Aurora top 20 – April 2010
Posted on 30. Apr, 2010 by phaedrus in Health, News, Top 20
April has truly brought the beginnings of spring and raised spirits in the Aurora office, where we are pleased to report that business is blooming. As well as celebrating the top 20′s third birthday this month, we played hosts to a court case for better healthcare media materials, which raised fascinating insight into the collaborative approach required between pharmaceutical companies and journalists to provide quality health information to the public that tells the news in a clear way. Click here to read about the event. We can’t wait to continue the debate and identify practical solutions at the follow-up event we will be hosting.
So as the sun shines down on us all, how does the UK health news coverage respond? Many common top 20 candidates make the grade this month, with a relatively low five re-entries and one new entry. The usual suspects, alcohol, smoking, obesity, weight loss and exercise are all placed, as Britons enjoy barbecues and beer gardens up and down the country, relaxing in the sun, before hitting the gym or taking advantage of the sunny evenings in parks and tennis courts to burn off the calories.
Diabetes received some interesting coverage this month, including relational pieces with other conditions and contributing risk factors. Cancer and nutrition swap places in the top two spots for the third consecutive month, while chlamydia finds its way into the chart for the first time.
Movers and Shakers
Diabetes cases are on the rise according to the health news. Due to the increase in the UK of certain daily vices, such as the aforementioned ‘usual suspects’, particularly obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle related conditions are increasing, while traditional killers, like cancer and heart disease, thankfully decline.
Reading the health pages in April, you would be advised to maintain a healthy but steady diet to avoid diabetes, as dieting releases the harmful stress hormone, cortisol, and can actually increase diabetes risk. Exercise is also good for combating diabetes risk so getting out in the open air; stretching your legs and filling your lungs, is the order of the day.
Chlamydia has received more coverage this month than ever before in the Aurora top 20′s history, driven by a highly effective NHS media campaign. The sexually transmitted infection (STI) was listed alongside diabetes as an increasingly prevalent lifestyle related condition.
Chlamydia is the UK’s most common STI and the Daily Telegraph reports this month that, “men are twice as likely as women to test positive for chlamydia but are more reluctant to have a sexual health screening”. In addition, The Sun reported that “women should be tested for STIs every time they sleep with a new partner” to ensure they don’t have chlamydia. The gender delineation here is an interesting element of reporting on sexual health. In other news, as a result of chlamydia cases increasing, schools are taking pupils on trips to sexual health clinics to drum home the warning of dangers associated with chlamydia.
Organ transplant returned to the top 20 this month, with some interesting and controversial news. The Guardian reported that financial rewards for organ donors have been recommended by ethics experts, due to long waiting lists and a lack of suitable healthy organs. While the connotations with people ‘selling their kidneys’ are apparent, there is also the benefit of curbing black market trade in organs. Another way of shortening organ transplant waiting lists, suggested in the Observer, is to change to an ‘opt-out’ system, whereby the default position is to harvest all organs, and people will have indicate if they object – a topic that got in the headlines, and the Aurora chart, back in both November 2008 and July 2007.
One very special case, covered in The Times, told the miraculous story of a Spanish farmer who received a gunshot to the face. He has successfully had an entire face, including skin, muscles, teeth, lips, cheekbones and jaw, transplanted to replace his own, in the first recorded operation of its kind. Read this amazing story here.
And finally, as we reported in our blog a few weeks ago (read more about it here), a study from the University of Alabama, has shown that it may be healthier to start the day with a slap-up fried English breakfast. High fat ingredients such as fried bacon and eggs apparently set the metabolism running at a higher rate for the day so that other meals are metabolised quicker. According to the study, those eating breakfasts high in carbohydrates, such as porridge, tend to eat fattier evening meals and gain weight as a result. But before you tuck into your local ‘mega-breakfast’, read this blog post from Aurora’s Phaedrus, on the finer points of the study.
