Health IQ: New global guidelines to quit smoking

WHO unveils guidelines for quitting tobacco

The World Health Organization (WHO) released its first-ever clinical treatment guideline, offering a roadmap for people who want to quit tobacco use.

The guidelines, released July 2, are for all adults looking to give up any type of tobacco products, including cigarettes, waterpipes, smokeless tobacco products, cigars, roll-your-own tobacco and heated tobacco products (HTPs). The recommendations are designed to be used by health-care workers.

“This guideline marks a crucial milestone in our global battle against these dangerous products,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. “It empowers countries with the essential tools to effectively support individuals in quitting tobacco and alleviate the global burden of tobacco-related diseases.”

The WHO estimates that more than 60 per cent of the world’s tobacco users – roughly 750 million people – want to quit.

For tobacco users who smoke and are interested in quitting, the WHO strongly recommends varenicline, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), bupropion and cytisine as effective treatments.

The agency urged countries to provide these treatments at no or reduced cost to improve accessibility, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Read more about Saba Aziz’s story on tobacco cessation and Canada’s stance on the guidelines.

Birds, trees and happiness

Forget fancy coffees and retail therapy, there may be a new happiness hack in town: birds and trees.

A Canadian study, published in Nature last month, suggests that living in a city area with a richer variety of birds and trees is linked to better mental health.

The study found that people living in neighbourhoods with a greater variety of birds reported feeling happier by 6.64 per cent. Similarly, those living near a wider range of tree species reported 5.36 per cent higher rates of good mental health.

“We found that there was a positive association between mental health and the diversity of trees and the diversity of birds in people’s postcodes,” explained Rachel Buxton, the study’s lead author and assistant professor at the Institute of Environmental Science at Carleton University.

“There is a whole wealth of other research that shows taking a walk in nature is super good for your mental health and your physical health. So ours is just one piece of this literature and the story that’s saying, ‘It’s great medicine for your mental and physical health to go outside and be in nature’,” she told Global News.

Despite an increase in street and park trees across Canadian cities, the study raises concerns about declining natural forest cover and climate change. They added this highlights the need for holistic, nature-based interventions that boost biodiversity.

Read more about the study and the science behind why humans are naturally drawn to nature.

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FDA approves another Alzheimer’s drug

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People in the United States now have access to a second drug that can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

On July 3, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Eli Lilly’s treatment for early Alzheimer’s, making it the second therapy for slowing progression of the brain-wasting disease that will be available to patients in the country.

The drug is called donanemab and will be sold under the brand name Kisunla. The FDA backed its use in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease, saying the benefits of the drug outweighed its risks.

“This is real progress,” said Joanne Pike of the Alzheimer’s Association. “Having multiple treatment options is the kind of advancement we’ve all been waiting for — all of us who have been touched, even blindsided, by this difficult and devastating disease.”

Lilly priced its drug at $695.65 per vial, or about $32,000 for 12 months of treatment consisting of 13 infusions.

In Lilly’s large, late-stage trial, donanemab slowed the progression of memory and thinking problems by 29 per cent compared with a placebo. It also caused brain swelling in nearly a quarter of patients and brain bleeding in nearly a third, but most cases were mild.

A few Canadians have taken or are taking donenamab as part of experimental drug trials. In Canada, the drug is not available outside of those experimental drug trials, according to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada.