Research reviews

Nearly 40% of smokers and former smokers believe it is the nicotine in cigarettes that causes cancer, a UK study has found.

Adults with type 2 diabetes who had received intensive glucose lowering therapy for nearly six years had a lower risk of cardiovascular events than those who received standard therapy only during the prolonged period in which the HbA_1C curves were separated, a study from the US has found. There was no evidence of a legacy effect or a mortality benefit with intensive glucose control 15 years after commencement of the study.

Putting on weight appears to raise the risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF), a meta-analysis  by investigators in Oxford, UK, has concluded. However, no clear evidence emerged as to whether weight loss reduces the risk.

There is effectively zero risk of HIV transmission in gay men through condomless sex when HIV viral load is adequately suppressed, the findings of the PARTNER2 study, published in the Lancet, suggest.

Patients with type 2 diabetes who have well controlled risk factors have little or no excess risk of stroke, myocardial infarction or death, a retrospective cohort study has found.

Finasteride and dutasteride appear to be associated with a modest increase in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to the findings of a retrospective cohort study.

Sitting for long periods is associated with an increased risk of all cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality among the least physically active adults. However, moderate to vigorous physical activity equivalent to public health recommendations can attenuate or effectively eliminate such associations, a study from Australia has found.

Daily cannabis use is associated with a three-fold increased risk of psychotic disorder, a multicentre, international case-control study has shown.

An observational study from Scotland has shown that dapagliflozin produced equivalent improvements in glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes in general practice to those reported in clinical trials.

Parental alcohol use disorder is associated with an increased likelihood of marriage to a spouse with alcohol use disorder, a Swedish population-based study has found. In particular, daughters of affected mothers were more likely to have an affected spouse.

One year smoking cessation rates were significantly higher in those who used e-cigarettes compared with those using traditional nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products, in a UK prospective study. However, many more of those on e-cigarettes who had quit ordinary cigarettes still used the substitute while most of those who quit using NRT were free from treatment.

The use of a widely available basic medication reminder app significantly improved adherence to treatment for coronary heart disease (CHD), in a study from Australia.

A study from Ontario, Canada, has found that prescribed, diverted and illicit opioids all play an important role in the recent increase in opioid-related deaths.

Urinary stress incontinence is more likely following vaginal than caesarean section (CS) delivery of twins, a multinational randomised controlled trial has shown.

The incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes may double over the next two to three decades, findings from a multicentre European study suggest

Hypertension, smoking, especially heavy smoking, and both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are associated with a higher risk of myocardial infarction (MI) in women than men, a prospective population-based study has shown.

Orgasm may be a neuropsychological process associated with diverse forms of stimulation, according to the findings of a study published in the International Journal of Sexual Health. The investigators analysed comments from 919 individuals who responded to an anonymous post in 2013 on the website PostSecret.com. The individual, unknown to the research team, described having an orgasm during exercise. The respondents posted comments about their own experiences of non genital/non sexual orgasms.

An immunofluorescence test may be able to predict new onset diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death, a study from the Netherlands has shown.

Women with a history of pre-eclampsia are three times more likely to develop vascular dementia later on, a Danish cohort study has found.

Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), maternal smoking, day care attendance and male gender are important risk factors for wheezing in infants, a panEuropean study has confirmed. Food allergy and infant feeding practices were not associated with wheeze. The prevalence of wheezing varied widely between different European countries.

Current guidelines advise treating paroxysmal AF in the same way as sustained AF but the evidence is weak, with only one retrospective analysis comparing the risk of stroke in patients with paroxysmal AF vs chronic AF (analysis of the SPAF trials, performed 15 years ago and limited to patients treated with aspirin). The ACTIVE W trial showed that warfarin is more effective than aspirin plus clopidogrel for the prevention of vascular events (stroke, embolism, MI and vascular death) in patients with AF. A recent substudy of this trial looked at the risk of stroke in 1,202 patients with paroxysmal AF compared with 5,495 with sustained AF, and the effectiveness of thromboprophylaxis in these patients. ' This substudy has shown that the risk of stroke is similar, irrespective of whether AF is paroxysmal or sustained, and that anticoagulation therapy is equally effective in both groups. Other factors, such as age and cardiovascular comorbidity, remain central to the ultimate choice of thromboprophylaxis in these patients.'