Today's other stories in brief
Families invited to spend big night in
One Family and EBS Building Society are inviting people to celebrate families by hosting a Big Night In on Saturday. The event, which coincides with the UN International Day of the Family, will raise funds for the askonefamily national helpline which supports one-parent families. People are asked to organise a fun event at home – anything from a games night to a storytelling evening – charge guests to attend, and then donate the money to askonefamily. See bignightin.ie for ideas
Plans to merge medicine and food bodies on hold
PLANS TO merge the main regulatory bodies for food and medicines have been put on hold following widespread opposition to the move. There is now no prospect of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) being merged by the target date of next January, according to an informed source, and the merger is unlikely to proceed at any stage.
“There’s nothing at all happening on this,” said the source, saying work on drafting legislation had yet to begin, over 18 months after the move was first announced. No staff have been assigned to handle the merger in the Department of Health. A spokesman for the department confirmed a review of the proposed merger was currently “under consideration” in light of recent reports. Last year, a report from an Oireachtas committee recommended scrapping the merger proposal, arguing it could dilute the focus of the FSAI as an independent agency. A review of the 2008 dioxin contamination scare, published in December, recommended an evaluation of the proposed changes to ensure “the maintenance of the . . . independence of the Irish food safety infrastructure”.
The decision to merge the two bodies and the smaller Office of Tobacco Control was announced in the 2008 budget. The IMB’s function is to enhance public and animal health through the regulation of medicines, medical devices and healthcare products, while the FSAI’s mandate is to protect consumers’ health and interests by ensuring that food consumed, distributed, marketed or produced in the State meets the safety and hygiene standards.
PAUL CULLEN
White coat effect worse for high blood pressure
PATIENTS WITH high blood pressure are at risk of having it shoot up if a doctor checks it, a recent study has shown.
The study – published in the British Medical Journal– has shown that patients with high blood pressure are particularly at risk of experiencing the "white coat" effect, which occurs when people are stressed or nervous about being in a clinical setting. This study, involving 8,575 patients, has shown that the effect is more dramatic in patients with very high blood pressure.
Pressure levels can increase by as much as 29 units if a doctor checks it, compared with an increase of 17 units if a nurse is taking the measurement.
This is one of a series of findings from the study which is expected to help shape future guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension (high blood pressure). Patients getting their blood pressure checked can have it taken by a doctor or nurse at a GP surgery or hospital.
Blood pressure may also be monitored by what is known as ambulatory blood pressure measurements – when the patient wears a “cuff” on their arm at home or work which records blood pressure levels at regular intervals over a 24-hour period.
The research, involving patients with high blood pressure, shows that the higher the patients’ blood pressure, the bigger the difference between ambulatory monitoring and what is recorded by a nurse or doctor.
One of the study’s authors, Prof Arduino Mangoni, said: “Our study will influence hypertension management guidelines worldwide.”
VICKI McKENNA