Mind & Body · Wednesday, 14 October 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Women with autoimmune diseases are more often told their symptoms are psychological, and wait one to two years for a diagnosis, a survey of more than 6,600 patients finds

In a Cambridge and East Anglia survey, women were 74% more likely than men to report being told their illness came from stress or anxiety, and the most common wait for a diagnosis was one to two years for women against under three months for men.

74%

more likely, for women than men, to report being told their symptoms came from stress or anxiety

the gap held after the researchers allowed for age, type of illness and household money [1]

1 to 2 years

the most common wait for a diagnosis among the women

among the men it was under three months [1]

47 months

the median wait from first symptom to a lupus diagnosis, in one review

lupus has no single test and can look like other illnesses [3][4]

The lead story — what happened

Women with autoimmune diseases were 74% more likely than men to report being told their symptoms were psychosomatic, meaning caused or made worse by stress or anxiety. 34% of women and 22% of men said this had happened to them. [1]
They were also 46% more likely to report being told the cause was psychiatric, after the researchers allowed for age, type of illness, continent and household money. [1]
Before that adjustment, 43% of women and 33% of men said their illness had been put down to a psychiatric cause. [1]
For men, the most common wait from first symptom to diagnosis was under three months. For women, it was one to two years. [1]
The survey covered more than 6,600 people, most of them women in the UK. It was led by Melanie Sloan of the University of Cambridge and the University of East Anglia, and published in eClinicalMedicine, a Lancet journal. [1]
An autoimmune disease is one in which the immune system attacks the body's own healthy tissue by mistake. Scientists know of more than 80 of them. [4][5]
Lupus, which one in seven women in the survey had, has no single test and is often mistaken for other illnesses. [1][4]
A review of lupus put the median wait from first symptom to diagnosis at 47 months, and says delay can let the disease damage organs for good. [3]
In an earlier survey of 1,269 people with these diseases, Sloan's team found a quarter had also been told they had fibromyalgia, a pain condition with no objective test. More than half of them doubted that label. [2]
A review of young women's diagnoses says common symptoms such as tiredness and chest pain are often put down to stress, and names doctors' mental shortcuts as one cause. [6] Another review describes doctors telling patients 'it's all in your head' when tests come back unclear. [7]
Autoimmune illness can even look like mental illness: some people with autoimmune inflammation of the brain are first treated for psychosis, New Scientist reported in April. [8]
The mistake can run the other way too. In a study led by the Mayo Clinic, about half of 107 adults wrongly told they had autoimmune brain inflammation really had a functional or psychiatric disorder. A major reason was over-reading a vague blood antibody result. [9]

Women: told it was psychiatric43%

Men: told it was psychiatric33%

Women: told it was stress34%

Men: told it was stress22%

Share of people in the survey who said a doctor put their autoimmune illness down to the mind, before any adjustment.

Who is involved

Melanie Sloan

a public health researcher at Cambridge and the University of East Anglia; she led the survey and says doctors should tell patients 'I believe you' [1]
Shaista Tayabali

a patient with an autoimmune disease who was on the research team and co-wrote the study [1]
The women in the survey

almost a quarter had autoimmune thyroid disease and one in seven had lupus [1]

Where this points

The survey counted what patients reported, so the next test is whether the same gap between women and men shows up in doctors' own records. [1]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Illnesses no test can show High→

Women in a survey of more than 6,600 people with autoimmune diseases most often waited one to two years for a diagnosis. [1] Chronic urine infections have no agreed medical definition in the UK, and urine samples can show too few bacteria to confirm them. [12] Women with long-term pelvic pain can wait years for any explanation of it. [20]

Untested products on sale Building↑

People who took BPC-157, a peptide never tested in clinical trials, describe months of tiredness and anxiety. [16] Seven more sexual enhancement products with hidden drugs joined the US regulator's warning list in September. [21] Pills sold to raise NAD+, a molecule in every cell, have no convincing evidence that they slow ageing. [22]

Screens and children's health Building↑

More than 150 doctors and other health workers asked England's government to cut screen use in classrooms. [10] Both main candidates in the US Senate race in Texas are campaigning against social media's effect on children. [17] New South Wales, an Australian state, will make classroom screen limits compulsory from 2028. [11]

Finding hidden risk early Steady↑

Northern Ireland tests the relatives of people found to have an inherited cholesterol disease, and now finds it at a higher rate than anywhere else in the UK. [24] A US study found one in nine men already had a high risk of hip fracture when their prostate cancer was diagnosed. [29] A model built to forecast US hospital admissions for flu, COVID and RSV beat a simple guess by about 40%. [31]

The rest of the day

23 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Doctors ask England to cut classroom screens

More than 150 doctors and other health workers wrote to England's education and health secretaries, Lucy Powell and Yvette Cooper, asking for less screen use in schools. [10] They say nearly one million children use screens in most lessons. [10] They point to an analysis of 276 studies that found short-sightedness in children and teenagers rose from about 24% in 1990 to almost 36% by 2023. [10] England's government says it is writing screen-time guidance for ages five to 18. [10] New South Wales in Australia will make classroom limits compulsory from 2028. [11]

199024%
202336%
Share of children and teenagers who are short-sighted, from the analysis of 276 studies the letter cites.

Why it matters — The letter says children with special educational needs are steered to screen learning more than others, so they would feel any change first. [10] The doctors also admit some of the evidence is still coming in. [10]
03
Chronic urine infections still have no definition

Allison Gardner, a Labour MP, says she has lived for about ten years with urinary tract infections (UTIs) that keep coming back. [12] A chronic UTI has no official medical definition in the UK, and it can be hard to confirm because urine samples may show few bacteria. [12] Gardner says she was told to 'wipe yourself better' after describing intense pain. [12] She co-chairs a group of MPs pushing for a definition, and a panel of doctors plans to deliver one in 2027 to NICE, which writes treatment guidance for the NHS. [12]

Why it matters — A review of UTI tests says newer, more exact tests are under-used in family practice, so doctors often treat without knowing the germ. [14] A US hospital study found the opposite problem as well: a positive urine test did not always mean a real infection. [13]
04
Three in four could be refused top-up cover

KFF, a US health research group, found that 74% of people in Medicare Advantage in 2023, about 20.9 million, had an illness that could get them refused a Medigap policy. [15] Medicare is US public health cover, mostly for people aged 65 and over, and Medicare Advantage is the version run by private insurers. [15] Medigap is extra insurance that pays bills traditional Medicare leaves. Outside a one-time window, its insurers may refuse people with existing illnesses. [15] The share at risk was 66% at ages 65 to 74 and 88% at 85 and over. [15]

All members74%
Aged 65 to 7466%
Aged 85 and over88%
Share of Medicare Advantage members in each age group with an illness that could get a Medigap application refused, in 2023.

Why it matters — People who join Medicare Advantage and later get sicker may be unable to switch back to traditional Medicare with top-up cover. [15] Four states, including New York, make insurers sell Medigap to everyone over 65 whatever their health. [15]
05
People hurt by untested peptides speak out

KFF Health News spoke to people who say BPC-157 harmed them. [16] It is a peptide, a short chain of the building blocks of proteins, and it has never been through clinical trials. [16] Dylan Meetze, a weightlifter, says he had months of tiredness and anxiety after using it as a nasal spray. [16] An unpublished study of health records found more than 1,000 people have told US doctors since 2020 that they took it. [16] In July, advisers to the FDA, the US medicines regulator, voted to let specialist pharmacies make it and five other peptides. [16]

Why it matters — FDA scientists told the panel there was not enough evidence that these peptides help any illness, and warned of possible liver damage and allergic reactions. [16] The FDA has not yet made its final decision. [16]
06
Children's online safety unites US rivals

In Texas, Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton are rivals for a US Senate seat, and both campaign against social media's effect on children, KFF Health News reports. [17] At least 35 Senate nominees this year have backed bills, opened investigations or publicly attacked big tech firms over children. [17] In August, Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, agreed to pay up to $17 billion over ten years to settle claims by US states that it made its apps addictive to children. [18] The US Congress is moving closer to passing the Kids Online Safety Act. [17]

Why it matters — CDC figures from 2025 show a third of US young people have lasting feelings of sadness or hopelessness. [17] Sandro Galea, a public health dean, says the science on whether social media causes it is crude and messy. [17]
07
A private fund rivals the US autism research budget

Aligning Research to Impact Autism (ARIA), set up in 2024 by the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, has committed more than $450 million to autism research. [19] About $300 million of it was announced since June. That is about as much as the yearly autism research budget of the NIH, the main US government funder of health research. [19] It aims at the roots of profound autism and at possible treatments. [19] One grant of $46 million went to a team at the University of California, San Francisco, to map how proteins made by autism-linked genes work together. [19]

Why it matters — Helen Tager-Flusberg of Boston University says ARIA is likely to change autism research, at a time when US government research funding is uncertain. [19]
08
Pelvic pain: living well, not only less pain

Researchers surveyed 147 women with long-term pelvic pain, meaning pain low in the belly for at least three months. [20] Nearly two thirds had endometriosis, in which tissue like the womb lining grows outside the womb. [20] How much endometriosis a doctor can see does not always match how bad the pain is. [20] Women who had had surgery or used painkillers reported a worse quality of life, which the authors say may be because women with worse pain get those treatments. [20] Only 31% had tried psychological therapies. [20]

Why it matters — The authors say sleep, work and time with family can matter to patients as much as a pain score. [20] For many of these women, finding any explanation for the pain took years. [20]
09
Hidden drugs in sexual enhancement pills

Pills sold at US petrol stations and online as sexual enhancers can hold drugs that are not on the label, an article in The Conversation explains. [21] In 2023 the FDA warned that one, Rhino 7S, contained sildenafil, the drug in Viagra, and paracetamol. [21] Seven more products joined the FDA's warning list in September 2026. [21] Supplements do not need FDA approval before they go on sale, and the agency tests only some of them. [21]

Why it matters — Sildenafil taken with nitrate heart medicines can make blood pressure drop dangerously. [21] The FDA says its warning list covers only a fraction of the tainted products on sale. [21]
10
What NAD+ pills can and cannot show

NAD+ is a molecule in every cell that helps turn food into energy, and some studies find its level falls by 10% to 80% with age. [22] Pills sold against ageing aim to raise it. [22] Swallowing NAD+ itself does little, because digestion breaks it down. [22] Two forms of vitamin B3, called NR and NMN, do raise it in the blood. In one trial of 140 adults, the highest dose of NR raised it by 142% in two weeks. [22]

Why it matters — A review of 33 human studies found mixed effects on strength, walking and other signs of healthy ageing. [22] So a higher reading in the blood has not yet been shown to mean a longer or healthier life. [22]
11
Wales widens its RSV vaccine

This autumn Wales has extended its RSV vaccine to higher-risk adults aged 65 to 74. [23] RSV is a common winter virus that can cause serious chest illness in babies and older people. [23] The vaccine is already offered to everyone aged 75 and over, and to pregnant women from 28 weeks to protect their newborn babies. [23] In a normal season, RSV in children under two causes 2,300 to 2,600 hospital admissions in Wales. [23]

Why it matters — Jo Goldsmith, a children's nurse whose newborn daughter Phoebe needed high dependency care with RSV before the vaccine existed, is urging pregnant women to have it. [23]
12
Testing relatives finds a hidden cholesterol disease

Sandra McCartney's heart stopped for ten minutes in 2019. [24] Doctors later found she had familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), an inherited condition that causes very high cholesterol. [24] The British Heart Foundation estimates more than two thirds of people with FH in the UK are never diagnosed. [24] In Northern Ireland, when one person is found to have it, specialist nurses offer tests to their relatives. [24] The Belfast Trust says this gives Northern Ireland the highest rate of finding FH in the UK. [24]

Why it matters — A child of a parent with FH has a one in two chance of having it, so one diagnosis can find several more. [24] Once found, it is treated with standard cholesterol drugs. [24]
13
An artificial ear lets a man hear on his left

Stephen Gilbert, 74, was born with microtia, a rare condition in which the outer ear is missing or not fully formed. [25] At the Ulster Hospital in Northern Ireland he was fitted with a new artificial ear that holds a hearing aid. [25] The aid sends sound from his left side to his working right ear, so he can hear on the left for the first time. [25] The hospital's prosthetist, Brian Bigmore, has made about 4,000 artificial body parts and devices for more than 250 patients. [25]

Why it matters — The service is the only one of its kind in Northern Ireland, and it also makes eyes, noses and fingers for people after injuries or cancer surgery. [25]
14
Ear nerve pulses: a small test

Researchers gave 18 healthy men five minutes of mild electric pulses on the outer ear, a spot that may reach the vagus nerve, which helps slow the heart. [26] The usual measures of heart-rhythm variation did not change. [26] But a reflex that steadies blood pressure got weaker during the pulses, and blood pressure went up. [26] The study had no fake-pulse group, so the authors say a test with one is needed. [26]

Why it matters — The authors say the body's response to this kind of pulse is not simply the calming one it is often expected to be. [26]
15
Acupressure did no better than a fake version

Many people taking aromatase inhibitors, pills that lower hormones after breast cancer, get joint pain, and half stop the pills early, mostly for that reason. [27] A University of Michigan trial taught 48 patients to press either real acupressure points or fake ones for 12 weeks. [27] Pain fell by about the same amount in both groups: from 5.1 to 4.3 out of 10 with real points, and from 5.7 to 4.9 with fake ones. [27]

-0.8Real points
-0.8Fake points
Fall in worst pain, out of 10, over 12 weeks. Both groups fell by about the same amount, so the real points added nothing.

Why it matters — The authors conclude this set of points does not work for this pain. [27] Without the fake group, the real points would have looked like they helped. [27]
16
A leakier brain barrier in hard-to-treat depression

Researchers in China used an MRI scan to measure how easily water crosses the blood-brain barrier, the lining that keeps most things in the blood out of the brain. [28] In 44 people whose depression had not improved with treatment, the barrier let more through than in 62 healthy people, across several brain networks. [28] In some areas, a leakier barrier went with worse symptoms. [28]

Why it matters — The authors say this links the barrier to how brain networks are organised in this kind of depression. [28] It shows a link, not a cause.
17
Hip-fracture risk found at prostate cancer diagnosis

A US study of 25,413 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2010 and 2022 worked out their risk of a hip fracture in the next ten years. [29] One in nine was already at high risk at diagnosis, and 87% of men aged 80 to 89 were. [29] A common risk tool, called FRAX, adjusts its answer by race. Without that adjustment, the share of Black men at high risk rose from 1.4% to 8.1%. [29]

1.4%Tool adjusted by race
8.1%No race adjustment
Share of Black men with prostate cancer flagged as at high risk of a hip fracture. The same men, scored two ways: the setting of the tool moved the answer almost sixfold.

Why it matters — Men given hormone-lowering treatment for prostate cancer are more likely to break bones, so the authors want bones checked when the cancer is found. [29]
18
Health-record AI reports passed while incomplete

US rules require companies that make electronic health records to publish how they check the AI prediction tools inside them for risks. [30] Researchers at Georgetown University read the reports of 35 such companies. [30] They found them inconsistent and often incomplete. [30] Every one of the companies had still been certified as meeting the rules. [30]

Why it matters — The authors call for one standard form for these reports and stricter checks before a company is certified. [30]
19
A model that forecasts flu, COVID and RSV

Researchers built one computer model to forecast US hospital admissions for COVID-19, flu and RSV across regions and seasons. [31] It beat a simple baseline by 41% to 44%. It was the top single model in the CDC's flu forecasting contest in the 2023-24 and 2025-26 seasons. [31] It also found a heavier burden of these illnesses in the US South than in the West and Northeast. [31]

Why it matters — A forecast a few weeks ahead gives health officials and hospitals time to prepare for more patients. [31]
20
Squeezing blood flow while boxing

Researchers tested 16 elite female boxers doing all-out punching sets while cuffs partly squeezed the blood flow to their arms. [32] With the tightest cuff, set at 80% of the pressure that would stop the flow, the muscles worked harder and growth hormone in the blood rose. [32] Punches got weaker and muscles more sore, but the boxers recovered within 48 hours. [32]

Why it matters — The study measured what happens in single sessions, not whether boxers improve over months of training. [32]
21
Young adults' fear of growing old

A survey of 430 people aged 20 to 40 in one province of Turkey measured their fear of growing old and their bias against older people. [33] Both were lower among those who said they had enough money, and among those who visited older people every week. [33] People who had visited care homes showed more of both. [33]

Why it matters — Health researchers count ageism, bias against people because of their age, as one of the social causes of poor health. [33]
22
Pressure sores come early after spinal injury

A hospital in Montreal, Canada, followed 142 people admitted after a spinal cord injury. [34] Nearly a third, 45 people, got a pressure sore at the base of the spine, a wound that forms where skin is pressed for too long. [34] Half of those sores appeared within two weeks. [34] People with full loss of movement below the injury had about twice the risk later in their stay. [34]

Why it matters — The authors say prevention should be strongest in the first two weeks in hospital. [34] The study was paid for by Medline Industries, a medical supplies company. [34]
23
When a diet becomes who you are

A commentary in a Nature journal says diet labels such as vegan, keto and carnivore are becoming signs of who people are and which group they belong to. [35] Science bodies increasingly agree on diets rich in plants and low in processed food, yet public arguments about food grow more divided. [35] When a diet is part of someone's identity, the authors warn, they may judge nutrition research by their group rather than by the evidence. [35]

Why it matters — That can make new findings hard to hear for people whose group has already decided what to eat. [35]
24
Fighter pilots' necks under heavy force

Researchers recorded the head movements of seven Eurofighter pilots during turns at five, seven and nine times the pull of gravity. [36] The pilots tipped their heads back less as the force grew. [36] The load on their necks stayed about the same, and computer models suggest that is because they moved less. [36]

Why it matters — The authors say large head movements under these forces may cause neck injuries in fast-jet pilots. [36]

02 Lesson why it matters

When tests come back clear, a real illness can be blamed on stress

Many autoimmune diseases have no single test, so a normal result can be read as "nothing wrong" and the symptoms put down to the mind.

The twist

A clear test result only means that test found nothing. When it is read as proof that nothing is wrong, a person with a real illness can be sent home and told it is stress.

The picture

under 3 monthsMost common wait, men

1 to 2 yearsMost common wait, women

How long people in the survey most often waited from first symptom to an autoimmune diagnosis.

How it works

An autoimmune illness starts with common symptoms like tiredness and pain
There is often no single test that proves it, and early tests can look normal
With nothing found, the doctor reaches for a cause that needs no test: stress
That guess comes faster for some patients, in this survey for women
The patient goes home untreated while the illness carries on

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

The MP's chronic urine infections

Urine samples can show too few bacteria to confirm a chronic infection, and Allison Gardner says she felt doctors did not believe her pain.
Women with long-term pelvic pain

How much endometriosis a doctor can see does not match how bad the pain is, so a scan showing little disease can sit beside severe pain.
Hip-fracture risk in men with prostate cancer

The risk tool set by race flagged 1.4% of Black men, against 8.1% without that setting, so a low score came partly from how the tool was set.

Where you've seen this

A car's dashboard

no warning light means the sensors saw nothing, not that a part without a sensor is fine

A smoke alarm

silence means no smoke reached it, so a fire in another room can still be burning

A lost suitcase

an airline that cannot find a bag on its computer has not shown the bag is gone

The catch

Tests can mislead the other way too, as the Mayo Clinic study shows. And the survey counted what patients remembered, so it cannot say how many of the reported misdiagnoses really happened.

And the whole of it

Doctors here work with the tests they have, and patients describe what they feel. Any of us could one day have an illness no test can yet show, and the doctor across the desk would see only normal results.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

A survey of more than 6,600 people found that women with autoimmune diseases were more often told their symptoms came from the mind, and most often waited one to two years for a diagnosis, against under three months for most men. [1] On the same day an MP, Allison Gardner, described years of urine infections that tests struggle to confirm and that still have no medical definition in the UK. [12]

Why it works on us — A normal test result feels like proof that nothing is wrong, so both a doctor and a patient can accept stress as the answer.

Who gains

Clinic owners who sell peptides — People with money in the peptide business were put on the FDA advisory panel, and one, whose clinic sells a BPC-157 product for $149, told the meeting the FDA had not made a good case on safety. [16]
Makers of tainted sexual enhancement pills — Supplements need no FDA approval before sale and only some are tested, so a product can sell for years before it is caught. [21]
Medigap insurers — Outside a one-time window they may refuse or charge more to people with existing illnesses, a limit KFF says holds down average premiums. [15]
Companies that make electronic health records — All 35 were certified as meeting US rules on AI risk reports, though their reports were often incomplete. [30]
Meta — It has spent $10 million on TV adverts for its teen accounts, and it argues for laws that let parents approve apps instead of bans. [17]

Who pays

Women with autoimmune diseases — Their most common wait for a diagnosis was one to two years, and Sloan says being disbelieved damages their trust in doctors for a long time. [1]
People with chronic urine infections — With no definition, doctors are limited in how long a course of antibiotics they can prescribe, and Gardner considered selling her house to pay for private surgery. [12]
Older people in Medicare Advantage — 88% of those aged 85 and over have an illness that could get them refused Medigap if they try to switch to traditional Medicare. [15]
People who take untested peptides — Users describe months of tiredness, anxiety and migraines, and with no trials there is no data to tell them what went wrong. [16]
Children with special educational needs in England — The doctors' letter says they are steered to screen-based learning more than other children. [10]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

How many of the reported misdiagnoses really happened.

The survey counted what patients said they were told, and the reports cited here do not say that medical records were checked. [1]
02

Whether the gap between women and men comes from doctors or from the illnesses.

The researchers allowed for type of illness, age and money, and still found a gap, but they also say diagnosis is hard for both sexes and women had different diseases from men. [1]
03

What the first definition of a chronic urine infection will say.

The panel writing it will not report until 2027, and NICE says it needs more research before it can recommend anything. [12]
04

Whether classroom screens cause the rise in short-sightedness.

The doctors' letter cites a rise from about 24% to almost 36% across 276 studies, but says some of the evidence is still coming in. [10]
05

Whether the FDA will let pharmacies make BPC-157 and five other peptides.

Its advisers voted yes in July against its own scientists' advice, and the agency has not decided. The count of more than 1,000 users comes from a study not yet published. [16]
06

Whether US social media laws will pass, and whether they would help.

The US Congress is moving closer to the Kids Online Safety Act, while a public health dean calls the science on social media and young people's mental health crude and messy. [17]
07

How many people Medigap insurers could really refuse.

KFF counted 74% with an illness listed on applications, and says the true share may be higher, because insurers also ask about recent hospital stays. [15]
08

Whether mild pulses on the ear do anything useful.

The study had 18 men and no fake-pulse group, and its authors say it does not show any benefit. [26]
09

Whether raising NAD+ in the blood helps people age better.

Most trials are small, and a review of 33 found mixed results. [22]

04 Hope carry this

Stephen Gilbert, 74, was born with his left outer ear missing. A new artificial ear made at the Ulster Hospital holds a hearing aid, and he can now hear on his left side for the first time.

Also true today

In Northern Ireland, when one person is found to have an inherited cholesterol disease, nurses offer tests to their relatives, and the region now finds it at a higher rate than anywhere else in the UK.
This autumn Wales began offering its RSV vaccine to higher-risk adults aged 65 to 74, adding them to everyone aged 75 and over and to pregnant women.