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Obesity could be fuelling asthma epidemic, dementia sufferers feel uncared for and Cameron tackles antibiotics resistance

The Guardian today carries a story that excess weight and obesity in children may be fuelling the asthma epidemic facing many countries

A joint study from Australian and UK researchers has found, that the risk of developing the condition increases by 55% for every extra unit of body mass index (BMI).

The study looked at almost 5,000 children who developed asthma by the age of seven and a half.

Lead author of the study and allergy expert Dr Raquel Granell said: ‘Higher BMI in mid-childhood could help explain some of the increase in asthma risk toward the end of the 20th century.’

But she added more needed to be done to establish a causal link between BMI and asthma.

The Telegraph reports today that one in five dementia patients were not given any guidance and support following a diagnosis.

A poll by the Alzheimer’s Society of 400 people affected by the condition found that 90% of people felt dissatisfied by the amount of support and information provided.

The charity has launched a new campaign called Right to Know, which calls for all people who have received a diagnosis to have access to information, support and available treatments.

Meanwhile, the BBC reports that Prime Minister David Cameron has urged health bodies across the world to to tackle the growing threat of resistance to antibiotics.

He said the world was ‘in danger of going back to the dark ages of medicine’ if governments and drug firms failed to act.

The BBC says that infections are increasingly resistant to antibiotics but no new classes of anti-microbial drugs have been made available for more than 25 years.

 

 


          

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