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This week, The Pharmaceutical Journal has reported on community pharmacy COVID-19 and MMR vaccination success, looked ahead to DPP provision for prescribing trainees and considered how global events could impact UK medicines supply.
Read on for more health news you may have missed this week.
GLP-1 receptor agonists
Results from a meta-analysis published in e-Clinical Medicine have suggested that patients who have lost weight using GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) medication regain 60% of it within one year after stopping treatment, and then plateau at 75% of the weight lost during treatment.
Other recent studies have revealed that GLP-1 RAs appear to be similarly effective among patients of different ages, races and starting weight. One paper showed how individuals living with type 2 diabetes mellitus had a substantially lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events when they used a GLP‑1 RA in combination with several healthy lifestyle habits. Another study suggested that GLP-1 RAs may help prevent further tissue damage following a heart attack, significantly reducing the risk of further life-threatening complications that affect up to half of all patients.
Further reading
Cardiovascular disease
Almost half of patients hospitalised for acute heart failure in Europe are readmitted within a year, according to a study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in the European Heart Journal.
Results from a UK study published in The Lancet Public Health have revealed that high-risk patients, who tend to be older and live with several long-term health conditions, such as heart disease, account for 80% of post-surgery deaths owing to post-operative complications relating to chronic health conditions, age and frailty. The researchers said this demonstrates the need for greater investment in specialist perioperative services that focus on the care of older, high-risk patients before, during and after surgery.
Further reading
Women’s health
A mathematical model has predicted that angiotensin receptor blockers will be more effective than angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors in treating women with hypertension, even after their oestrogen levels decline post-menopause, results from a study published in Mathematical Biosciences have suggested.
Another study published in Menopause has suggested that local, low-dose vaginal oestrogen does not seem to increase a woman’s risk of endometrial cancer recurrence, but this is based on small numbers of younger survivors of endometrial cancer exposed to vaginal ET.
Meanwhile, another study published in The Lancet Oncology revealed that breast cancer remains the most common cancer among women worldwide, with annual cases expected to reach over 3.5 million by 2050.
Further reading
Liver disease
Both paternal and maternal obesity before conception can influence a child’s risk of developing metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, according to research published in Gut.
And a new blood test score could help clinicians determine when liver injury is likely driven by alcohol rather than metabolic factors, providing clearer guidance on when additional alcohol testing may be needed, research published in Gastroenterology has suggested.
Further reading
Pain
According to a review published in Drugs, oral opioids are only slightly better than placebo for acute musculoskeletal pain in the 6 to 48 hours after starting treatment, and increase the risk of side effects when used for acute musculoskeletal pain, some types of post-surgical pain or traumatic limb pain. Researchers also suggested that inadequate reporting of side effects means the true risks of opioids are likely underestimated.
Further reading
Ageing
Data show that males accounted for 57% of the cold weather-related deaths in England in 2024/2025 (n=1,439), with people aged 85 years and older especially vulnerable to the health impacts of cold weather.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, commented: “The fact that older men emerge from this first report as more vulnerable than women is interesting and is something to watch and understand more about as further reports are produced.”
Meanwhile, study results published in Aging Cell have revealed that a blood test for small RNA molecules known as piRNAs can accurately predict whether older adults are likely to survive at least two more years.
Further reading
Drug discovery
A naturally-occurring protein in the human body could become the first new, natural anti-inflammatory discovered in 70 years, after researchers discovered that restoring depleted levels of the protein — known as corticosteroid-binding globulin — reduced relative mortality in an animal model with septic shock by more than 70%.
