The BMJ

In China, the burden of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, cancers, respiratory diseases, and diabetes has greatly increased in recent decades, driven mostly by population ageing and poor control of risk factors such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets, and air pollution. Non-communicable diseases account for 91% of deaths in China and present an increasing burden on national healthcare expenditure. China urgently needs innovative and decisive strategies to tackle these chronic diseases. In this new BMJ Collection, experts from China shed light on the current state and challenges of non-communicable chronic disease prevention and control and discuss future strategies for tackling the problem. ➡ Read the collection in full: https://lnkd.in/eBRQF6bk

🍃 This week we published our fourth annual issue of The BMJ dedicated to the climate emergency. Through a series of articles, we explore how health professionals must harness the power of knowledge to strengthen climate leadership and drive change. 📚 The issue includes articles on the threats of mis and dis information around the climate emergency, redefining medical ethics for the planet, and a package of articles on how the growing genre of climate fiction represents a cultural response to the climate crisis. 🌧️ We also learn how increasing rainfall is associated with adverse health outcomes, the many negative health effects of working in extreme heat and we reaffirm The BMJ’s climate commitments. ➡️ 🔗 Click here to read the issue in full: https://lnkd.in/eP6eyYPp Kamran Abbasi Sophie Cook Juliet Dobson BMJ Elisabeth Mahase Mun-Keat Looi

🍃 This week we published our fourth annual issue of The BMJ dedicated to the climate emergency. Through a series of articles, we explore how health professionals must harness the power of knowledge to strengthen climate leadership and drive change. 📚 The issue includes articles on the threats of mis and dis information around the climate emergency, redefining medical ethics for the planet, and a package of articles on how the growing genre of climate fiction represents a cultural response to the climate crisis. 🌧️ We also learn how increasing rainfall is associated with adverse health outcomes, the many negative health effects of working in extreme heat and we reaffirm The BMJ’s climate commitments. ➡️ 🔗 Click here to read the issue in full: https://lnkd.in/eP6eyYPp Kamran Abbasi Sophie Cook Juliet Dobson BMJ Elisabeth Mahase Mun-Keat Looi

New @BMJ Collection with The Health Foundation: Research Priorities for Future Shocks aims to explore post-covid priorities for the research community to help the UK better prepare for future health shocks and mitigate their impact. Such shocks are not limited to respiratory infection but may also relate, for example, to conflict, climate change, and natural disaster. The Collection has two main themes: research priorities to develop UK resilience to health shocks in the future, and research priorities to mitigate the longer-term impact from covid-19. The Collection considers disparate research themes, including, non-pharmaceutical interventions, antimicrobial resistance, multidisciplinary working, non-communicable disease, child mental health, social care, foresight approaches, workforce, public trust, and equity.   The Collection includes articles by Dr Ebere Okereke Jennifer Nuzzo Richard Hurley Christina Pagel Azeem Majeed Amitava Banerjee Heidi Larson Read and share the collection https://lnkd.in/epUtH7kN

On the cover this week ➡️ Preventable deaths: is the reporting system saving lives? Also in this week's issue: -- Why PAs are retraining to be doctors -- GP video consultations for depression -- Call to reform pay-for-performance -- Asthma: redefining patients' inhaler use 🔗 Click on the link to read this week's issue https://lnkd.in/eDC_vpqR

NEW articles have been added to The BMJ’s spotlight on health in Latin America. Please read and share! Luke Taylor reports in The BMJ on the emergence of Oropouche virus and why more vigilance is needed as cases spread in #LatinAmerica and beyond, partly as a result of the warming climate. In BMJ Global Health, new research sheds light on the unique environment and challenges within the Peruvian Amazon. Claudia Vidal-Cuellar and colleagues examine how Indigenous and official health systems in the Peruvian Amazon are adapting to #climatechange and show the ways that Indigenous knowledge and responses implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic protected health. Their work showcases how the participation of Indigenous communities in health systems is a pathway to increase resilience to emergent hazards like climate change. And Lisa Woodson & colleagues show the enduring impact of #covid19 on the education and reproductive health of adolescent indigenous girls in the Peruvian Amazon basin, reducing contraceptive use and increasing school abandonment, early unions, and adolescent pregnancy. Why is Latin America so vital? The vibrancy and volatility of the region are a microcosm of the public health issues that dominate the globe today. From epidemics to obesity, the presence of food insecurity and poverty alongside extreme wealth, the shortage of health workers amid political and economic turmoil, and the increasing pressures of climate and environmental change - all these threats exacerbate efforts to advance health and health equity in the region and beyond. Latin America is also strengthening its global leadership in health: it is a source of growing medical and scientific expertise, drawing on the region’s rich cultures, political histories, and models of social medicine. During the covid-19 crisis, while experiencing some of the world’s worst impacts, Latin American countries developed local capacities, health cooperation, and vaccination policy that will help confront future and endemic health challenges. And the struggle to provide equitable and universal health coverage and rights across growing economic and political divides offers models and solutions that countries the world over could learn from. 2024 is a landmark year for Brazil, which holds the annual G20 presidency, and for the region – and an opportunity to spotlight health being at the heart of building a just world and a sustainable planet. To advance these aims, The BMJ has collected some of our recent articles in key areas, including the politics and decolonisation of health, local innovations and global lessons, and the fight for gender equality and reproductive rights in Latin America. https://lnkd.in/gd2PKjPj #LatinAmerica #Brazil #Brasil #Peru #Amazonbasin #Indigenoushealth #healthsystems #SRHR #womenshealth #education

Asthma is one of the most common non-communicable diseases and carries a substantial morbidity and mortality burden worldwide. Multiple factors may contribute to suboptimal asthma control, including incorrect diagnosis, comorbidities such as allergic rhinitis and obesity, smoking, and air pollution. However, asthma may also be controlled inadequately because of suboptimal inhaled therapy—inadequate use of preventer therapy, overuse of reliever therapy, and poor inhaler technique. This "10-minute consultation" article focuses on optimising inhaled therapy to support clinicians to empower patients to achieve better control of their asthma. ➡ Read the article at this link: https://lnkd.in/eD9hdUzb

Drug interventions for the acute management of migraine episodes in adults Some triptans are a more effective treatment for acute migraines than newer, more expensive drugs, finds an analysis of the latest evidence published by The BMJ. The research found that eletriptan, rizatriptan, sumatriptan, and zolmitriptan were better at relieving migraine pain than the recently marketed and more expensive drugs lasmiditan, rimegepant, and ubrogepant, which were comparable to paracetamol and most anti-inflammatory painkillers. ➡ Read the full research paper: https://lnkd.in/dijfp89v

👀 NEW research: Laughter may be as effective as drop for dry eyes A new study from China, published in The BMJ, shows that laughter exercises may be as effective as eye drops in relieving dry eye disease symptoms. The condition affects nearly 360 million people globally, and therefore this treatment option could offer a new, natural approach to managing the symptoms which include uncomfortable, red, and irritated eyes. The research found that laughter exercise was non-inferior to 0.1% sodium hyaluronic acid in relieving subjective symptoms in patients with dry eye disease with limited corneal staining over eight weeks intervention. ➡ READ the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/dgDqyZnK

Women experience varied levels of pain during gynaecological procedures. More research is needed if we want to reduce the risk of severe pain and improve understanding among medical professionals, writes Stephanie O’Donohue. ➡️ Read her Opinion piece online now https://lnkd.in/ekdbRBWB [📷 Image description: woman at a doctor's appointment]