BMJ  2005;330:272 (5 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7486.272

News

In brief

Painkiller linked with suicide to be withdrawn from UK: Coproxamol will be phased out of use in the United Kingdom over the next two years after advice from the Committee on Safety of Medicines. Full strength paracetamol is just as effective at relieving pain and less toxic, it says. Some 400 people die from overdoses of co-proxamol in the United Kingdom each year.

Netherlands recognises chronic fatigue: Chronic fatigue syndrome has been recognised as a genuine, severely incapacitating disorder by the Netherlands' Health Council, one of the Dutch government's scientific advisory bodies. The council accepts that no diagnostic criteria exist but recommends that doctors follow the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's 1994 case definition. See www.gezondheidsraad.nl

Extra payment for thalidomide survivors: People damaged by thalidomide produced by the British company Distillers are to receive an extra one-off payment of about £10 000 ($18 800; 14 450) to help them deal with the effects of ageing and deteriorating health. The compensation is on top of an annual payment of around £13 000 and comes after talks with representatives of the Thalidomide Trust.

US male smokers to be screened for abdominal aortic aneurysm: A task force of the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has recommended that men aged 65 to 75 who currently are or have been smokers should undergo a onetime ultrasound to screen for abdominal aortic aneurysm ( Annals of Internal Medicine 2005;142: 198-203[Abstract/Free Full Text]).

NICE issues guidance on osteoporosis: Postmenopausal women aged 65 and over with osteoporosis confirmed with a DEXA (dual emission x ray absorptiometry) scan should be treated with bisphosphonates, says the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in new guidance for England and Wales. See www.nice.org.uk

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What is a real illness?

Derick T Wade
bmj.com, 8 Feb 2005 [Full text]