In Short

A round-up of other Health stories in brief...

A round-up of other Health stories in brief...

New pill to prevent blood clot launched

A pill that could prevent thousands of deaths from blood clots every year is available in the UK from today.

The drug, Pradaxa, has been licensed for patients who have had a hip or knee replaced, which increases their risk of suffering a blood clot for about six weeks after the operation.

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Pradaxa, made by German firm Boehringer Ingelheim, is the first new oral pill anti-coagulant (blood thinner) in the UK for 50 years since the introduction of warfarin.

Warfarin must be monitored to ensure it does not thin the blood too much but Pradaxa needs no such checks.

Children's mental health problems

More than a million children in Britain have disorders ranging from depression and anxiety to anorexia, a report will warn this week.

The fifth in a series of six reports by the Children's Society inquiry into the state of childhood is expected to reveal the pressure on youngsters to grow up too quickly is leaving increasing numbers of them with mental health problems.

Binge drinking, drug-taking and pressure to look fashionable and attractive are all contributing to the trend.

Bypass surgery versus stents

Stents kept people alive just as effectively as heart bypass surgery, but stents were nearly six times more likely to clog over time, Korean researchers said yesterday.

Dr Ki Bae Seung, of the Catholic University of Korea in Seoul, and colleagues found that after three years, the risk of death, heart attack or stroke was 9.2 per cent for 542 bypass recipients compared with 9.3 per cent for a matched group of stent recipients.