Health Report

Anxiety can manifest in an excessive worry about your health, and it can be debilitating. But there are effective treatments. Also, antidepressants can be difficult to come off because of the withdrawal symptoms. An expert highlights the need to better educate patients and doctors on deprescribing. Another instalment of Stroke of Luck, a series on the experience of having a stroke and the recovery process. And a look back at the year: infectious diseases. ReferencesWhy the US measles outbreak is so concerningHow Australia's measles vaccine coverage compares to the USAntidepressant prescribing in Australian primary care: time to reevaluateRELEASE information and resourcesHealth anxiety information and workbookHealth anxiety in Australia: prevalence, comorbidity, disability and service use | The British Journal of PsychiatryThe global economic burden of health anxiety/hypochondriasis- a systematic reviewIncrease in the prevalence of health anxiety in medical clinics: Possible cyberchondriaCognitive behavior therapy for health anxiety: systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical efficacy and health economic outcomesA clinician’s quick guide to evidence-based approaches: health anxiety

There's a paradox in neurodegenerative disease  – sometimes as the brain deteriorates, creativity flourishes.Researchers have used imaging techniques to map creativity in the brains of people with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.Also, the exercise program that could change the game for colorectal cancer survivors. And a look back at the year: GLP-1 medications for weight loss. ReferencesAnswering common questions about GLP-1s for weight lossWeight loss drugs could help people with schizophreniaGLP-1s and eating disorders — what are the risks?Structured Exercise after Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Colon Cancer - NEJM Mapping Neuroimaging Findings of Creativity and Brain Disease Onto a Common Brain Circuit

Substituting your table salt for something with lower sodium could drive down your risk of heart attack and stroke. Also, what expectant parents might not know about screening for genetic diseases before conceiving. Artificial intelligence (AI) could soon be used to help predict decisions a person might make at the end of life. And a look back at the year: Make America Health Again. ReferencesSalt Substitution and Recurrent Stroke and Death: A Randomized Clinical TrialMackenzie's MissionNationwide, Couple-Based Genetic Carrier Screening - NEJMUnlocking the secrets of your DNA - the Health ReportCan Artificial Intelligence Speak for Incapacitated Patients at the End of Life?Should artificial intelligence guide surrogate decisions in healthcare? - Journal of Medical Ethics blogA Personalized Patient Preference Predictor for Substituted Judgments in Healthcare: Technically Feasible and Ethically Desirable

Despite facing an increased risk of chronic disease later in life, remote Indigenous babies start life with a more diverse gut microbiome. A new study in Nature also found the infants have bacteria that have completely disappeared from non-Indigenous populations. Also, a guide to living healthy after a fatty liver disease diagnosis. And why fewer people are getting the HPV vaccine. ReferencesEating For Your Liver - Liver Foundation2025 Cervical Cancer Elimination Progress ReportIndigenous infants in remote Australia retain an ancestral gut microbiome despite encroaching Westernization

Historically women have had a hard time being heard in the doctor's office, with dismissiveness and delays in diagnosis all too common. The state government in Victoria has held an enquiry into women's pain to come up with recommendations aimed at shifting that experience to a more positive one. Also, we get a better sense of what's nature vs nurture when it comes to our attributes and our disease risks. And research suggests antibiotics, and their effects on the gut microbiome, could weaken vaccine response. ReferencesThe effect of shingles vaccination at different stages of the dementia disease course WHO issues global guideline on the use of GLP-1 medicines in treating obesity Product warnings updated for GLP-1 RA class - TGA Inquiry into Women's Pain - Victorian GovernmentGovt backs green whistle during IUD insertion in response to women’s pain inquiryEstimation and mapping of the missing heritability of human phenotypesBifidobacteria support optimal infant vaccine responses - NatureAntibiotics-Driven Gut Microbiome Perturbation Alters Immunity to Vaccines in HumansThe Antibiotics and Vaccine Immune Responses Study (AVIRS) – people must be in Adelaide to participate!