A round-up of the week's other health stories in brief
LOWER VAT ON CONDOMS:Labour Youth yesterday delivered its pre-budget submission to the Department of Finance, calling for the VAT rate on condoms and tampons to be reduced from 21 per cent to 13.5 per cent.
Labour Youth vice-chairman Neil Ward said Ireland was facing escalating rates of STIs and unwanted pregnancies.
"Condoms are the single most effective method of reducing these excessive levels," he said. Condoms in Ireland were the most expensive in Europe, he said.
Mr Ward also pointed out that tampons remain taxed as a luxury item: "In a modern society this is effectively penalising women through placing this unneccesary burden of taxation on them."
FOETAL MONITORS:The use of foetal oxygen monitors during labour to determine if a baby is in distress does not reduce the rate of Caesarean deliveries or improve the health of infants, according to a new report.
Oxifirst instruments were introduced in the US six years ago in the hope that, by supplementing information obtained with foetal heart monitors, they would make vaginal deliveries safer and reduce the need for C-sections.
However, a study of nearly 5,000 births showed no benefit, according to the report in The New England Journal of Medicine. The findings were so conclusive that the study was terminated early.
"What we were really hoping was that knowledge of a baby's oxygen saturation would be helpful," said Dr Catherine Spong of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, one of the authors. "It was disappointing that that wasn't the case."
NEW SUPPORT GROUP:OCD Ireland, which has been set up to provide information and support to people with obsessive compulsive disorder, body dysmorphic disorder and tricholtillomania (pulling out hair at the root, from the scalp and eyebrows), is holding a public talk on these issues on Wednesday, December 6th, in the main lecture theatre, St Patrick's Hospital from 7pm-8.30pm. For further information log on to www.ocdireland.org
PATIENTS TO RATE GPs:Patients in Britain who are unhappy with access to their local GP surgery will be able to influence part of the practice's income through a new survey.
The Department of Health is planning to canvass five million patients for the research and ask how satisfied they are with things like opening and booking times, and phone access.
But doctors have attacked the government over the plans, claiming that the survey is "discredited" because of bias in the questions.
Results for the Patient Experience Survey, due to be carried out in January, will determine how much of £72 million is given to surgeries across England. That means the survey will determine how much of £8,000 in incentives is received by an average practice serving around 6,000 patients.
PSORIASIS HEART RISK:Psoriasis sufferers have an increased frequency of a variety of cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, elevated blood cholesterol levels, and smoking, results of a study confirm.
In particular, the current results suggest that psoriasis is associated with key components of the metabolic syndrome - a clustering of heart risk factors - and that this association is stronger in cases of severe psoriasis.
This finding is important, say the investigators, given that individuals with as few as one or two metabolic syndrome risk factors are at heightened risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
"Therefore, patients with psoriasis should be screened for cardiovascular risk factors, and if these risk factors are present, they should be managed appropriately," said Dr Joel Gelfand from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
PLASTIC SURGERY TRENDS:One in three Irish consumers would consider plastic surgery, according to a new international survey.
However, they still lag behind Russia where 48 per cent said they would consider plastic surgery to maintain their looks, according to the survey carried out by global research group AC Nielsen. It surveyed people in 42 countries.
Almost 30 per cent of Italians and Portuguese, and one in four US, French and British consumers felt the same.