Volume 192 - Issue 9
In Other Journals
Author: Alison Williams
Med J Aust 2010; 192 (9): 540. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03623.x
Published online: 3 May 2010
Published online: 3 May 2010
Hype or hope?
Although cancer receives a great deal of attention in the media, little is known about the main messages conveyed to readers. A content analysis of over 400 recent articles about cancer in several major US mainstream publications found that while more than half discussed “aggressive” treatments, 30% reported associated adverse effects and only 13% mentioned that these treatments can fail. End-of-life issues were rarely discussed, appearing in only 2.5% of articles. The most common articles were about breast or prostate cancer. The authors concluded that media portrayal of cancer may be inappropriately optimistic as, overall, about half of all cancer patients are known to eventually die from their disease or related complications.
Arch Intern Med 2010; 170: 515-518 doi:10.1001/archintermed.2010.11
Donor survival
According to results of a study in the United States, live kidney donors appear to survive as well as non-donors — in the longer term. Among a cohort of about 80 000 live kidney donors followed for a median of 6.3 years, survival was similar to that of a matched cohort of non-donors from one year after nephrectomy. However, during the 90-day postoperative period, there was a total of 25 deaths (equivalent to a mortality rate of 3.1 per 10 000) in the donor group; notably lower than the reported surgical mortality rate of about 18 per 10 000 for laparoscopic cholecystectomy and about 260 per 10 000 for non-donor nephrectomy. Surgical mortality was higher in male donors (RR 3.0, 95% CI 1.3−6.9) and in those with hypertension (RR 27.4, 95% CI 5−149.5), indicating the importance of appropriate donor selection.
JAMA 2010; 303: 959-966 doi:10.1001/jama.2010.237
Poker face
Can people tell what you are thinking by your eye movements? Melbourne researchers have put this to the test by assessing how often they were able to accurately predict the magnitude of a random number “thought of” by 12 test subjects, before they had actually spoken it. Working on the basis of the already recognised “mental number line” — that is, that looking up and to the right is usually associated with a larger number and down and to the left with a smaller number — they were able to predict the direction and magnitude of the next number correctly about 60% of the time (P< 0.001). The study authors state that “the eyes may not only reveal what is in a person’s mind, but also illustrate how abstract thoughts are grounded in basic sensory-neural processes.”
Curr Biol 2010; 20: R264-R265
Motherhood and suicide risk
In 1897, Durkheim hypothesised that parenthood conferred a protective effect against suicide. Now, more than 100 years later, a cohort study of more than 1 million Taiwanese women has found evidence in support of this hypothesis: having more than one child appears to lower suicide risk in mothers. Further, this apparent protective effect is more evident with increasing parity. The women were followed up for at least 20 years after a first live birth between 1978 and 1987. After adjusting for age, years of schooling and marital status, the estimated hazard ratio for suicide was 0.61 among women with two live births and 0.40 among those with three or more live births. While it is difficult to assume a direct cause-and-effect relationship, the researchers proposed factors such as increased self-worth, based on the mother’s perception of being needed, and enhanced social networks as possible explanations for this observation.
CMAJ 2010 doi:10.1503/cmaj.090813
Diabetes burden
Which country bears the highest diabetes-related disease burden? It may well be China. A large study involving glucose-tolerance testing of more than 46 000 adults in China has shown that about one in 10 have diabetes, while about 15% have pre-diabetes. This equates to about 50 million men and 42 million women in China with diabetes. Estimated prevalence increased with age, reaching about 1 in 5 among those aged over 60 years. Diabetes was more prevalent in urban than rural residents (11.4% vs 8.2%), and this was thought to be related to rapid changes in lifestyle factors such as diet and physical activity. However, the more troublesome finding was that in about 6 of every 10 cases, the diabetes was undiagnosed.
N Engl J Med 362; 12: 1090-1100.