Telescreening reveals high rate of eye disease in Chinese people with type 2 diabetes

A telescreening programme in Shenyanhg has shown there is a high prevalence of fundus pathology among patients with type 2 diabetes, and in most of the cases, this was newly detected.
In a study involving 528 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus from Fengyutaun in Shenyang, researchers from the Department of Ophthalmology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang used telescreening to look for signs of any diabetic retinopathy, signs of glaucoma and signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
The main ocular fundus pathologies were diabetic retinopathy,  (14%), of which 87% cases were newly detected, AMD was detected in 11% of patients and glaucoma in 12%. The risk factors for fundus pathology were long duration of diabetes,  higher fasting plasma glucose and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels.
"Community screening for fundus pathology among patients with a long duration of type 2 diabetes and high fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c levels using a telescreening model will provide an effective strategy for the prevention and treatment of fundus pathology," the study authors concluded.
Read the full study at: BMJ Open

Shenyang health chief sacked after lunchtime sex romp with top female doctor

"Get a room". That's what the head of the Shenyang health department Yan Shi did when he wanted to have closer relations with Dr Li Chenyang, the head of the Shenyang Women and Children's Hospital. And now their lunchtime meetup at a local hotel has cost both of them their jobs. The couple were found to have spent three hours together in a hotel room from 10am to 1pm on 27 November. After viewing evidence from room cards and close circuit TV,  the city's Party Discipline Inspection Committee has told Mr Yan to hand in his resignation, while Dr Li has been suspended from her post at the hospital.
Source: Beijing Daily

Karoshi (death from overwork) among doctors in China

Letter in BMJ from Dr Dai Cong of Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning:

Karoshi happens among doctors in China's large tertiary hospitals such as Wang Qi from Armed Police General hospital. Karoshi means “death from overwork”. The term is said to have originated in 1982 when three Japanese doctors published a book entitled karoshi that noted many victims of overworking and included research into their deaths. The victims were young men who were otherwise healthy, but worked more than 60 hours a week on average and had died on the job from heart attacks and strokes.
Recently there is an increasing outpatient workload in China's large tertiary hospitals. The reason is that there is no general practioner-based referral system in China and there is a huge difference between large tertiary hospitals and community hospitals in China. At the same time, the outpatient consultation fee is almost the same between large tertiary hospitals and community hospitals. Thus, these doctors from large tertiary hospitals are overwhelmed with heavy outpatient workloads. And these factors have led to Chinese doctors working more than 80 hours a week.
In a 2011 survey of 6,000 doctors by the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, 78% said they wouldn’t want their children to study medicine. And nearly 40% of medical personnel surveyed at 316 hospitals nationwide from December 2012 to July 2013 said they plan to give up their profession due to increased heavy workloads in hospitals. I hope that this correspondence might reduce the heavy outpatient workloads and avoid the karoshi of doctors in China.

Immunoprophylaxis cuts hepatitis B rates in pregnant women and babies B

There has been a decline in the hepatitis B  among pregnant women and their infants in China, which might be attributed to universal
immunoprophylaxis since 1990, a Shenyang study suggests.
A study of 4,536 pregnant women by researchers at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical
University, found that the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen  positivity was 5.5%, which was lower than the 8% rate seen nationally.
Rates of hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) and hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) were 29.7% and 58.6%, respectively.
The study authors says that there are more than 130 million chronic HBV carriers in China, 30%-50% of whom are thought to have acquired HBV infection from mother-to-child transmission. Even though immunoprophylaxis with hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and hepatitis B vaccine is administrated to neonates whose mothers are hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive, about 10% of the neonates suffer from HBV infection in their early life.
They say the differences in prevalence of HBsAg, anti-HBc and anti-HBs between pregnant women older than 20 years versus younger than 20 years of age
were significant. This could be related to immunoprophylaxis having been universally administered to infants since 1990, which could improve immunity against HBV and
decrease HBV infection among their infants.
Source: Virology Journal