Health Report - Full Program Podcast

As the voice ages, structural changes to the larynx occur which can change the way someone sounds. But new research has found something peculiar — among older people with this changing voice, termed presbyphonia, only some of them will actually notice it. Plus, breast cancer and chemotherapy, cytisine as a smoking cessation tool, and the changing drivers of death in Australia.

There are constant headlines about how people are losing confidence in private health insurance. One reason is rising premiums but another is the gaps between what doctors charge you and what you get back from Medicare and your health fund. We asked you to send in your medical bills if you were upset about your out of pocket expenses and hundreds of you did.  It was extraordinary and shocking. A urologist charging $27,000 for a prostatectomy. A potentially illegal under the counter fee of $6000. So it went on. Professor Stephen Duckett says the private system is under strain, and there's no easy fix on the horizon. Plus, men with slow-growing prostate cancers aren't being properly monitored and the evidence for a link between schizophrenia and urbanicity on shaky ground.

More Australians use sports supplements than almost any other country — but do we know what’s in them?

Many of us have a particular GP we see — a doctor who has known you for years and has a strong understanding of your medical history and health issues.

Across Australia demand for steroids and sports supplements is booming.

In Australia, the UK and the US schemes are being implemented to track the outcomes of surgeons — that is, following up with the people surgeons operate on to see whether they experience complications. The idea is that measuring these outcomes can help us see the strengths and weaknesses between hospitals, and improve in areas where we aren't up to scratch. But not everyone's a fan. Some surgeons argue such schemes will encourage doctors to avoid risky patients or 'game the system' by tweaking how their patient data is entered into the system. Then there's the question of how widely the data should be shared. Should it be just surgeons who get to see how well they perform and compare, or do patients have a right to know too?

Australia is notorious for being the home of a huge number of the world's most venomous animals — funnelweb spiders, box jellyfish and brown snakes among them.

Epidemics of parechovirus are concerning doctors, especially because of the harm the virus can cause children. There's no vaccine, so how do we tackle it? Plus, eye specialists take aim at Irlen syndrome, a proposed condition to explain why some children have reading difficulties — new data on when cancers are being diagnosed in Australia — and the next steps in getting pneumonia vaccines to people across the world.

Australia has the highest rate of knee reconstructions in the world — what's going on, and how do we stop it? Plus, how weight loss can help with diabetes remission, the impact diabetes has on surgical outcomes, and the factors that play into higher rates of psychological distress among Aboriginal Australians.