Health In The News [ 01/04/24 ]

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Here’s a look at some stories hitting the headlines recently, with health news including increasing brain sizes, NHS discontent, and the sad death of the man in the iron lung.

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Brain Size Is Increasing – Less Dementia Risk For Future Generations?

The size of the human brain appears to be very gradually increasing over time, and with that may come a reduced risk of dementia for the next generations.

Researchers at UC Davis Health used MRIs to study the brains thousands of Americans. With data going back 75 years as part of a “community-based study” that started in 1948, they were able to compare different measures. One of those was brain volume, which evidenced small increases each decade. 

Between those born in the 1930s and those born in the 1970s, inter cranial volume had increased appropriately 6.6%. Meanwhile, cortical surface area had increased nearly 15% and other structures, like grey matter and the hippocampus, had also shown increases. Unfortunately, some studies are suggesting that IQ has dropped in the current “Gen Z” generation, a trend perhaps explained largely by societal and technological changes.

It’s thought that the incidence of dementia and Alzheimers may be decreasing and that future generations may be less at risk with the increase in brain size and health. 

You can read more about the study into brain size increases here.

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Satisfaction With The NHS Hits All Time Low

This may not come as a surprise to many living in the UK, but there’s increasing discontent about the National Health Service, hitting an all time low since survey records began in 1983. The British Social Attitudes Survey has found general public satisfaction has dropped to only 24%, meaning less than 1 in 4 people claimed to be happy with the NHS in 2023. This is a further 29 percentage points decrease since 2020.

The health service runs on around £160 billion funding a year but has been plagued with increasingly lengthy wait lists, GP appointment difficulties and ongoing strikes by medical professionals, to name but a few problems that are negatively affecting patients. 

Read more about the British Social Attitudes NHS Survey here.

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A Worrying Rise In Pancreatic Cancer Cases

While pancreatic cancer is still relatively rare, its incidence has seen marked increases. In the last 35 years, overall rates of pancreatic cancer have seen a 17% increase, with a 5 year survival rate of only 5%. But in women, the rate seems to have spiked without any substantiated explanation. In women under 25 in the UK, rates have increased by nearly 200% since the 1990s. 

While it was the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US prior to 2020, it’s now the third leading cause. In the UK, around 8,800 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer every year, with one person dying of the condition every hour. While survival rates for most other cancers have risen significantly over the years thanks scientific and technological advancements, pancreatic cancer seems to have been left behind. It’s thought that pancreatic cancer now has the worst survival outcome compared to the other 21 most common cancers.

Late diagnosis and low funding into research have not helped survival rates. Meanwhile, the modern diet, obesity and diabetes are thought to be some risk factors fuelling the increase, but they don’t explain the 70% of pancreatic cancer diagnoses that are not preventable. 

You can read more about rising pancreatic cancer cases here.

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BMA Suggests NHS GPs May Take Industrial Action

The British Medical Association (BMA) has revealed how their members have “overwhelmingly” voted to reject recent changes to their contracts. 99.2% of over 19,000 GP and GP registrar respondents voted that they wouldn’t accept the deal proposed by the government. A government source has indicated that no further negotiations are going to be held, meaning the new NHS contract is being implemented regardless of the dissatisfaction of BMA members.

It’s thought that industrial action could be taken if this discontent and failure to comply to the new government charges continues. GPs choosing to go on strike later in the year would result in even greater difficulty for patients to access appointments and some GP practices may be forced into financial difficulty.

Read more about the potential for GP strikes here.

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The “Man In The Iron Lung” Passes Away

Paul Alexander – famously known as the “man in the iron lung” – has passed away. He spent over 7 decades mostly inside an Iron Lung, a type of negative pressure ventilaor, the longest any person has been reliant on one. 

In 1952, at only 6 years old, Paul contracted Polio. While he survived this severe infection, Paul was left quadriplegic and unable to breathe following a tracheotomy. It was the iron lung he was soon encased in that kept him alive and helped him to breathe. 

Paul later learned a “frog breathing” technique so that he could spend some time out of the iron tube, allowing him to achieve a college degree, work towards Law School and become a lawyer, determined to live his life as much as he could. In 2023, he was memorialised in the Guinness World Records for being the person who’d lived the longest inside an iron lung. Paul passed away on March 11th 2024 age 78.

Read more about Paul Alexander’s life inside and outside the Iron Lung here.

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NHS Taskforce To Investigate Alarming ADHD Diagnosis Increases

The NHS will be creating a new taskforce as a result of the alarming rise in the diagnosis of Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Rather than an increase in the disorder itself, there are concerns over incorrect diagnosis as a result of social factors, greater awareness and inadequate assessments.

Among the culprits suspected of fuelling the rise are the likes of celebrities like Sheridan Smith and Katie Price, self-diagnosis and social media. Experts are also concerned that private clinics are over-diagnosing ADHD and that powerful drugs are being over-prescribed as a result. Many patients are feeling pushed towards private clinics due to lengthy NHS wait lists.

Despite the rise in adults and children receiving an ADHD diagnosis, patients can actually be waiting up to a decade for that diagnosis and help their symptoms. A multi-disciplinary process is required for an adequate assessment to rule out other issues that could be going on, not just ADHD.

Around 230,000 patients are on medication for ADHD, twice the amount who were medicated 6 years ago. There has been a five-fold increase in treatment since 2015 in those aged between 25 and 39. 

Initial reviews have unveiled problems around service access being a “postcode lottery” in the UK, capacity issues and medication shortages. Some are concerned that the Taskforce may instead lead to a greater increase of patients “coming forward for a diagnosis”, which will put greater pressure on services. 

Consultant Psychiatric Professor Sir Simon Wessely has stated  : “‘It’s unlikely that a change on that scale is simply due to better recognition or help-seeking, and it suggests that there’s a degree of diagnostic creep going on, or re-evaluation of feelings, symptoms, emotions.”

Read more about the new NHS ADHD Taskforce here.

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FDA Approval For Unique Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Drug

The FDA has given approval to a first of its kind, potentially life-saving drug for a condition called pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Given as an injection, this drug could help the estimated 500 to 1000 Americans affected by PAH each year.

Merck is the manufacturer of “Winrevair”, a biological drug designed to reduce the overproduction of proteins that grow and thicken blood vessels. With narrowing vessels, the heart has to work harder to get blood to the lungs and the extra effort can reduce heart function, creating a dangerous cycle for those already living with heart failure.

There’s no cure for PAH and current treatment is about managing and buying time. It’s hoped that Winrevair may help symptoms and prevent further thickening of blood vessels. Further research and clinical trial data in humans is required, but the FDA has acted quickly as PAH is a “ticking time bomb” for patients with the life-limiting disease.

You can read more about PAH and Winrevair here.

Have you seen any interesting health news hitting the headlines recently?

Caz  ♥

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