Medical Journal News

The debate over rising numbers of people claiming disability benefits in the United Kingdom, particularly relating to mental health, has become increasingly highly charged over recent months, especially in the context of an underperforming UK economy.1 The UK is an outlier among the G7 countries in terms of economic inactivity.2 These countries also saw a post-pandemic rise in disability benefit claims, but, unlike the UK, they are now seeing a return to normal. Why is the UK different?Could it be a problem of overdiagnosis, as the health secretary, Wes Streeting, controversially stated recently?3 Or is it related to the medicalisation of everyday worries, as previous prime minister Rishi Sunak speculated?4 Or is it a sickness problem that can only be resolved once NHS waiting lists reduce and people have improved access to support?5Opinions remain divided. It’s not straightforward, however, to get through a benefits assessment and be awarded payments on...

On 27 March the US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, abruptly announced the termination of 10 000 jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with 10 000 more cut through early retirement and buyouts.1 The repercussions became clearer this week as employees received their notice on 1 April—or turned up to work to find their security passes had been deactivated.Kennedy said that HHS was being “recalibrated to emphasize prevention, not just sick care.” On X he wrote, “The reality is clear: what we’ve been doing isn’t working.2Two senators, Bill Cassidy and Bernie Sanders, invited Kennedy to a 10 April hearing to explain the restructuring. A HHS spokesperson told Politico that Kennedy had yet to accept the invitation.Senior figures reassigned and relocatedAs employees were served notice by email early on 1 April, many staff in high ranking posts found themselves reassigned and facing relocation or put on...

Since the passage of the US Administrative Procedures Act of 1946, public commentary has remained a cornerstone of US policy making, establishing transparent procedures with which federal agencies must comply.1 Public comment is not a bureaucratic formality: it’s part of a deliberate process designed to ensure accountability in policy making. These mechanisms are foundational to a democratic government reliant on public trust derived from careful and transparent decision making.That’s why a proposal by the new US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, to eliminate public comment requirements for key decisions in the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is so alarming.2 If implemented, this change would strip away a critical mechanism that invites patients, care partners, healthcare professionals, and advocacy organisations to weigh in on policies that directly affect them. Removing the formal mechanism for public comment would set a dangerous precedent by permitting policies to be formulated...

The US Supreme Court unanimously upheld the decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reject an application for approval of flavoured liquids used in vapes, also called e-cigarettes, on 2 April.12However, the Supreme Court’s decision was not a clear win for the FDA.Yolanda Richardson, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement, “While the FDA has authorized the sale of 34 e-cigarette products, manufacturers continue to flood the market with thousands of illegal, unauthorized products. To end this crisis, the FDA must deny marketing applications for flavoured e-cigarettes and step up enforcement efforts to clear the market of illegal products. Today’s ruling should spur the FDA to act quickly to do so.”3The Supreme Court overturned a ruling by a lower court, the conservative US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. That court had decided that the FDA had changed the rules for companies applying...

Experts have called for a new alcohol strategy for England as deaths from alcohol reached a record high in 2023, with the average heavy drinker now older.An analysis by the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation showed 8273 deaths from alcohol in England in 2023, up from 5050 in 2006—a 60% increase.1 These were deaths from conditions caused entirely by alcohol consumption, including alcoholic liver disease and accidental poisoning. A further 14 370 deaths in 2023 were from conditions caused partially by alcohol.The current upward trend in deaths began in 2020 at the start of the covid pandemic, when 6984 deaths were recorded in the year.The UK’s last national alcohol strategy was published in 2012 and focused much of its attention on binge drinking and reducing harm among young people.2 But the Nuffield Trust said that this no longer reflected the reality of problem drinking in England. The analysis highlights...

In this paper by Lunny and colleagues (BMJ 2025;388:e079839, doi:10.1136/bmj-2024-079839, published 18 March 2025), there was a presentation error in figure 1, which has since been corrected in the article and PDF.

The BMJ points out the changed trajectory of life expectancy: after generations of improvement, progress on longevity has stalled.1 The situation is even more alarming if one looks at not just survival times but also “disability-free” life expectancy. Covid-19 greatly increased the proportion of adults living with disability.The news article focuses on cardiovascular disease and cancer and relates these fatal conditions to modifiable diet and exercise. Poor diet and inactivity are bad for health but are often embedded in social determinants like loneliness or deprivation. Social inequalities can kill.2 There is a strong “social gradient” for fatal heart attacks, with poor people in poor neighbourhoods most at risk.Policy makers in the UK seem reluctant to mention inequalities in relation to the new prevention agenda. The news article reports that life expectancy stalled after 2011. In 2012 the Conservative health secretary Andrew Lansley passed a Health and Social Care Act. This...