Women who receive health visitor support alongside smoking relapse prevention advice are more likely to remain smoke-free after childbirth, according to University of East Anglia (UEA) research.

The team tested ‘BabyBreathe’ – a programme designed to help women who quit smoking before or during pregnancy stay smoke-free after giving birth, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). 

The BabyBreathe scheme provides one-to-one support from trained health visitors with digital tools, text message support, a dedicated website and app, and a relapse-prevention kit sent to families after birth. 

Women who begin pregnancy with two or more pre-existing, long-term physical or mental health conditions have 20% higher risk of miscarriage, 69% higher risk of severe nausea and vomiting, and around four times the risk of anxiety and depression, compared with those with no long-term conditions.

The NHS 10 year Health Plan “risks propagating patient harm at an unprecedented scale” due to the lack of appropriate safety architecture to support the envisaged digital transformation, warn experts in an analysis published in the online journal BMJ Innovations. 

The NHS 10 year Health Plan “risks propagating patient harm at an unprecedented scale” due to the lack of appropriate safety architecture to support the envisaged digital transformation, warn experts in an analysis published in the online journal BMJ Innovations. 

For years, scientists have known that regular physical activity can help lower the risk of dementia. But new USC research suggests that it’s not only the amount but also the activity’s context — for work or for leisure — that makes a difference.

A meta-analysis of more than 4.2 million people has found that leisure-time exercise — activities such as walking, cycling, running, swimming or playing sports — is associated with a substantially lower risk of dementia. In contrast, physical activity performed as part of a job appears to be linked with a higher risk of developing the condition.

The findings, published in The Lancet Public Health, are the first to systematically examine whether the so-called “physical activity paradox” extends to dementia. This paradox, well documented in cardiovascular research, describes the surprising observation that physically demanding jobs do not provide the same health benefits as voluntary exercise — and may even increase disease risk.

Healthy sleep patterns in mid life are linked to longer working life expectancy, suggest the findings of a large study of working age men and women, published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.