03/06/2009 by admin.

 Blood-pressure-lowering drugs should be offered to everyone, regardless of their blood pressure level, as a safeguard against coronary heart disease and stroke, researchers who conducted a meta-analysis of 147 randomized trials (comprising 958,000 people) conclude in the May 19 issue of BMJ.

“Guidelines on the use of blood-pressure-lowering drugs can be simplified so that drugs are offered to people with all levels of blood pressure,” write Drs Malcolm R Law and Nicholas Wald (Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, UK). “Our results indicate the importance of lowering blood pressure in everyone over a certain age, rather than measuring it in everyone and treating it in some.”

“Whatever your blood pressure, you benefit from lowering it further,” Law told heartwire . “Everyone benefits from taking blood-pressure-lowering drugs. There is no one who does not benefit because their blood pressure is so-called normal.”

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01/06/2009 by admin.

The June 2009 issue of Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB) contains an editorial and three articles. The editorial discusses the new NICE document about end-of life drugs and its implications, such as the possible reduction in financial resources to elsewhere. An accompanying podcast via our website www.dtb.bmj.com discusses this further. The issue also includes an article on the management of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), a review of the new gamma-interferon tests for tuberculosis, and the fourth in a series of Understanding Statistical Terms articles, this one covering terms related to diagnostic tests. A podcast outlining what is in the June issue is also available via our website.

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01/06/2009 by admin.

MORE than 150 girls in Scotland have suffered adverse reactions after receiving the cervical cancer vaccine introduced last autumn, The Scotsman can reveal.

Campaigners are calling for the vaccination programme to be suspended, claiming there are unanswered questions about the long-term effectiveness and safety of Cervarix. They are concerned that official information refers to mild side-effects, when some girls have reported serious reactions to the jab.

The families of six girls in England are suing GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the maker of Cervarix, after the girls suffered severe reactions resulting in partial paralysis, seizures and chronic fatigue. The Scotsman has learned two more have contacted the same solicitor after suffering severe painful swelling of joints.

The Scottish Government and GSK insist the number of adverse reactions experienced is in line with any mass vaccination programme. However, an investigation by The Scotsman has also discovered the guidance sent out on the £64 million vaccination programme was changed in several respects before being distributed to parents – after the intervention of a drug company.

http://www.scotsman.com/latestnews/Fears-over-reactions-to-cervical.5319871.jp

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