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British Heart Foundation Urges People To Have Regular Heart Health Checks
In response to a study published online in the BMJ, comparing the performance of two cardiovascular risk assessment tools, British Heart Foundation (BHF) Medical Director, Professor Peter Weissberg, said:

Antidepressant Ineffective Against Autism Spectrum Disorder Children's Obsessive Behavior
A new multi-center study, conducted at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in collaboration with five other centers throughout the country, tested the commonly prescribed antidepressant citalopram and found that it was no more effective than placebo in altering obsessive features of the condition - the spinning, rocking and repetitive behavior.
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The Detection Of Metabolic Changes Several Years Prior To The Diagnosis Of Diabetes Could Help Screening And Prevention (WHITEHALL II Study)
The results of the WHITEHALL II study are published in an article Online First and in a future edition of The Lancet. The findings are presented at the same time at the American Association of Diabetes meeting in New Orleans, USA. The study was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, as well as other organisations. They indicate that insulin sensitivity and blood glucose trends are altered a few years before the start of type 2 diabetes. Onset could be considerably postponed if people could identify the early stages of disease progress.
Nutrition

New Survey Of GPs Reveals Support For Continued Focus On Cholesterol-lowering In QOF1, UK

The results of a new survey of 400 UK healthcare professionals, conducted by TNS Healthcare UK and sponsored by Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited and Schering-Plough Limited, reveal that the majority of GPs surveyed (82% of the 100 GPs) believe that the cholesterol indicator (CHD 08) should remain a priority area in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF).1 They also believe that it would be useful for the QOF to reflect National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines, with 67% of GPs supporting specific lower lipid targets for type 2 diabetes and 65% for secondary prevention.1 These results follow recent QOF performance data (2007/8 results) which showed that 98.9% of points were gained for the cholesterol indicator CHD 08 (% of CHD patients with ò‰¤5mmol/L total cholesterol2).3 However, in order to gain full points, only 70% of patients in a practice are required to reach the indicator.2 According to QOF figures, 82.5% of patients reached indicator CHD 08.3 The 17.5% of patients who did not reach the indicator are in addition to those patients who were excluded from the calculations from the start due to exception reporting (a mean of 8.96% of patients in England for CHD 084).5 Dr Stewart Findlay, Treasurer of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society and GP in Bishop Auckland, County Durham commented, "While performance against the current CHD 08 indicator is high, it is important to look behind the top line figure. We are still failing approximately a quarter of our patients against the current standard and many more if we look to achieve the lower levels suggested by NICE. Standards can still be raised in cholesterol management and incentives should be retained and strengthened within QOF to ensure that this happens." Treating patients to lower cholesterol levels recommended by NICE The survey also revealed a wide gap between what the GPs consider best practice lipid management and how they say they manage patients on a day-to-day basis.1 In an "ideal world", 81% of GPs believe that best practice lipid management for type 2 diabetes is treatment to Support from other healthcare professionals for lower lipid targets in QOF The support for specific lower lipid targets in QOF was even higher across other types of healthcare professionals surveyed (which included nurses, cardiologists and diabetologists), with 84% of cardiologists and 89% of diabetologists believing there should be lower lipid indicators for type 2 diabetes.1 Furthermore 86% of cardiologists and 92% of diabetologists agree that there should be lower lipid indicators for secondary prevention.1 Among the practice nurses questioned, 91% and 82% believe there should be lower lipid indicators for type 2 diabetes and secondary prevention, respectively.1 Merck Sharp & Dohme and Schering-Plough


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