Lifelines this week looks at drugs in pregnancy, community care, holistics in chinatown and the use of antibiotics
DRUGS IN PREGNANCY: Babies exposed to anti-depressants called Selective Serotonin Reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the womb may be born with a withdrawal syndrome, according to a new study. Signs of withdrawal syndrome can include convulsions, irritability, abnormal crying and tremor. The researchers have advised doctors to avoid or cautiously prescribe these drugs to pregnant women.
COMMUNITY CARE: Stroke patients who are discharged early from hospital to home and given community rehabilitation and support are more likely to be independent that those who receive conventional care. Doctors from Glasgow Royal Infirmary in Scotland looked at 1,597 patients who had received either conventional care or rehabilitation in a community setting. Patients treated in the community had fewer deaths, were more independent and stayed eight days less in hospital than those treated conventionally.
AN HOLISTIC CHINATOWN: Dublin's Chinatown Festival has incorporated an holistic health fair into its programme of events this year at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Dublin. The fair, in the Riding School on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, will have shiatsu, yoga and other practitioners promoting iridology, kinesiology, aura photography and crystals. Tel: 01 2225053 or see www.chinatown for details. Admission is €5 for adults and €4 for children.
USE OF ANTIBIOTICS: Antibiotics such as Penicillin V and erythromycin are of little benefit to people suffering from acute laryngitis, according to a review of medical literature, carried out by the Cochrane Library. The authors considered studies in which patients with acute laryngitis were given either one of the above antibiotics or a placebo. Those on the placebo got better just as quickly. Taking antibiotics unnecessarily runs the risk of stimulating the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, says Prof Ludovic Reveiz, who led the review.