisphosphonates did not survive longer.
The authors conclude that these drugs should
be given to
patients as soon as spread of cancer to
the bone is
diagnosed. They also report that most
of the available
evidence supports the use of amino-bisphosphonates,
given intravenously.
Contacts:
Dr Joy R Ross or Dr Yolande Saunders Department
of
Palliative Medicine, Royal Marsden Hospital,
London,
UK
Email: joy.ross@talk21.com
(4) OFFICE WORKERS
WITH NECK PAIN ARE
PRESCRIBED THERAPIES THAT DO NOT WORK
(Effectiveness of dynamic muscle
training, relaxation
training, or ordinary activity for
chronic neck pain:
randomised controlled trial)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7413/475
A new study in this week's BMJ shows that
two types of
physiotherapy commonly prescribed to treat
female
office workers with neck pain do little
to alleviate their
pain.
Researchers examined the progress of 393
female office
workers with chronic neck pain. These
women were
divided into three groups who were prescribed
either
dynamic muscle therapy or relaxation therapy,
with a
third group continuing with everyday activities.
The
patient's level of neck pain was assessed
after twelve
weeks of treatment with follow-up assessments
made
after three, six and twelve months.
The results showed that the levels of neck
pain
experienced by women treated with dynamic
muscle
therapy or relaxation therapy were no
different to active
women receiving no treatment. Furthermore,
there was
no difference in the intensity of the
pain experienced by
the groups of women receiving the different
treatments in
any of the follow-up assessments.
The authors conclude that the prescription
of these
therapies to treat neck pain is not based
on clinical
evidence calling into question whether
these types of
physiotherapy should be prescribed to
treat neck pain.
Contact:
Dr Matti Viljanen Tampere Regional Institute
of
Occupational Health, Tampere, Finland
Email: matti.viljanen@ttl.fi
(5) BETTER TREATMENT
IS NEEDED FOR
CONSTIPATION
(Editorial: Constipation and its
management: options go
beyond laxatives and include behavioural
treatment as
well as new drugs)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7413/459
Doctors need to consider new therapies
to treat
constipation that go beyond the use of
laxatives says a
leading gastroenterologist in this week's
BMJ.
Constipation affects a quarter of the population
at some
time, and has a variety of different causes
including
dietary factors, disease and psychological
problems. The
treatment of constipation is often limited
to the
prescription of laxatives or in the most
serious cases,
surgery. Dr Michael Kamm believes the
treatment of
constipation needs to improve and suggests
that
behavioural treatment and new drugs that
aid bowel
movement should be considered.
Kamm explains that laxatives do not always
provide
relief from constipation and increasing
dietary fibre intake
can cause increased bloating with little
improvement in
bowel function creating a need for new
innovative
approaches to treating constipation.
Behavioural therapy aims to improve the
control patients
have over their own bodies, and when used
in
conjunction with exercises focused on
the gut, reduced
use of laxatives and psychological support
can be a very
effective treatment for constipation.
New drugs are also being developed that
focus on a
process known as peristalsis that is critical
to bowel
movements. These drugs are not yet widely
available in
Europe, but they may soon offer new hope
to those who
suffer from constipation.
The author concludes that it is time stop
dismissing
constipation as a trivial complaint, when
it has a major
impact of the quality of life of sufferers
and requires
substantial investment in healthcare resources.
Contact:
Dr Michael A Kamm Professor of Gastroenterology,
St
Marks Hospital, Harrow, UK
Email: m.kamm@imperial.ac.uk
FOR ACCREDITED JOURNALISTS
Embargoed press releases and articles are available from:
Public Affairs Division
BMA House
Tavistock Square
London WC1H 9JR
(contact: pressoffice@bma.org.uk)
and from:
the EurekAlert website, run by the American
Association for the
Advancement of Science
(http://www.eurekalert.org)