A round-up of health news in brief
Strokes cause changes in relationships
Suffering a stroke can lead to significant changes in how couples relate to each other on both a physical and emotional level, according to new University of Ulster research.
Dr Assumpta Ryan and Hilary Thompson published findings from a study involving 16 married stroke survivors – nine males and seven females – aged between 33 and 78.
The study found that sexual relationships were significantly affected after a stroke, gender roles became blurred and feelings like anger and frustration were confounded by a lack of independence and ongoing fatigue.
“All the participants perceived a stroke as a life-changing event. They faced a continuous daily struggle to achieve some sense of normality and that required huge amounts of physical and mental effort,” said Dr Ryan.
Drink proposals welcomed
The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine has welcomed the proposed reductions to the drink driving limit.
It claims the “reduction in death and injury which would result from this measure outweighs all other concerns which have been raised by groups opposing the change.
“While the evidence supporting the lowering of the drink drive limit is substantial and indisputable, the Irish evidence refers only to those who have been killed in alcohol-related collisions,” it said in a statement.
“There is a further side to this debate that is seen repeatedly in the emergency departments (EDs) of hospitals across the country,” it said.
“All too often and particularly at weekends, those who staff the country’s EDs deal with broken and maimed bodies following ‘accidents’ in which a driver has consumed alcohol. Many of those injured are innocent victims of such drink drivers.
“The statistics don’t fully represent these forgotten people; people whose lives have been changed forever because of the selfish decision of another to drink and drive. By reducing the drink drive limit, we have an opportunity to stop some of this suffering,” it stated.