General Practitioner News and Research

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4 out of 5 people on antidepressant drugs are unaware of the side effects

New research has found that less than half of practitioners have mental health training and thousands of patients are left in the dark about their medications.

3 Oct 2019

Single course of antibiotics may boost colon cancer risk

In an extensive "data mining" analysis of British medical records, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center conclude that taking even a single course of antibiotics might boost--albeit slightly--the risk of developing colon cancer--but not rectal cancer--a decade later.

22 Aug 2019

Concussions may cause loss of sense of smell

It has been previously known that major traumatic brain injury (TBI) may cause a broad range of side effects, including loss of the sense of smell. Now, researchers reveal that it’s true even for minor concussions.

24 Jul 2019

Number of fully-immunized Australian kids hits record high

New data for the March quarter in 2019 revealed the immunization rates for all five-year-old children in the country increased to 94.78 percent from the previous record of 94.67 percent in December 2018.

7 Jul 2019

'Weekend effect' mortality rate in hospitals not a reliable indicator of care quality

The higher mortality rate for weekend hospital admissions should not be used as an indicator of quality of care due to the lack of data preceding patient admission and on the severity of their illness, a new study conducted at the University of Warwick Medical School has concluded.

6 Jun 2019

Study finds shortcomings in long-term care for heart failure patients in the UK

Management of people with heart failure in the UK has shortcomings in screening, continuity of care, and medication doses, which disproportionally impact women and older people, according to a study led by Nathalie Conrad and Kazem Rahimi of The George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford, UK, published May 21 in PLOS Medicine.

22 May 2019

Study: Many patients with schizophrenia and epilepsy die before reaching the age of fifty

Patients who suffer from schizophrenia and epilepsy are particularly vulnerable. In the study, the researchers followed more than 1,5 mio. people and classified them according to whether they were diagnosed with epilepsy, schizophrenia or the combination of epilepsy and schizophrenia on their twenty-fifth birthday.

16 May 2019

New clinical trial for patients with IBS-D offers real hope and drug free relief

A large clinical trial “RELIEVE-IBS-D” for patients with diarrhea predominant IBS included in the National Institute for Health Research portfolio has started recruitment in England.

12 Apr 2019

Polypharmacy in old age increases risk of adverse side effects

As people get older, the more likely they are to take several different medicines on a regular basis. However, this increases the risk of adverse effects, including interactions between the various active agents.

4 Apr 2019

Study finds no association between antiepileptic drug use and dementia risk

Epilepsy is a common neurological condition with a prevalence of around 2%. Many antiepileptic drugs are available to prevent epileptic seizures, allowing up to 80 percent of patients to become seizure-free.

13 Feb 2019

Multiple sclerosis therapies delay progression of disability

An international study finds multiple sclerosis treatments have long-term benefits, and that early treatment is important.

17 Jan 2019

Obesity help on the front line

The Australian National University (ANU) has developed a new program to be rolled out across the country to help GPs treat patients with obesity.

19 Dec 2018

Study shows correlation between childhood infections and increased risk of mental disorders

A new study from iPSYCH shows that the infections children contract during their childhood increase the risk of mental disorders during childhood and adolescence. This knowledge expands our understanding of the role of the immune system in the development of mental disorders.

6 Dec 2018

Study highlights need for interventions to improve statin use among older adults

In a British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology study of older adults prescribed statins, first-year nonadherence and discontinuation rates were high.

7 Nov 2018

IU researchers receive $1.55 million from NIH to improve chronic-disease management

The National Institutes of Health, under the National Library of Medicine's program on data science research, has awarded $1.55 million to an interdisciplinary team lead by Luis Rocha, a professor of informatics and the director of the NSF-NRT complex networks and systems program at the Indiana University School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering.

20 Oct 2018

Spurred by convenience, millennials often spurn the ‘family doctor’ model

Calvin Brown doesn’t have a primary care doctor — and the peripatetic 23-year-old doesn’t want one.

9 Oct 2018

Women with epilepsy have five times greater risk of dying during pregnancy

The risk of dying during pregnancy is negligible for the average Danish woman, but if the woman in question has epilepsy, the probability must be multiplied by five. This is the central result presented in a comprehensive epidemiological study that researchers from Health, Aarhus University, are behind.

3 Oct 2018

Benefit and harm of new screening program for depression still remain unclear

Almost 12% of all adults in Germany are diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care investigated whether participants in a screening programme could have advantages or disadvantages if their general practitioner, for example, offers regular tests based on a questionnaire that can reveal signs of depression.

25 Sep 2018

Grieving patients treated with talk therapy have lower risk of suicide and psychiatric illness

In a comprehensive study, researchers from Aarhus University show that grieving patients who receive what is known as talk therapy at the general practitioner shortly after a relative's death, have a lower risk of suicide and psychiatric illness than others.

20 Sep 2018

Research: Dying at home could be beneficial for terminally ill cancer patients and their relatives

Dying at home could be beneficial for terminally ill cancer patients and their relatives, according to research published in the journal BMC Medicine.

20 Jul 2018