Weight loss drugs linked to higher risk of eye damage in diabetic patients

Weight loss drugs could at least double the risk of diabetic patients developing age-related macular degeneration, a large-scale study has found.Originally developed for diabetes patients, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) medicines have transformed how obesity is treated and there is growing evidence of wider health benefits. They help reduce blood sugar levels, slow digestion and reduce appetite.But a study by Canadian scientists published in Jama Ophthalmology has found that after six months of use GLP-1 RAs are associated with double the risk of older people with diabetes developing neovascular age-related macular degeneration compared with similar patients not taking the drugs.Academics at the University of Toronto examined medical data for more than 1 million Ontario residents with a diagnosis of diabetes and identified 46,334 patients with an average age of 66 who were prescribed GLP-1 RAs

Housing bosses press Rachel Reeves to unlock more funds for affordable homes

Housing bosses representing 1.5m social homes across England will press Rachel Reeves to reclassify affordable housing as critical infrastructure spending, amid a battle between the chancellor and Angela Rayner.There is deep dissatisfaction with the level of funding for social homes in the spending review due next week. Rayner, the housing secretary, is one of the last remaining holdouts in negotiations with the Treasury over departmental spending settlements.The Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government has been battling for more funding for the affordable homes programme as well as trying to preserve cash for local councils, homelessness and regional growth initiatives

Millions in west do not know they have aggressive fatty liver disease, study says

More than 15 million people in the US, UK, Germany and France do not know they have the most aggressive form of fatty liver disease, according to research.Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) – the formal name for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – occurs in people who drink no or minimal amounts of alcohol whose liver contains more than 5% fat.About two-thirds of patients with type 2 diabetes are thought to have the condition, which is also associated with obesity, heart and circulatory disease.Approximately 5% of adults globally have the most aggressive form of MASLD. Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) causes fibrosis (scarring) and can lead to cirrhosis and is linked to greater risk of cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and liver cancer

I thought it was being gay that made my life so difficult. Then, at 50, I got an eye-opening diagnosis …

I spent far too many years lonely and angry, thanks to schoolmates who called me ‘weird’ and bosses who dismissed me as ‘hysterical’. But was it my sexuality that put their backs up – or the autism I am still coming to terms with?My earliest memory is of feeling different. I’m gay, and grew up in the 1980s, in a tough, working-class town in the north of England at the height of the Aids crisis. My gayness was obvious in the way I walked and talked. I was bullied at school, called a “poof”, “pansy” and “fairy”; other children did impressions of me with their wrists limp

Contraception warning over weight-loss drugs after dozens of pregnancies

Women using weight-loss drugs have been urged to use effective contraception after dozens have reported becoming pregnant while taking the medication.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued its first alert to the UK public regarding contraception and weight-loss medications after it received 40 reports relating to pregnancies while using drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.Ozempic and Wegovy, which both contain semaglutide, work by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1 that triggers an increase in the production of insulin, slows the rate at which food is digested in the stomach and reduces appetite.Mounjaro, which contains the active ingredient tirzepatide, also acts on a second hormone involved in appetite and blood sugar control. Although these have been referred to as “weight-loss injections”, not all are authorised for weight loss

People with cancer face ‘ticking timebomb’ due to NHS staff shortages

People with cancer face a “ticking timebomb” of delays in getting diagnosed and treated because the NHS is too short-staffed to provide prompt care, senior doctors have warned.An NHS-wide shortage of radiologists and oncologists means patients are enduring long waits to have surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy and have a consultant review their care.Hold-ups lead to some people’s cancer spreading, which can reduce the chances of their treatment working and increase the risk of death, the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) said.NHS cancer services are struggling to keep up with rising demand for tests, such as scans and X-rays, and treatment, created by the growing number of people getting the disease.Evidence the RCR collected from the heads of NHS cancer centres across the UK and the clinical directors of radiology departments shows that delays to potentially “life-saving” care occur because of “chronic” workforce gaps