Tuesday 28 June 2011

Raising repetition to an art form in the media


eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die(t)
anon


Going into the break at the end of last week these were some of the headlines displaying online on the subject of medication and the older person:

Fatal cocktail of common drugs putting elderly at risk
Telegraph - Jun 24, 2011
Which drugs pose a risk?
Telegraph – Jun 24, 2011
Q&A: Danger of mixing drugs
BBC News – Jun 24, 2011
Study looks at medication risk for elderly
NHS Choices - ‎Jun 24, 2011
GPs warned of fatal risk to elderly patients from common drug ...
Pulse – 24 June 2011
Well known OTC Drugs could put elderly at increased risk for dementia and even ...
Health Aim - ‎Jun 25, 2011
Common Drugs Linked to Cognitive Impairment and Possibly to Increased Risk of Death, Study Suggests
Science Daily - June 25, 2011

Fox et al have obviously sent out a rather sexy media release from their academic eyrie to coincide with publication in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and, this has caught the eye of a number of journalists.

Now before you rush to the bathroom for a precautionary check of the medicine cabinet, take some time to notice one small fact. This 'news' isn't actually new.

Data on the subject was first collected in the late 1990s and the knowledge (that some drugs may produce cognitive impairment, balance problems and other health issues in older people) has been available as news items online since at least September 2000 when the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine published the results of the Mitzer & Burns study.
In April 2008 it was again reported online after Tsao and Heilman released their findings.

In 2009 The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association also published the results of yet another study on the subject by Richardson, Fox et al. Yes, that's the same Chris Fox being repeatedly mentioned over the last few days.

While the subject is a serious one deserving of careful consideration, I'm becoming rather jaded with all these public warning from the medical profession. It seems it is bad for our health to be too fat or too thin and we must avoid or limit our consumption of nicotine, fats, salt, sugars, alcohol and now even the humble over-the-counter anti-histamine product is on the suspect list.

Life has been turned into one long obstacle course by ardent medicos eager for a little media mention and my grey hairs find me in sneaking sympathy with the salt 'n' pepper-maned
Oliver Pritchett writing two days before this not-so-new story 'broke' this month.


The Fox et al study which is currently causing some journalists to hyperventilate can be found as a PDF file here - Anticholinergic Medication Use and Cognitive Impairment in the Older Population: The Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study

No comments: