Occupational health news in brief - July 2010

Blood pressure week

Occupational health teams are being invited to sign up to this year's 'Know your Numbers! Week', organised by the charity the Blood Pressure Association. The idea is for organisations to offer free blood pressure checks in the community during the week of 13-19 September.

Go to www.bpassoc.org.uk/kyn

Toothbrushing linked to heart disease risk

People who don't brush their teeth twice a day are more likely to develop heart disease, a Scottish research paper in the BMJ has argued. Participants who reported less frequent brushing had a 70% extra risk of heart disease compared to those who brushed their teeth twice a day, although the overall risk remained quite low.

Biggest global killer

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is set to be the biggest cause of death globally by 2020, a study presented in May to the American Thoracic Society has warned. Nearly one in five 45- to 68-year-olds are forced to retire prematurely because of the condition, incurring increased health costs and reducing personal contribution from taxation, it said.

Health ads 'misleading'

Greater regulation is needed to protect the public from "misleading" claims by companies advertising private tests and scans for well people, a doctor writing in the journal BMJ Clinical Evidence has argued. Dr Angela Raffle, consultant to the UK National Screening Programmes, has argued the principles of evidence-based medicine are not being applied to claims about the potential benefits and hazards of screening, with the downsides often not being spelt out.