From https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/30/modern-medicine-major-threat-public-healt
Title : Why modern medicine is a major threat to public health (Aug 2018)
By Aseem Malhotra (NHS consultant cardiologist and visiting professor of evidence-based medicine, at the Bahiana School of Medicine)
... Modern medicine, through over prescription, represents a major threat to public health. Peter Gøtzsche, co–founder of the reputed Cochrane Collaboration, estimates that prescribed medication is the third most common cause of death globally after heart disease and cancer.
In the UK, use of prescription drugs is at an all-time high, with almost half of adults on at least one drug and a quarter on at least 3 – an increase of 47% in the past decade. It’s instructive to note that life expectancy in the UK has stalled since 2010, ...
The greatest stress on the NHS (National Health Service) comes from managing almost entirely preventable chronic conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes alone (demonstrated to be reversible in up to 60% of patients) takes up approximately 10% of the NHS budget. A disturbing report from the British Heart Foundation suggests that heart attacks and strokes are set to “surge” in England over the next 20 years as the prevalence of diabetes continues to increase.
Yet rather than address the root cause of these conditions through lifestyle changes, we prioritise drugs that give – at best – only a marginal chance of long-term benefit for individuals, most of whom will derive no health outcome improvement. The reality is that lifestyle changes not only reduce the risk of future disease, their positive effects on quality of life happen within days to weeks. However, those patients unlucky enough to suffer side effects from prescribed medicines may find their quality of life will deteriorate in order to enjoy small longer term benefits from the medication.
Of course patients may need to use both, but what’s important is that information is presented in a transparent way to encourage shared decision making. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges’ Choosing Wisely campaign encourages patients to ask their doctor whether they really need a medication, test or procedure ...
Title : Why modern medicine is a major threat to public health (Aug 2018)
By Aseem Malhotra (NHS consultant cardiologist and visiting professor of evidence-based medicine, at the Bahiana School of Medicine)
... Modern medicine, through over prescription, represents a major threat to public health. Peter Gøtzsche, co–founder of the reputed Cochrane Collaboration, estimates that prescribed medication is the third most common cause of death globally after heart disease and cancer.
In the UK, use of prescription drugs is at an all-time high, with almost half of adults on at least one drug and a quarter on at least 3 – an increase of 47% in the past decade. It’s instructive to note that life expectancy in the UK has stalled since 2010, ...
The greatest stress on the NHS (National Health Service) comes from managing almost entirely preventable chronic conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes alone (demonstrated to be reversible in up to 60% of patients) takes up approximately 10% of the NHS budget. A disturbing report from the British Heart Foundation suggests that heart attacks and strokes are set to “surge” in England over the next 20 years as the prevalence of diabetes continues to increase.
Yet rather than address the root cause of these conditions through lifestyle changes, we prioritise drugs that give – at best – only a marginal chance of long-term benefit for individuals, most of whom will derive no health outcome improvement. The reality is that lifestyle changes not only reduce the risk of future disease, their positive effects on quality of life happen within days to weeks. However, those patients unlucky enough to suffer side effects from prescribed medicines may find their quality of life will deteriorate in order to enjoy small longer term benefits from the medication.
Of course patients may need to use both, but what’s important is that information is presented in a transparent way to encourage shared decision making. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges’ Choosing Wisely campaign encourages patients to ask their doctor whether they really need a medication, test or procedure ...
