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Introduction The transition between paediatric and adult care for young people with chronic illness or disability is often poorly managed, with adverse consequences for health. Although many agree that adolescent services need to be improved, there is little empirical data on which policies can be based. Objectives To systematically review the evidence of effectiveness of transitional care programmes in young people aged 11–25 with chronic illness (physical or mental) or disability, and identify their successful components. Design A systematic literature review in July 2010 of studies which consistently evaluated health outcomes following transition programmes, either by comparison with a control group or by measurement pre-intervention and post-intervention. Results 10 studies met the inclusion criteria, six of which showed statistically significant improvements in outcomes. Descriptive analysis identified three broad categories of intervention, directed at: the patient (educational programmes, skills training); staffing (named transition co-ordinators, joint clinics run by paediatric and adult physicians); and service delivery (separate young adult clinics, out of hours phone support, enhanced follow-up). The conditions involved varied (eg, cystic fibrosis, diabetes mellitus), and outcome measures varied accordingly. All six interventions that resulted in significant improvements were in studies of patients with diabetes mellitus, with glycosylated haemoglobin level, acute and chronic complications, and rates of follow-up and screening used as outcome measures. Conclusions The most commonly used strategies in successful programmes were patient education and specific transition clinics (either jointly staffed by paediatric and adult physicians or dedicated young adult clinics within adult services). It is not clear how generalisable these successful studies in diabetes mellitus will be to other conditions.

BackgroundPharmacogenomics is viewed as one route to understanding inter-individual variability in drug response. However, clinical uptake in psychiatry is slower than in other medical fields such as oncology, so assessing evidence for psychiatric genotype-drug pairs and understanding what influences the magnitude of these effects is essential.MethodsWe performed a systematic search for studies investigating pharmacogenomic variation in the context of antipsychotic and antidepressant use. Outcomes varied, including those related to drug bioavailability (“proximal”) or side effects, symptom severity, and other treatment outcomes (“distal”). We performed a meta-analysis, moderated by outcome type, to quantify the average pharmacogenomic effect size across proximal and distal outcomes and assess whether they differ significantly from one another. We developed a Pharmacogenomic (PGx) Effect Size Explorer for Psychiatric Drugs dashboard that allows users to explore the dataset and perform simplified meta-analyses, power calculations, and Bayesian shrinkage analyses based on drugs, enzymes, and outcomes of interest (see:https://locksk.shinyapps.io/pgx-effect-sizes/).ResultsWe analysed 2,102 standardised mean differences (SMDs) from 184 studies, finding evidence that pharmacogenomic effect sizes for proximal outcomes were significantly larger than distal (Δβ = −0.203 [95% CI −0.288 to −0.118], p = 6 × 10−6). This trend was consistent across sub-groups restricted to the most common gene-drug pairings in the dataset. Power calculations for hypothetical future studies using two-sample t-tests showed that, to attain at least 80% statistical power, analyses of distal outcomes require a larger sample size than proximal outcomes.DiscussionWe demonstrate that pharmacogenomic effect sizes are significantly larger for proximal outcomes related to pharmacokinetics than for distal outcomes related to efficacy and toxicity. Understanding how the biological mechanisms underlying different outcomes might impact pharmacogenomic effect sizes could help to inform participant recruitment for future psychiatric pharmacogenomic studies, alongside the development of pharmacogenomic guidelines for psychiatric medications.

A failure to acknowledge uncertainty about the effectiveness of social interventions is a major barrier to evidence based public policy making. M Petticrew and colleagues argue that we need to develop and apply the concept of social equipoise

Background The power to influence many social determinants of health lies within local government sectors that are outside public health's traditional remit. We analyse the challenges of achieving health gains through local government alcohol control policies, where legal and professional practice frameworks appear to conflict with public health action. Methods Current legislation governing local alcohol control in England and Wales is reviewed and analysed for barriers and opportunities to implement effective population-level health interventions. Case studies of local government alcohol control practices are described. Results Addressing alcohol-related health harms is constrained by the absence of a specific legal health licensing objective and differences between public health and legal assessments of the relevance of health evidence to a specific place. Local governments can, however, implement health-relevant policies by developing local evidence for alcohol-related health harms; addressing cumulative impact in licensing policy statements and through other non-legislative approaches such as health and non-health sector partnerships. Innovative local initiatives—for example, minimum unit pricing licensing conditions—can serve as test cases for wider national implementation. Conclusions By combining the powers available to the many local government sectors involved in alcohol control, alcohol-related health and social harms can be tackled through existing local mechanisms.

'Reducing the Strength' (RtS) is a public health initiative encouraging retailers to voluntarily stop selling cheap, strong beers/ciders (≥6.5% alcohol by volume). This study evaluates the impact of RtS initiatives on alcohol availability and purchasing in three English counties with a combined population of 3.62 million people. We used a multiple baseline time-series design to examine retail data over 29 months from a supermarket chain that experienced a two-wave, area-based role out of RtS: initially 54 stores (W1), then another 77 stores (W2). We measured impacts on units of alcohol sold (primary outcome: beers/ciders; secondary outcome: all alcoholic products), economic impacts on alcohol sales and substitution effects. We observed a non-significant W1 increase (+3.7%, 95% CI: -11.2, 21.0) and W2 decrease (-6.8%, 95% CI: -20.5, 9.4) in the primary outcome. We observed a significant W2 decrease in units sold across all alcohol products (-10.5%, 95% CI: -19.2, -0.9). The direction of effect between waves was inconsistent for all outcomes, including alcohol sales, with no evidence of substitution effects. In the UK, voluntary RtS initiatives appear to have little or no impact on reducing alcohol availability and purchase from the broader population of supermarket customers.

Injectable opioid agonist treatment (iOAT) is an effective treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). To our knowledge, no research has systematically studied client preferences for accessing iOAT. Incorporating preferences could help meet the heterogenous needs of clients and make addiction care more person-centred. This paper presents a pilot study of a best-worst scaling (BWS) preference elicitation survey that aimed to assess if the survey was feasible and accessible for our population and to test that the survey could gather sound data that would suit our planned analyses. Current and former iOAT clients (n = 18) completed a BWS survey supported by an interviewer using a think-aloud approach. The survey was administered on PowerPoint, and responses and contextual field notes were recorded manually. Think-aloud audio was recorded on Audacity. Clients' feedback fell into five categories: framing of the task, accessibility, conceptualization of attributes and levels, formatting, and behaviour predicting questions. Survey repetitiveness was the most consistent feedback. The data simulation showed that 100 responses should provide an adequate sample size. This pilot demonstrates the type of analysis that can be done with BWS in our population, suggests that such analysis is feasible, and highlights the importance of the interviewer and participant working side-by-side throughout the task.

Clozapine is effective at reducing symptoms of treatment-resistant schizophrenia, but it can also induce several adverse outcomes including neutropenia and agranulocytosis. We used linear mixed-effect models and structural equation modelling to determine whether pharmacokinetic and genetic variables influence absolute neutrophil count in a longitudinal UK-based sample of clozapine users not currently experiencing neutropenia (N = 811). Increased daily clozapine dose was associated with elevated neutrophil count, amounting to a 133 cells/mm3 rise per standard deviation increase in clozapine dose. One-third of the total effect of clozapine dose was mediated by plasma clozapine and norclozapine levels, which themselves demonstrated opposing, independent associations with absolute neutrophil count. Finally, CYP1A2 pharmacogenomic activity score was associated with absolute neutrophil count, supporting lower neutrophil levels in CYP1A2 poor metabolisers during clozapine use. This information may facilitate identifying at-risk patients and then introducing preventative interventions or individualised pharmacovigilance procedures to help mitigate these adverse haematological reactions.

We report a rare case of acromegaly due to a growth hormone releasing hormone-secreting bronchial carcinoid tumour. A 40-year-old man initially presented with acromegalic features, and was subsequently found to have a large lung mass in the right lower zone on chest X-ray. Right lower lobectomy was performed, and the tumour was confirmed to be a bronchial carcinoid tumour on histology. Resection of the tumour led to normalisation of serum insulin-like growth factor 1 level and growth hormone responses to an oral glucose tolerance test.

ObjectiveTo explore social and behavioural impacts of English smoke-free legislation (SFL) in different ethnic groups.DesignA longitudinal, qualitative panel study of smokers using in-depth interviews conducted before and after introduction of SFL.ParticipantsA purposive sample of 32 smokers selected from three ethnic groups in deprived London neighbourhoods with approximately equal numbers of younger and older, male and female respondents.ResultsSFL has had positive impacts with half smoking less and three quitting. Although there were no apparent differences in smoking and quitting behaviours between groups, there were notable differences in the social impacts of SFL. The greatest negative impacts were in smokers over 60 years, potentially increasing their social isolation, and on young Somali women whose smoking was driven more underground. In contrast, most other young adult smokers felt relatively unaffected by SFL, describing unexpected social benefits. Although there was high compliance, reports of illegal smoking were more frequent among young, ethnic minority smokers, with descriptions of venues involved suggesting they are ethnically distinct and well hidden. Half of respondents reported stopping smoking in their own homes after SFL, but almost all were Somali or Turkish. White respondents tended to report increases in home smoking.DiscussionAlthough our study suggests that SFL can lead to reductions in tobacco consumption, it also shows that impacts vary by ethnicity, age and sex. This study highlights the importance of understanding the meaning of smoking in different social contexts so future tobacco control interventions can be developed to reduce health and social inequalities.

Abstract Objectives To describe the characteristics of randomised controlled trials supported by the main non-commercial sources of funding in the United Kingdom between 1980 and 2002. DesignDescriptive survey. SettingRandomised controlled trials funded by the Medical Research Council, NHS research and development programme, Department of Health, Chief Scientist Office in Scotland, and medical research charities. Participants1464 randomised controlled trials supported by the main non-commercial sources of funding. Results Support for randomised controlled trials by the main sources of non-commercial funding in the United Kingdom has fallen in recent years, without any concomitant increase in the sample sizes of these studies. Drug trials in a limited range of health problems have dominated among the studies supported by the Medical Research Council and medical research charities. Until recently, the NHS research and development programme supported randomised controlled trials of various healthcare interventions, in a wide range of health problems, but between 1999 and 2002 many of the subprogrammes that had commissioned trials were discontinued. Conclusions The future of non-commercial randomised controlled trials in the United Kingdom has been threatened by the discontinuation or demise of national and regional NHS research and development programmes. Support also seems to be declining from the Medical Research Council and the medical research charities. It is unclear what the future holds for randomised controlled trials that address issues of no interest to industry but are of great importance to patients and practitioners.