Health Report

To have you in the best physical condition before major surgery many surgeons send you for a pre-operative assessment by a physician—does it help?

When a child has persistent cold symptoms, it might be sinusitis and require antibiotics.

If a child faints it's really only a worry when it causes an injury. But there might be an abnormality of the heart's electrical system, called congential Long QT syndrome, and prompt parents to have their child checked. 

Rehab after knee replacement is controversial because some hospitals keep you in for it, but if you go home soon after the surgery, maybe digital rehab will become an option.

Humans spend around a third of their lives sleeping, and its management has created a multi-million dollar industry. We discuss the sleep of FIFO workers, the sleep of people with PTSD, and what we can do to improve our shut-eye time with a therapy called circadian medicine.

A clearer picture of where and how mistakes are made in medical diagnoses.

Monkeys on some Caribbean islands are helping researchers understand more about addiction.

Sydney's Liverpool Hospital developed a program using gaming to spur on patients recovering from traumatic brain injury.

Australia's had probably its first conference on Long COVID.

The idea of a worm infection evokes a visceral response—but there are potential health benefits to worms.

GPs may hesitate to approach a discussion about weight loss because of the risk of body shaming and stigma.

Mexico has implemented labelling of processed foods with large warnings if the unhealthy ingredients exceed globally agreed thresholds.

New research has been looking into why sitting is bad—and how to change that.

Women are being mislead by fertility tests which promote anti-Mullerian hormone—or AMH testing—which are not designed for general screening in the community.

One of the side effects of having had babies and ageing in general is what used to be called prolapse—or uterine descent. Sometimes no treatment is needed but there's been a debate among surgeons about which procedure is best.

We heard today about a new test for ovarian cancer.  For a long time there's been a search for a way to reliably detect this cancer early on.

Some men are prescribed testosterone-replacement therapy in middle age or older, but there's questions around how safe that is for their heart attack and stroke risk.

In developing the cervical screening program one woman—Mary Papanicolaou—did a test every day, for 21 years—it's what we now call the PAP test.

People tend to think they need seven or eight hours sleep a night. But what counts more is the quality of that sleep.

Measuring activity on Cradle Mountain—Norman and Tegan rise to the challenge.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome—a new guideline for doctors and women.

Vigorous Incidental Lifestyle Physical Activity—micro-bursts of it can decrease the risks of developing various cancers.

Cochlear implants—the latest intel on this transformative tech. As part of National Science Week.

wide health implications.

The remote community of Balgo in the Tanami Desert has many years of hunting for bush tucker. People must leave their Country if they want dialysis care, but that's changing.

Metastatic cancer is for the spread of a cancer from a primary site to other parts of the body. There's no nationally consistent way of keeping track of how many of these cancer patients there are.

A consortium of Australian cancer researchers has announced a program called the PrOSPect Initiative. It offers genetic profiling for people with advanced or rare cancers.

Aerobic exercise reduces blood pressure, and resistance training prevents progression to diabetes in people at risk. But the evidence is being updated on which exercise is best for lowering blood pressure.

Various studies show that regular aerobic exercise reduces blood pressure, and resistance training prevents progression to diabetes in people at risk of metabolic disease. But the evidence on which kinds of exercise are best for lowering blood pressure is being updated.

To assess the heart health and stroke risk factors of the population, Australian GPs and cardiologists have referred to a study from the population of Framingham, Massachusetts, but last week the Heart Foundation replaced it with a tool based on New Zealand and Australian populations.

An abnormal heart rhythm can mean observations by a cardiologist with a cumbersome and expensive Holter monitor. A team at Westmead Hospital and the University of Sydney have compared a simple finger electrode linked to your mobile phone against Holter monitoring.

Red and processed meats have an environmental cost and health implications. The World Health Organisation has flagged that, globally, we need to consume less. We discuss the evidence for cutting back, and what it could mean for Australia—a big producer and consumer of these meats.