Health Briefing

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Web addiction changes brain

ADDICTION TO the internet may change the brain in a similar way to drugs or alcohol, a study has found.

A group of Chinese researchers scanned the brains of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21. Half of the respondents were classed as having internet addiction disorder (IAD). In MRI scans of people with web addiction, there was evidence of disruption to connections in nerves linked to brain areas responsible for emotions, decision making and self-control.

Reilly felt 'abandoned' by system over son's autism

MINISTER for Health Dr James Reilly said he and his family felt “abandoned” by the medical profession when his son was first diagnosed with autism in the 1990s.

Dr Reilly recalled how he spent a year convincing an inspector in the Department of Education that there was such a thing as autism.

He told an autism conference in Galway last week that his family’s “secret weapon” was his wife Dorothy “who wouldn’t take no for an answer”.

Dr Reilly’s son, also called James, is now in his 20s and has graduated from TCD with a degree in genetics.

Speaking at the international conference on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) organised by NUI Galway, he said it took “relentless determination” to ensure that his son got the proper treatment at the time, but attitudes and services to children with ASD today is a “quantum leap” from what it was back then.

“And that quantum leap owes an immeasurable amount to people like my wife – to parents who refused to accept what was sometimes presented as inevitable,” he added.

Dr Reilly announced at the conference that €3 million would be allocated over the next three years for autism services.

It will be focused on addressing waiting times for specialist therapy services for children who have been diagnosed with autism and on developing early intervention teams.

He also said additional funding would be allocated to address existing waiting lists to ensure that children with autism receive the supports they require to achieve their full potential.

Blood-thinning drug linked to heart attack risk

A BLOOD-THINNING drug prescribed in Ireland for over three years has been associated with an increased risk of heart attack, a new study has found.

Pradaxa was authorised for the prevention of clotting in hip and knee replacement patients here in 2008. In August, the Irish Medicines Board also cleared it for use in some patients with atrial fibrillation or an irregular heartbeat, a condition that affects 1 per cent of the population and increases the risk of stroke by a factor of five. Pradaxa is claimed to be safer and more effective for many patients with atrial fibrillation than the widely used warfarin.

According to research at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic however, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine,pradaxa increases the risk of a heart attack and a condition known as acute coronary syndrome by 33 per cent. The study of 30,000 patients compared those on pradaxa with those on another blood-thinner like warfarin or a placebo.

The researchers however say that the actual increase in the number of heart attacks and acute coronary syndrome events was very small and is outweighed by the drug’s ability to reduce the number of strokes. In a clinical trial of more than 18,000 people, pradaxa 150mg capsules reduced the risk of stroke 35 per cent more than warfarin.

Last year, manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim warned of the need to test renal function before prescribing pradaxa after reports of fatal bleeding in Japan. The drug caused controversy here last year when some patients were switched back to warfarin because of confusion over HSE on funding.