May 2002 Volume 83 Number 5 "serving the protectors"

Medical facts and figures

Osteoporosis

Women tend to get shorter as they age. The reason for them to get shorter is that they get osteoporosis more commonly than men and, as they get older, their bones become thinner. This is seemingly because of a change in the hormones that women get at the age of menopause, and from then on their bones get thinner and they can suffer fractures of the spine.

These fractures are called crush fractures, because the bone crushes under its own weight causing the person to get shorter and shorter. This is why older women might get to the stage where they are so hunched over that their ribs can be touching their pelvis and make it hard for them to put their heads back far enough to look forward. This much osteoporosis should not occur these days, and increased calcium, exercise and treatment can totally prevent osteoporosis.

Scans

The x-ray was one of the first tests developed to look at the inside of the body, other than surgery or clinical examination. The result is an “image” on a photographic film, and so the tests, like x-rays, are called “imaging”. Other imaging techniques include ultrasounds, nuclear scans, computerised x-rays (CAT or CT scans). Newer imaging tests are the MRI and, in Adelaide, we now have a PET scanner.

The MRI uses a magnet to take pictures of the body in more detail than the CT scan, and we can look inside a person’s head without opening it with needles or an operation. The PET scanner looks at the way our brain is thinking, and we can see different parts of the brain working. So, when you sing songs, you use a different part of the brain from that when you drive a car or count numbers.

Keyhole surgery

Keyhole surgery is the name for inserting fiberoptic telescopes into the body to allow surgery to be performed through a hole so small that it is like operating through a keyhole. The time to recover from an operation such as the removal of gallstones used to be about four to six weeks. Now, recovery can occur in three to four days. This reduction in time means a shorter period in hospital and less pain.

Designer drugs

Designer drugs with which to better treat difficult medical conditions, such as leukaemia, are becoming available. One of the first of this sort is now available in Australia. These drugs of the future are designed to treat diseases in which the specific gene, or cause of a disease, is known and the cure is invented or designed exactly to fix that problem. This will mean better but very expensive medication in the future. We will therefore be faced with choices about better but possibly unaffordable drugs.

Blood pressure

High blood pressure (hypertension) is one of the most common causes of heart conditions and strokes. New treatments for blood pressure mean that every one can be treated safely for his or her hypertension. Because of this, we now try to treat blood pressure to levels lower than before.

Normal blood pressure is 120/80, reflecting pressure when the heart contracts and then relaxes. If we treat blood pressure, we would aim for levels at about 130/80 whereas, before, we would accept levels of 150/90.

New is the proof that returning blood pressure to near normal levels will return people with high risks of heart disease to the same level of risk applicable to normal people. Because high blood pressure does not cause symptoms, it is one of the most common risks for heart disease and strokes that occurs without people knowing about it.

Smoking

Smoking still remains the most common cause of treatable disease in our community, and 19,000 people per year still die from smoking-related disease. Each time a smoker gives up, there is some improvement in his or her health, and statistics prove that the more times one tries, the easier it is eventually to quit. So, it is worth continuing to try to stop.

Knowing about the dangers of smoking is not why people quit smoking, but usually some lifestyle changes, other people getting sick, or illness. The addictive properties of nicotine are greater than those of heroin.

Genetics

Genetic testing is becoming more available. Awareness of family history of illness might become an important way of checking on your own health risk. Some families have genetically traceable disease that new tests can detect. An interest in one’s ancestors might bring more benefit than the pursuit of one’s average hobby or recreation.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol levels are commonly a good predictor of heart disease and stroke risk. While exercise, diet and wine can improve the good cholesterol, medication can also help. Recent research shows the benefit of cholesterol reduction is so important that it might actually reverse the narrowing of blocked arteries. Along with operations to put “stents” in blocked arteries, the future for heart disease or blocked arteries looks good. It still remains a better idea to prevent the blockages in the first place.

Flu injections

This is the time of the year to get a flu injection. Recent evidence suggests that, if one has the flu vaccination, one not only gets the benefit of this year’s vaccine but, if one has had the vaccination for three years in a row, one gets an improved effect from the injections, providing a broader protection against all influenza.

Police are regarded as constituting an essential service – to be vaccinated in the case of an overwhelming outbreak of influenza (a pandemic). The medication available now to treat influenza is only useful if it is started really early in the infection, so get help quickly. There is a good website on the flu at www.flu.com.

Sports injury

Netball is renowned for ankle and knee injuries. Research has shown that standing on one foot and balancing for two to three minutes per day will reduce the chances of ankle injury by possibly 30 per cent in that ankle. Possibly, by standing on one foot while one brushes one’s teeth each day, one might sustain fewer ankle injuries.

Contraception

Advances in contraception now means women can have a reversible hormone contraception device that will last for three years and take about 10 minutes to implant. And that permanent contraception can be performed in less than an hour – possibly without the need for an overnight stay in hospital.

Weight loss

Losing weight is a new year’s resolution that most of us have tried. We now believe that more dieting will actually push up the normal weight after the dieting stops. This means that after each crash diet fails, the next time one tries to lose weight, one most likely will be staring from a higher base.

Normally, we put on about one gram per day, so in three years one will likely be about 1kg heavier than one was. New treatments for weight loss seem to be providing a chance to change some of the problems with losing weight and, even though it is still early, the results are encouraging.

See your doctor to discuss your weight before you embark on costly weight-reduction programmes that might do more harm than good. Despite this, it is usually of some health benefit to reach your ideal weight.

Your questions answered

Dr Pearce will answer questions on any health issue important to you. For his response, write to or fax the Police Journal with your question. Those who write need not identify themselves.

• Police Journal, PO Box 6128, Halifax St, Adelaide, SA, 5000
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• Fax: 8231 0855

If you prefer to correspond by e-mail, send messages to the associate editor
(brettwilliams@policejournalsa.org.au).

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