Medical Bulletin 02/December/2023

Here are the top medical news of the day:

High-doses of Covid medicines not effective in India than Europe

According to a new study published in The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia journal higher doses of the COVID-19 drug, dexamethasone, may have less beneficial effects for patients in India as compared with those in Europe,

The researchers in the study evaluated how strong dose of dexamethasone worked for COVID-19 patients. It considered factors like patient differences and health systems.

Their team, including researchers from Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, Denmark found that bigger dose of dexamethasone (12 mg) did not seem to be as good as the usual dose (6 mg) for COVID-19 patients in India.

Reference: The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia

6 hours or more/day of sedentary leisure time to double the risk of fibroids

Sedentary behaviour is associated with tumours that rely on the female hormone oestrogen, such as endometrial, ovarian, and breast cancers; uterine fibroids are also fuelled by oestrogen. Uterine fibroids are the most common benign tumours in women of childbearing age, varying in prevalence from 4.5% to 69%, say the researchers.

Clocking up 6 or more hours of sedentary leisure time every day may double a woman’s risk of uterine fibroids before she’s gone through the menopause, suggests research published in the open access journal BMJ Open.

Reference: Association between leisure sedentary behaviour and uterine fibroids in non menopausal women: a population based study; BMJ Open, DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-073592

Faster walking speed of 4 km+/hour linked to significantly lower type 2 diabetes risk

Walking at a speed of 4 or more km an hour is linked to a significantly lower risk of type 2 diabetes, suggests a pooled data analysis of the available evidence, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

And the faster the speed above 4 km/hour, the lower the risk seems to be, with every 1 km increase in speed associated with a 9% reduction in risk, the findings suggest.

While regularly nipping out for a stroll is associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, it’s not clear what the optimal speed might be to ward off the disease, say the researchers.

Reference: Walking speed and the risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis; British Journal of Sports Medicine; DOI:10.1136/bjsports-2023-107336