Women are more likely to suffer badly from joint problems than men, a survey has found.

Almost half (47 per cent) of women with joint pain said it was so bad they lost sleep and 40 per cent reported a decline in their mental health. 

Meanwhile, 44 per cent said it affected their emotional wellbeing, compared to only 34 per cent of the men.

Experts believe physiological factors and weight gain during menopause are contributing to the effects on women.

Nuffield Health surveyed 8,000 people over 16 as part of its Healthier Nation Index. It found eight in ten women had experienced joint pain at some point.

Americans believe that the federal budget will be most positively impacted by a Republican-led House of Representatives. 

A new CNN/SSRS poll released Monday found that 43 percent of respondents said the federal budget would be positively effected by Republican control – the largest percentage of any topic asked.  

On the question of which branch of government gave Americans more confidence, respondents were split – with 51 percent saying Republicans in Congress and 49 percent saying Democratic President Joe Biden‘s White House, within the survey’s 3.6 percent margin of error. 

Respondents were skeptical that the investigation into the January 6 Capitol attack would continue with Republican control of the House and they also feared divided government would bring gridlock.

Forty-four percent of survey respondents said Republican control of the House would have a mostly negative effect on the January 6 investigation.

Forty-three percent said the level of cooperation in Washington would be negatively effected with GOP control of the House. 

Forty-one percent of respondents said immigration laws and gun laws would also be negatively impacted. 

Responses were more evenly divided on tax policies, inflation and government oversight. 

For example, 38 percent of respondents said a Republican-controlled House would have a negative impact on Congressional oversight of the Biden administration, while 35 percent viewed this mostly positively. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will step down from the top post with a majority of Americans viewing her negatively. 

Fifty-three percent said they held an unfavorable opinion of the California Democrat, while 33 percent said they liked her. 

About one-in-five survey respondents, 21 percent, said they had never heard of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the Republican vying for speaker.

Around the same number, 19 percent, of respondents said they liked McCarthy, while 36 percent held an unfavorable view of the California Republican. 

Even fewer Americans hadn’t heard of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who Democrats elected to be their leader once the new Congress begins. 

Sixty-four percent had never heard of him or had yet to form an opinion of the rising New York Democrat.  

Thousands of bowel cancer patients could be spared gruelling radiotherapy with no impact on their survival, research shows.

Most people with advanced bowel cancer currently undergo radiotherapy followed by chemotherapy and then surgery.

But a major trial found more than nine in ten patients who skipped radiotherapy were just as likely to be alive five years later than those who had it.

Experts said avoiding radiotherapy would be a ‘major step forward’ for patients, who would be spared debilitating side effects including pelvic fractures, impaired bowel, bladder and sexual function and secondary cancers.

Presenting their findings at the world’s largest cancer conference in Chicago, they called for clinical practice to change.

Dr Deb Schrag, of the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York, said: ‘Most intermediate risk rectal cancer patients can be cured without needing pelvic radiation.

‘It’s a big deal because we have been radiating pelvises to treat this type of rectal cancer for the past 30 years.

‘Although it works well, pelvic radiation has real toxicities. It impaired bowel, bladder and sexual function and has increased risk of pelvic fractures and secondary cancers. It can impair the function of the bone marrow which can affect chemotherapy in the future.

‘We asked the question, could we use radiation more selectively and only give it to people who don’t respond to chemotherapy rather than giving the radiation to everyone as part of the standard?

‘There were no meaningful differences between the two approaches and only 9 per cent of patients in the radiation arm needed radiation.’ Around 40,000 people in UK are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year, with about 20 to 30 per cent diagnosed with rectal cancer.

The study involved 1,194 patients with stage 3 rectal cancer – meaning it has spread to lymph nodes but not other organs.

Around half were not given radiation treatment unless they failed to respond to chemotherapy followed by surgery to remove the tumour.

Of this group, only nine per cent were found to need radiotherapy as well, according to the findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

After five years, 80.8 per cent of those just given chemotherapy and surgery were free from disease, compared to 78.6 per cent of those given both radiotherapy and chemotherapy before surgery.

Recurrence rates were very low and similar for both groups at two per cent, the study found.

While radiotherapy has been part of the standard treatment for this cancer for decades, chemotherapy has improved.

Professor Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK’s chief clinician, said oncologists were increasingly trying to find ways to reduce drug or radiation exposure to limit the long-term side effects for patients.

‘Pelvic radiotherapy is associated with major long term side effects. I think avoiding radiation is a major step forward. And this non inferiority trial has shown that it does look like you can avoid radiation for the majority of patients.

He added: ‘I think you’re probably talking about thousands of patients a year in the UK [who could be spared radiotherapy].

‘It’s excellent for NHS resources, being able to avoid radiation and free up radiotherapy slots for other patients.’ Dr Pamela Kunz, an ASCO expert, said it was ‘really a case of less is more’.

She said: ‘The study shows that we can spare select patients from receiving radiation without compromising efficacy.

‘This leads to improved quality of life and reduced side effects including things like early menopause, and infertility. This trial is practice changing.’