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The recreational drugs cannabis, cocaine and amphetamines significantly increase the risk of stroke - including among younger users - Cambridge researchers have concluded after analysing data from more than 100 million people. Our analysis suggests that it is these drugs themselves that increase the risk of stroke, not just other lifestyle factors among users Eric Harshfield Stroke is a major global health challenge - the third leading cause of death and disability combined.

An AI-driven tool that tailors antidepressant treatment to individual patients was shown to improve outcomes for people with depression, compared to standard treatment, in a major international trial. It is the first time ever a mental health clinical prediction tool has been demonstrated as effective.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have developed a "Stroke Cognition Calculator", a new tool designed to estimate a person's chance of having thinking and memory problems six months after a stroke. The study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care research (NIHR), and led by researchers at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences was published in the Lancet Health Longevity .

A new experimental treatment for children with a hard-to-treat form of epilepsy is safe and can reduce seizures dramatically, helping them lead much healthier and happier lives, according to a new international clinical trial. The findings of the trial - led by UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital, in collaboration with the University of Glasgow and NHS GG&C - found that children with Dravet syndrome had up to 91 per cent fewer seizures while being regularly administered a new medication called zorevunersen.

Weight loss drugs may help prevent further tissue damage following a heart attack, significantly reducing the risk of further life-threatening complications that affect up to half of all patients, finds a new study in mice led by UCL and University of Bristol researchers. Published in Nature Communications , the research suggests that GLP-1 mimicking weight loss drugs could offer a promising new therapeutic approach for improving heart attack recovery.

Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is a rare autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the connection between nerves and muscles. This attack causes muscle weakness that can affect vision, movement, speech, swallowing, and breathing. While many patients respond to treatment, others develop a severe, treatment-resistant form of the condition known as refractory MG.

A new multinational study from the INTERCOVID Consortium, led by researchers from the University of Oxford, has found that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy, particularly when combined with a booster dose, significantly reduces the risk of preeclampsia, a serious and potentially life-threatening pregnancy complication.

Scientists from The University of Manchester and Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust have discovered that the combination of two biomarkers can reliably identify sarcopenia, a serious condition of the muscle linked to higher mortality in chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). The test, say the researchers, could identify individuals at risk of the condition which is typified by loss of muscle mass and strength as well as an overall poorer quality of life.

Diabetes drugs that may soon be prescribed more widely in England could save thousands of lives each year, suggests a new study by researchers at UCL and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Last August the UK diabetes guideline committee at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) proposed SGLT-2 inhibitors alongside another drug, metformin, as a first-line treatment for people with type 2 diabetes.

New study, funded by Tommy's, finds care for pregnancy loss in the second trimester varies across the UK Care, including medication, bereavement support and interventions during subsequent pregnancies varies across the UK and Ireland 'A clear care pathway needs to be established' to ensure equitable appropriate care is provided across all'healthcare providers The care that women receive following a miscarriage during the second trimester of pregnancy varies according to where in the UK and Ireland the woman is treated, new research shows.

Statins do not cause the majority of the conditions that have been listed in their package leaflets, including memory loss, depression, sleep disturbance, and erectile and sexual dysfunction, according to the most comprehensive review of possible side effects. The study was led by researchers at Oxford Population Health and published in The Lancet .

High levels of testosterone in the blood have been linked to a greater risk of coronary artery disease in men, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Cambridge.

The mpox virus appears to be circulating silently in parts of Nigeria, in many cases without the symptoms typically associated with the disease, according to new research led by scientists from the University of Cambridge and partners in Nigeria. The findings may have implications for controlling the spread of the disease.

Researchers at UCL have uncovered a key mechanism that helps the body switch off inflammation - a breakthrough that could lead to new treatments for chronic diseases affecting millions worldwide. Inflammation is the body's frontline defence against infection and injury, but when it doesn't switch off properly, it can drive serious health conditions such as arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes.

A simple blood test can tell doctors when it is safe to stop antibiotics in patients recovering from sepsis, a review led by University of Manchester researchers has found. The review including 21 studies involving more than 6,000 patients who underwent blood tests for procalcitonin, a biomarker that becomes elevated during bacterial infections, is published in the journal Anaesthesia today (9/01/26).

A new technique which slashes the time taken to diagnose microbial infections from days to minutes could help save lives and open up a new front in the battle against antibiotic resistance, researchers say. Engineers and clinicians from the UK and China are behind the breakthrough system, called Autoenricher.

New study finds that stopping weight-loss drugs is linked to faster regain than ending diet programmes People tend to regain weight rapidly after stopping weight-loss drugs - and faster than after ending behavioural weight loss programmes - according to a new systematic review and meta-analysis from researchers in Oxford's Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences , published in The BMJ today.

A major review of prior research has found no evidence that menopause hormone therapy either increases or decreases dementia risk in post-menopausal women, in a new study led by UCL researchers. The findings, commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity , add much-needed clarity to a hotly-debated topic, and reinforce current clinical guidance that menopause hormone therapy, also called hormone replacement therapy or HRT, should be guided by perceived benefits and risks and not for dementia prevention.

Use of nicotine pouches has risen substantially in Great Britain over the last five years, particularly among young men, with one in 13 (7.5%) men aged 16 to 24 now using them, according to a new study led by researchers at UCL. The study, published in the journal Lancet Public Health and funded by Cancer Research UK, found that use of pouches overall had increased from 0.1 to 1% of all'adults, equivalent to about 522,000 people.

New research shows that infants under three months old, whose mothers received the RSV vaccination during pregnancy, had around 80% reduced risk of hospitalisation due to an RSV infection, compared to infants whose mothers were unvaccinated. The groundbreaking study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases and led by Public Health Scotland (PHS), in collaboration with the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde, Edinburgh, and Oxford, details the positive impact the new RSV vaccine is having on infant health across Scotland.