A round-up of today's other stories in brief
ENT waiting lists cut in new scheme
A CROSS-BORDER hospital service has been established to tackle Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) patient waiting lists. The service, between the HSE Dublin North East and the Southern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland, has allowed ENT consultants from Northern Ireland’s Southern Trust to work in Monaghan Hospital (above). To date, 2,270 patients have attended at Monaghan under the scheme. It is also enabling patients to access inpatient care in Daisy Hill and Craigavon Hospitals.
Alcohol a factor in most pedestrians' deaths
ALCOHOL WAS present in the bloodstream of some 59 per cent of pedestrians whose deaths as a result of head injuries were investigated by the State pathologist’s office over a nine-year period, a new study has found.
The research, which examined the contribution of alcohol to fatal traumatic head injuries in the forensic setting, found it was also present in 33 per cent of drivers and 14 per cent of passengers whose deaths from head injuries were investigated by the State pathologist’s office between 2000 and 2008. It was in the bloodstream of 36 per cent of assault victims and 41 per cent of falls victims who died of head injuries, as well as 40 per cent of those who died by suicide.
The research, published in the Irish Medical Journal, concludes alcohol clearly plays a significant role in fatal head injuries in the forensic setting.
It adds that alcohol-related illness, death or injury is one of the greatest public health issues in Ireland, with Irish drinkers among the highest consumers of alcohol in Europe.
The research points out that intoxicated pedestrians are more likely to suffer severe trauma to the head, thorax and abdomen than their sober counterparts. “This is clearly significant with respect to liability and insurance claims,” the authors state. “This study clearly demonstrates that alcohol plays a significant role in fatal traumatic brain injuries.”
The records of 332 people who died of head injury over the period were examined. These were from a total of 1,778 dealt with by the State pathologist’s office over the nine years.
Children in flats exposed to neighbours' smoke
CHILDREN WHO LIVE in apartments where no one smoked inside are more likely to be exposed to tobacco smoke than those who live in stand-alone houses, research has found.
About 85 per cent of children from families who didn’t smoke inside their apartments had blood proteins indicating exposure to cigarette smoke, compared with 70 per cent in houses, according to a report released today by the journal Pediatrics.
About 5,000 US children were studied. Childhood exposure to cigarette smoke causes more severe asthma, respiratory infections and ear maladies, and slows lung growth, according to the National Cancer Institute, in Bethesda, Maryland.
There is no safe level for exposure to second-hand smoke, and neighbours smoke may travel through ductwork, windows, and ventilation systems, the authors wrote. “Banning smoking in multi-unit dwellings by property owners or by regulation would be the obvious way to mitigate contamination,” wrote the scientists, who were led by Karen Wilson, a paediatrician at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in Rochester, New York.
The increase in exposure was greatest in white children, who had triple the amount of cotinine, a metabolite linked to nicotine, if they lived in apartments rather than houses. Black children in apartments had 46 per cent more exposure.
Adult non-smokers in apartments may also be exposed to second-hand smoke, the authors said. Because tobacco fumes drift, the source of a person’s exposure may not be a dwelling unit immediately neighbouring that individual’s home, according to the report.