Health Report - Full program podcast

Research into the influence of gender on autism spectrum disorder diagnoses.Calculating how many lives were saved by Australia's Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, and how to spot a fake Dr Karl, or Dr Swan, in the wilds of social media marketing.A review into how cognitive behavioural therapy can help young people who've experienced trauma.Recently updated WHO guidelines say babies as young as six months can start drinking cow's milk rather than infant formula, but that contradicts Australia's national guidelines.And the Federal Government has recently released more funds to build the local bone marrow donor system… but is it enough?

In light of the Bondi Junction attack, there's been a lot of commentary about mental illness - including schizophrenia.So what is schizophrenia? While the exact cause isn't known, it's a serious mental illness that can affect how a person behaves. It might also surprise you to learn that someone with a diagnosis is more likely to be harmed, than to harm others.On this special episode of Health Report, Dr Norman Swan talks about the medical facts about the disorder, how common it is and some of the successful treatments.

Is a simpler solution to recurrent UTIs on the way? Plus when should you exercise to get the most benefit?A deep dive into the UK's reviews of gender affirming treatment, and how Australia's system differs. Researchers say there's more PFAS in our water than previously thought, but how much do we know about the health harms?And a new way to deliver immunotherapy straight to the source in bladder cancer. 

In health news this week it's cows with bird flu, vaccines for human flu, and GLP-1s for Parkinson's and possibly bowel cancer prevention.When your private health insurer won't pay, have you read the fine print on your policy lately?A look at health literacy barriers, when it's not the apple a day keeping some people away from the doctors' office.How mRNA technology developed during COVID is now being used to target the proteins that cause Alzheimer's and dementia.And new technology allowing researchers to look beyond standard autopsy results to investigate possible causes of some cases of SIDS.

How changes to codeine access impacted the use of PBS-listed opiods. Pinpointing particular strains of bacteria that could lead to bowel cancer. The Australian research that helped change our definition of anaemia. And why aren't there already strict guidelines on indoor air quality?

Three recent scientific papers looking at ADHD treatment and other health outcomes.Why no one knows what your cancer treatment will do to your ovaries.In a small US study, brain cancer tumours shrank rapidly in the first few days when treated with chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, T cells injected into the fluid around the brain.And suicidal thoughts are more common than researchers expected in people who do not fit with conventional diagnoses of depression or other psychiatric disorders.

Queensland's Chief Health Officer says the term "long-COVID" should be scrapped, but there are different definitions of what long-COVID is and different ways data is collectedEvidence suggests toddler or transition milks are unnecessary at best and harmful at worst.Numbers of alcohol related deaths may have been under reported because past abuse isn't captured when a reformed-drinker dies.

A 62-year-old man in Germany—called HIM—deliberately received the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination 217 times within a period of 29 months. Researchers were keen to know how he fared.Sleep has become a bit of an obsession and has us questioning just how much we need. A large study has compared participants' duration of sleep against their risk of Type 2 Diabetes.In pop culture and news coverage menopause and mood changes seem inextricably linked. A special series on menopause has just been published in the Lancet, with one paper specifically on mental health.In hospital emergency rooms emotions can run high, and tempers can get frazzled, which is confronting for both staff and other patients.

The podcast delves into the impact of exercise on mood, challenges of accessing skin cancer services in remote areas of Queensland, and the comprehensive research on Sarcoidosis. It also discusses the controversy surrounding abortion pill studies and the difficulties in diagnosing and treating rare diseases like psycho-dosis.

When COVID vaccines first became available in 2021, they were met with celebration. Finally we had some defence against this virus that had struck down so many and triggered such heavy lockdowns.But once they started rolling out en masse, a new concern emerged – reports of side effects that, while rare, could be severe. Just how rare these conditions are has now been better described by a new paper drawing on data from 99 million people from across the world. The answer – as we already suspected, there is a link between the vaccines here in Australia and conditions like heart inflammation, blood clots and a usually temporary paralysis called Guillian-Barre syndrome, among others.But the data also show the risk of those conditions is small in comparison to the risk of the same conditions in someone who actually catches COVID. References:COVID-19 vaccines and adverse events of special interest: A multinational Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN) cohort study of 99 million vaccinated individuals