The Health News – 29 July 2016

Overview:
• According to the Deputy CEO at Suicide Prevention Australia, Kim Borrowdale, that lack of talking about it is one of our main problems.Ms Borrowdale is one of 440 people who have just spent four days talking about suicide at the National Suicide Prevention Conference in Canberra.

• The findings, published in the journal Lancet, include the cost burden of lifestyle diseases on health budgets as well as the cost of premature death relating to physical inactivity. The burden in developing countries was calculated differently because the consequences of lifestyle diseases is often premature death.

• In 2014, the Dental Council of NSW raised concerns about poor hygiene practices at two Sydney dental practices, each operating two clinics. Following a number of assessments, the Dental Council suspended six dentists, including the directors of the clinics. The report found the available evidence to be inconclusive as to whether those patients were infected during invasive procedures at the dental clinics or from other sources.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the  29th of July 2016. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-28/being-honest-about-mental-health-to-tackle-suicide-rates/7668796

Suicide is the leading cause of death for 15 to 44-year-old Australians, but it is not something we talk about very often.

According to the Deputy CEO at Suicide Prevention Australia, Kim Borrowdale, that lack of talking is one of our main problems.

“We need to talk about it more not less. We need to talk about it in a way that encourages safe conversation and help-seeking and doesn’t sensationalise,” she said.

Ms Borrowdale is one of 440 people who have just spent four days talking about suicide at the National Suicide Prevention Conference in Canberra.

The conference was run by Suicide Prevention Australia (SPA), and attended by researchers, service suppliers and people with a personal experience of suicide.

Ms Borrowdale said the conference was particularly powerful because it included delegates who travelled from a wide range of communities to share their experience, and to take information back to their home towns.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-28/physical-inactivity-costs-the-world-billions-sydney-uni-study/7666708

The global cost of physical inactivity for 2013 has been calculated at $US67.5 billion ($A90 billion), in a world-first study by the University of Sydney.

The findings, published in the journal Lancet, include the cost burden of lifestyle diseases on health budgets as well as the cost of premature death relating to physical inactivity.

The burden in developing countries was calculated differently because the consequences of lifestyle diseases is often premature death.

Sydney University senior research fellow Melody Ding said the cost included the healthcare expenses linked to chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

“These are the diseases associated with physical inactivity,” Dr Ding said.

“It also includes the cost of productivity losses when people die prematurely because of physical inactivity.”

The study included data from 142 countries, taking in 93.2 per cent of the global population.

Australia shared a huge portion of the cost.

In 2013, the total cost burden of physical inactivity on the Australian economy was $805 million, including $640 million in direct costs and $165 million in productivity losses.

More recently workplaces have taken on the task of encouraging people to physically move around more, with changes to office design and layout, creating so-called activity-based workplaces.

Some of Australia’s biggest companies have adopted the model including Macquarie Bank, Microsoft and accounting firm KPMG.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-28/evidence-linking-sydney-clinics-to-diseases-inconclusive/7666912

New South Wales health authorities have found no conclusive evidence linking four private Sydney dental clinics to patients with infectious diseases, including HIV and hepatitis.

In 2014, the Dental Council of NSW raised concerns about poor hygiene practices at two Sydney dental practices, each operating two clinics.

Following a number of assessments, the Dental Council suspended six dentists, including the directors of the clinics.

A further six dentists had conditions placed on their registration.

In July 2015, NSW Health urged about 12,000 patients who underwent invasive procedures at the clinics to seek testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV infections.

The patients who returned a positive test were then interviewed about other risk factors and their past medical history.

A NSW Health report, released recently, showed 26 patients from two of the clinics tested positive to a blood-borne virus.

Of those who tested positive, 18 were assessed as having risk factors other than attending the dental clinics that were “reasonably likely to be the source of the infection”.

Those risk factors included birth in a country with a high number of infections, intravenous drug use or sexual intercourse.

Four patients with hepatitis B and four with hepatitis C reported no other risk factors.

The report found the available evidence to be inconclusive as to whether those patients were infected during invasive procedures at the dental clinics or from other sources.

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