Women who gain weight during pregnancy do not put their children at increased risk of early death in adulthood, a study suggests. A team at the University of Aberdeen, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, found that only extreme weight gain was associated with a higher risk of stroke in adult offspring, and adult lifestyle choices such as diet and exercise could lower the risk.
Research had suggested that children whose mothers were overweight in pregnancy had a higher risk of death or heart problems. The team said that until now no study had adequate follow-up time. Their study, published in the journal Heart, followed up 3,781 people born in the 1950s whose mothers’ weight gain was recorded.
Athlete, 18, died of sepsis
A promising triathlete who died from sepsis might have survived if she had been given antibiotics earlier, a coroner ruled. Eleanor Penrose, 18, from Cottingham, East Yorkshire, who competed for Great Britain, visited an A&E department twice in the 24 hours before she died of sepsis caused by a meningococcal infection at Hull Royal Infirmary on August 13, 2015.
She was first discharged by a junior doctor who believed that her diarrhoea and headache were caused by a stomach bug. Soon after she was taken back to the hospital but was not given antibiotics until two hours later. In a narrative verdict, Paul Marks, the Hull coroner, said: “Had antibiotic therapy been given immediately, she may have survived.”
Jacob Polley’s dazzling poems win TS Eliot prize
Jacob Polley has won the TS Eliot prize for poetry with Jackself, a collection that has been called a “firework of a book”.
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Polley, who was born in Carlisle, was presented with a cheque for £20,000 at a ceremony in London. The prize is awarded for the best new collection of poetry published in the UK and Ireland. The judges chose from a shortlist of six women and four men including Vahni Capildeo and Ian Duhig. Ruth Padel, chairwoman of the judging panel, said: “The winning collection is a firework of a book: inventive, exciting and outstanding in its imaginative range and depth of feeling.”
Polley has previously won the Somerset Maugham award.
GPs ‘should charge’
Charging patients to see a GP could reduce pressure on the system by putting off timewasters, doctors have suggested. GPs criticised patients’ “reduced tolerance for illness”, warning that busier surgeries were making care less safe. A “significant minority” of the 34 doctors interviewed by Oxford University researchers said that fees for appointments would help to ease the pressure. It comes after Theresa May said that GPs’ opening hours were fuelling chaos in A&E departments last week.
Bryant may be Speaker
A Labour backbencher has hinted that he could vie to become the next Speaker of the Commons. Chris Bryant refused to rule out a bid to replace John Bercow, who is expected to retire before the next election. The Rhondda MP, asked by the BBC about his interest, said: “I don’t know what I want to do next week, let alone in a year’s time.”
Hotelier ‘kicked guest’
The manager of a five-star hotel knocked out a guest with a flying kick, the Old Bailey heard. Boualem Messela, 42, allegedly flew into a rage after Christopher Meachin sprayed a fire extinguisher at the Sanctum Soho in London. The victim had a brain haemorrhage but later recovered. Mr Messela denies inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent. The trial continues.