Press releases Saturday 1 May 2004

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(1) Study reveals serious north-south health gap in modern Britain

(2) Large families and animals keep allergies at bay

(3) Medical research suffers under data protection law

(4) Microwave ovens should warn of exploding eggs

(1) Study reveals serious north-south health gap in modern Britain

(Is there a north-south divide in social class inequalities in health in Great Britain? Cross sectional study using data from the 2001 census)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/328/7447/1043

21st century Britain is experiencing a serious north-south health divide between social classes, warn researchers in this week's BMJ.

Using data from the 2001 UK census, a team at the University of Liverpool explored social class inequalities in health among adults aged between 25 and 64.

Census respondents were asked to rate their general health in the previous 12 months. Rates of poor heath were calculated according to sex, social class, and region.

Large geographic inequalities in health existed across the country, with rates of poor health generally increasing from class 1 (higher managerial and professional occupations) to class 7 (routine occupations). Women generally had poorer self rated health than men in the same social class.

Wales and the North East and North West regions of England fared particularly badly, with high rates of poor health for all seven social classes.

In contrast, people in all social classes in the South East and the East, and most classes in the South West, had lower rates of poor health than the Great Britain average for their class.

The widest health gaps between social classes, however, were in Scotland and London. This adds another dimension to the policy debate on resource allocation and targets to tackle the health divide, say the authors.

Contact:

Tim Doran, Clinical Lecturer in Public Health Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Liverpool, UK
Email: timdoran@liverpool.ac.uk

(2) Large families and animals keep allergies at bay

(Cohort study of sibling effect, infectious diseases, and risk of atopic dermatitis during first 18 months of life)
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/bmj.38069.512245.FE

Having siblings, keeping a pet, or living on a farm helps protect infants against the development of atopic (allergic) diseases, but early infections increase the risk, according to new research from Denmark. This study will be available on bmj.com on Friday 30 April 2004.

Researchers conducted four separate interviews with over 24,000 pregnant women (twice during their pregnancy and again when their child was 6 and 18 months old).

Information on atopic dermatitis and infections before 6 months of age were recorded. Data on factors associated with exposure to microbes, such as number of siblings, pet keeping, living on a farm, and attending day care, were also collected.

The risk of atopic dermatitis increased with each infectious disease before 6 months of age. This contrasts with the common belief that infectious diseases early in life may protect against the development of allergic diseases.

However, the risk of atopic dermatitis decreased with each additional exposure to three or more siblings, day care, pet ownership, and farm residence. This protective effect remained after adjusting for number of infectious diseases, suggesting that it is established independently and very early in life, say the authors.

These findings support the importance of microbial exposure for preventing atopic dermatitis, but challenge the hypothesis that infectious diseases in infancy protect against its development, they conclude.

Contact:

Christine Stabell Benn, Research Fellow, Department of Epidemiology Research, Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
Email: cb@ssi.dk

(3) Medical research suffers under data protection law

(Editorial: Data protection, informed consent, and research)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/328/7447/1029

Deaths will occur because of the effects of data protection law on British medical research, argue experts in this week's BMJ.

Julian Peto and colleagues warn that the pointless obstacles that medical researchers face when they seek access to medical records are now causing serious damage.

They describe how the law hinders their work on cancer and suggest that the Data Protection Act and the Human Tissue Bill should be amended to allow access to data for non-commercial medical research without informed consent.

The Data Protection Act was intended to accommodate medical research. In practice, however, custodians of medical records are increasingly fearful of litigation, and the current government seems unlikely to grant the explicit exemption for non-commercial research that would resolve their fears, say the authors.

The Human Tissue Bill also threatens to hamper medical research unless crucial sections are clarified.

Lord Falconer has denied that the Data Protection Act prevents data from being passed to medical researchers. That those who enact and interpret radical social legislation should be so ignorant of its actual effects is alarming, they write.

Medical researchers have been allowed confidential access to medical records throughout the ages. Many lives and a great deal of public money would be saved if a high court judge concluded that the novel demand for informed consent has no basis either in law or in established common practice, they conclude.

Contact:

Julian Peto, Cancer Research UK Chair of Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Email: julian.peto@lshtm.ac.uk

(4) Microwave ovens should warn of exploding eggs

(Letter: Penetrating ocular trauma from an exploding microwaved egg)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/328/7447/1075-a

Microwave ovens should display clear warnings about exploding eggs, suggest researchers in this week's BMJ.

They report a case of a 9 year old girl who sustained a serious eye injury from an exploding microwaved egg.

The girl reheated a previously boiled egg (with an intact shell) using a domestic microwave oven at full power for about 40 seconds. Around 30 seconds later, as she was carrying it to the dining area, the egg exploded with part of it hitting her right eye and face.

She sustained a full thickness corneal perforation and rupture of the lens capsule, reducing her vision to being able to see only hand movements. Three months after treatment, her vision recovered.

In their instruction manuals, manufacturers of microwave ovens warn against heating eggs with an intact shell and recommend multiple piercing before cooking or heating eggs, even those already boiled, write the authors.

In view of the potential seriousness of injury from exploding microwaved eggs, such warnings should be made more obvious, possibly being displayed on the microwave oven itself, they conclude.

Contact:

Saurabh Goyal, Specialist Registrar in Ophthalmology, Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, Kent, UK
Email: sgoyal@doctors.org.uk

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