Stem cells hold great promise for treating heart disease. But it’s not so simple to get from stem cell to fully functioning adult heart cell, even in the lab.
Economic modelling shows that policies to reduce chronic diseases can have large economic benefits –A$4.5 billion a year for diabetes alone – by reducing health costs and boosting the workforce.
More people are getting standing desks in response to our increasing knowledge about the harms of sedentary lifestyles. But can you transition to standing at work without causing yourself harm?
We’ve known for some time that too much sitting increases your risk of diabetes and heart disease. But until now it’s been unclear how much standing during the work day may counter this risk.
New research shows that black patients are more likely to have heart transplants at the worst-performing centers. So how do patients choose where to go for surgery?
Apart from proposing a co-payment for visiting doctors, the last federal budget also contained a proposal to increase the level of co-payments for medications. The government seems to have given little…
Cardiovascular disease (CVD), the catch-all term for diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels – including heart attack and stroke – is the leading global killer. And bad heart health can lead to…
Every ten minutes in Australia someone has a heart attack. For 17% this will be fatal; the rest get a second chance. If you have had a close call, these five food tips will help get your health back on…
While other nations have successfully reduced their sodium intake, Australians are still eating too much salt. And we’re paying the price with our health; a high-salt diet can lead to high blood pressure…
Cardiovascular disease, which includes heart disease and stroke, is the biggest killer in Europe. However, a study published in European Heart Journal shows how different the picture can look across individual…
“Arthritis is for old people, right?” This is an outdated view of a spectrum of diseases that affect people of all ages in the population. In the past decade, there has been a revolution in the understanding…
The salt debate has filled the pages of health magazines and newspapers for years. From John Swales’ original scepticism in 1988 to the Godlee’s sharp call to reality in 1996, the debate has transcended…
A new Global Cardiovascular Disease Atlas shows that rates of cardiovascular disease are falling in wealthier countries. During the second half of the 20th century, deaths from diseases such as heart attacks…
What we know about statins comes almost entirely from commercial interests. So what we take for knowledge about their harms and benefits is actually information designed to optimise the drug makers’ responsibility…
Nearly 13m more adults in the US will be eligible for statins after new guidelines widened the criteria for use of the drugs to treat high cholesterol and prevent heart attacks and strokes. Using data…
One of the world’s largest clinical cell therapy trials has begun to enroll 3,000 heart attack patients, some of whom will have bone marrow cells extracted with a needle from their hip and fed into their…
Professor and Programme Director, SA MRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science - PRICELESS SA (Priority Cost Effective Lessons in Systems Strengthening South Africa), University of the Witwatersrand