Daily Express Monday, September 2, 2019 9DX1STBy News ReporterPicture: CASCADE NEWSCare spokesman said cancer was a
top priority for the Government.
He added: “We now have over
900 more diagnostic radiographers
working in the NHS compared to
2017, and the record £33.9billion
extra we’re investing in our NHS
every year will ensure we can
support the health service with the
staff it needs for the future.”
Meanwhile, the Teenage Cancer
Trust has called for all young men to
be offered the human papillomavi-
rus (HPV) vaccination on the NHSin a bid to stop them contracting
cancers related to the disease in
adulthood.
The vaccine is being given to boys
aged 11 to 13 for the first time this
year but the charity has warned that
more than a million older teenagers
will miss out on the life-saving jab.
Currently, the vaccine is not avail-
able on the NHS and costs about
£150 per dose.
The charity has said that extend-
ing the HPV vaccination programme
to all boys and men aged 13 to 24will make it fairer for the “missing
generation” who cannot currently
get vaccinated for free.
Kate Collins, chief executive of
the Teenage Cancer Trust, said:
“While it’s great some boys from
this year onwards will have the
same protection against HPV-
related cancers that teenage girls
and women have had for a decade, a
generation of teenage boys are
being denied that chance.
“The vaccine should be made
available for free on the NHS to allmen and boys up to the age of 25, as
it is for women and girls.
“Parents of school-age boys may
well find one child will get the HPV
vaccine for free, whereas an older
son will only be protected if they
can afford to pay for it. That simply
isn’t fair.”
Research by the charity found
that 75 per cent of young men aged
13 to 24 would want to be vacci-
nated against HPV if it was free. But
46 per cent said they would remain
unvaccinated if they had to pay.by NHS staff shortages
OBESE children are three
times more likely to suffer
heart attacks and strokes later
in life – even if they lose
weight as adults.
A high body mass index,
high blood pressure and high
cholesterol all raise the risk of
heart problems as adults,
according to a new study.
Smoking in your teens may
also do lasting damage as
research shows the
foundations for heart health
are laid early in life.
Data was analysed from
more than 40,000 children
aged three to 19 in the US,
Australia and Finland.
Researchers also followed
up with the same people
when they were around 50
and found that those who had
two or more of the four key
risk factors as a child but none
in adulthood were three times
more likely to suffer a heart
attack or stroke than those
who had none at both stages.
Those who had two or more
risk factors in both childhood
and adulthood were almost
six times more likely to suffer
a stroke or heart attack.Smoking as a teenager also
raised the risk of having heart
problems by 77 per cent.
The findings were presented
at the European Society of
Cardiology Congress in Paris
yesterday.
Study author Prof Terence
Dwyer told how the study
showed “a very strong
relationship between standard
cardiovascular risk factors in
children and the probability
of a heart attack or stroke
later in life”.
Prof Dwyer, of the
University of Oxford, added:
“A meaningful proportion of
that risk appears to be laid
down in childhood.”
Prof Sir Nilesh Samani,
medical director of the British
Heart Foundation, said good
heart health should “start
when we are young”.
“Looking after your heart
and circulation should be a
life-long goal,” he said.
“Controlling risk factors
such as obesity, high
cholesterol and high blood
pressure – along with not
smoking – could stop serious
problems developing later in
life, and will provide benefits
at any age.”Obesity in
childhood
‘triples risk
of a stroke’
By Hanna GeisslerBy Giles Sheldrick Chief ReporterSISTERS battling cystic fibrosis have been
told one of them can have a £100,000-a-year
wonder drug – while the other cannot.
Music teacher Kirsty Young is one of the
1,000 sufferers with serious lung damage
who have been given the treatment for free
by manufacturer Vertex.
But her sister Shona, a classroom
assistant, has been told she is not sick
enough to qualify for Symkevi, which
reduces the build-up of sticky mucus in
the lungs and digestive system.
Kirsty, 29, from Falkirk, said: “I am
grateful to receive the drug, but distressed
that Shona is not getting it.”
Health bosses said the treatment is too
expensive to fund, but Vertex is making it
available to Britain’s 1,000 most ill patients
under a compassionate access scheme.
Shona, 24, fears she
will only qualify when
her lung capacity drops
to 40 per cent, like her
sister.
Kirsty said: “We have
to watch Shona cope
with serious lung
infections caused by
cystic fibrosis. I began
to deteriorate after 24
and fear this may
happen to her too.
“I will do everything I
can to support Shona
and others fighting to get a drug which
stops their lungs being destroyed.”
Shona currently has a lung function which
veers between 60 per cent and 86 per cent.
She said: “My lungs and digestive system
are affected and I desperately need the
drug now.
“My hospital consultants were so hopeful
the drug would be approved by the Scottish
Medicines Consortium [SMC] that they said
I should be getting it by next month. I was
hoping to be one of the first in Scotland but
the drug was not approved.”
Last month the SMC decided not to
approve Vertex drugs Symkevi and
Orkambi, claiming the treatment was not
cost effective.
It was a hammer blow for campaigners
who said the two drugs can change the
lives of children and young adults with
cystic fibrosis.‘We watch
Shona cope
with lung
infections
caused
by CF’
Kirsty,
right,
wants
her sister
Shona, left,
to have the
same drug
as herselfProblems
Diabetes drug ‘can treat heart failure’
Professor John McMurrayA COMMON diabetes medication can
be used to treat patients with heart
failure, according to research.
Scientists have found
dapagliflozin, a drug that helps
control blood sugar levels, can also
reduce the risk of cardiovascular
conditions worsening or causing
death by more than 25 per cent.
In patients with established heart
failure the medicine also cut the
chances of death from any cause by
17 per cent and hospital admission
with worsening heart failure by 30per cent. Dapagliflozin is known to
effectively treat diabetes and also
reduce the risk of these patients
developing heart failure – a very
common complication of Type 2
diabetes.
Researchers wanted to find out
whether the same medication could
effectively treat patients already
diagnosed with heart failure, whether
they had diabetes or not.
The trial looked at 4,744 patientsfrom 20 countries around the world.
John McMurray, professor of
cardiology at the University of
Glasgow, said: “These are really
once-in-a-lifetime findings.
“Probably the most important
finding of all is that dapagliflozin was
associated with benefit in patients
without diabetes.
“With dapagliflozin, we did the
three things you want to do for the
patient in the ideal world – make
them feel better, keep them out of
hospital and keep them alive.”