This new edition of Ann Bowling's well-known and highly respected text has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect key methodological developments in health research. It is a comprehensive, easy to read, guide to the range of methods used to study and evaluate health and health services. It describes the concepts and methods used by the main disciplines involved in health research, including: demography, epidemiology, health economics, psychology and sociology.The research methods described cover the assessment of health needs, morbidity and mortality trends and rates, costing health services, sampling for survey research, cross-sectional and longitudinal survey design, experimental methods and techniques of group assignment, questionnaire design, interviewing techniques, coding and analysis of quantitative data, methods and analysis of qualitative observational studies, and types of unstructured interviewing. With new material on topics such as cluster randomization, utility analyses, patients' preferences, and perception of risk, the text is aimed at students and researchers of health and health services. It has also been designed for health professionals and policy makers who have responsibility for applying research findings in practice, and who need to know how to judge the value of that research.

Research Methods in Health. Investigating health and health services

This study, which is a part of the initiative 'Lifting The Burden: The Global Campaign to Reduce the Burden of Headache Worldwide', assesses and presents all existing evidence of the world prevalence and burden of headache disorders. Population-based studies applying International Headache Society criteria for migraine and tension-type headache, and also studies on headache in general and 'chronic daily headache', have been included. Globally, the percentages of the adult population with an active headache disorder are 46% for headache in general, 11% for migraine, 42% for tension-type headache and 3% for chronic daily headache. Our calculations indicate that the disability attributable to tension-type headache is larger worldwide than that due to migraine. On the World Health Organization's ranking of causes of disability, this would bring headache disorders into the 10 most disabling conditions for the two genders, and into the five most disabling for women.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1468-2982.2007.01288.x

The Global Burden of Headache: A Documentation of Headache Prevalence and Disability Worldwide:

Insomnia as a predictor of depression: A meta-analytic evaluation of longitudinal epidemiological studies.

4 CLINICAL PARTICULARS 4.1 Therapeutic Indications Trimetazidine is indicated in adults as add-on therapy for the symptomatic treatment of patients with stable angina pectoris who are inadequately controlled by or intolerant to first-line antianginal therapies. 4.2 Posology and method of administration Oral administration. Posology The dose is one tablet of 35mg of trimetazidine twice daily during meals. Special populations Renal impairment In patients with moderate renal impairment (creatinine clearance [30-60] ml/min) (see sections 4.4 and 5.2), the recommended dose is 1 tablet of 35mg in the morning during breakfast. Elderly Elderly patients may have increased trimetazidine exposure due to age-related decrease in renal function (see section 5.2). In patients with moderate renal impairment (creatinine clearance [30-60] ml/min), the recommended dose is 1 tablet of 35mg in the morning during breakfast. Dose titration in elderly patients should be exercised with caution (see section 4.4). Health Products Regulatory Authority

Summary of product characteristics

QUITE apart from the academic consideration that vital and medical statistics now form an obligatory part of the education of students seeking the University of London's diploma in public health, the demand for information about the methods of vital and medical statistics is increasing. The most casual reader of the newspapers is now aware that population problems are of serious practical importance and that the publications of the General Register Office cannot be ignored. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that the recently issued preliminary report on the census of 1931 is one of the most sensational documents which has appeared for years, and that he who reads it intelligently will understand what is meant by saying that civilisation is in the melting pot. An Introduction to Medical Statistics. By Hilda M. Woods William T. Russell. Pp. x + 125. (London: P. S. King and Son, Ltd., 1931.) 7s. 6d.

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An Introduction to Medical Statistics


 
 
 Pain is one the few sensory and emotional experiences experienced by almost all humans. When pain is uncontrolled, prolonged or disabling, people are likely to seek help from healthcare professionals1. Community pharmacies are located in the centre of communities, providing easy access to highly trained healthcare professionals, and medicines, without an appointment. Consequently, many customer interactions within pharmacies may relate to pain, however current information on the utilisation of community pharmacies for pain management and the nature of interactions is limited.
 
 
 
 To gain a greater understanding of how pharmacy customers use community pharmacies to manage pain.
 
 
 
 A questionnaire survey was administered to customers in 14 community pharmacies situated within the East Midlands between 7th and 26th March 2022. Pharmacy customers were approached and invited to take part if they were aged 18 years or above and had capacity. Participants were asked information about their use of community pharmacy in general, and their use of community pharmacy in relation to pain and pain medicines. Responses were recorded electronically using the Qualtrics survey platform. Descriptive statistics were derived using Microsoft Excel. Ethical approval for the study was given by the School of Pharmacy Research Ethics Committee at the University of Nottingham (ref 2017-017er).
 
 
 
 Of the pharmacy customers approached, 2798 consented to taking part in the survey (response rate = 36.2%). Approximately two-thirds of participants were female (68.7%, n=1901), and around half were aged 50 years or older (51.8%, n=1434). The most common reason for visiting the pharmacy was to collect a prescription (42.5%, n=1159), followed by purchasing a non-medicinal product (34.4%, n=937). The third most common reason for visiting the pharmacy was to purchase a medicine (19.8%, n=540). The majority of customers reported purchasing a medicine for pain from the pharmacy counter in the past (84.8%, n=2277), approximately half had used a community pharmacy to get advice about a medicine for pain (55.4%, n=1468), and slightly fewer had used a community pharmacy for advice about a painful condition (41.9%, n=1076). Of those who had sought advice for a painful condition, most customers reported this being for a new painful condition (70.5%, n=759), with a third seeking advice for pain from a long-term problem (32.5%, n=350). Fewer customers had sought advice for long-term pain which had recently become worse (17.8%, n=191).
 
 
 
 A significant proportion of pharmacy customers participating in this survey reported purchasing a pain medicine from the pharmacy counter and/or seeking advice about a pain medicine or a painful condition. These results suggest community pharmacies play an important role in the management of pain and supporting the wider NHS. Whilst survey participation was substantial, the results may not reflect the use of community pharmacy throughout the UK. Further analysis of this survey and future work will help to inform how community pharmacies can develop their role in pain management to improve care and support other parts of the health service.
 
 
 
 1. Thorstensson, C.A., Gooberman-Hill, R., Adamson, J. et al. Help-seeking behaviour among people living with chronic hip or knee pain in the community. BMC Musculoskelet Disord, 2009;10(1):153.


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Helen F. Boardman

Papers

Pain management in community pharmacy: a survey of pharmacy customers