The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners 

About: The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & MEDLINE. It has an ISSN identifier of 0035-8797. Over the lifetime, 2487 publications have been published receiving 30091 citations.

Measuring health status: a new tool for clinicians and epidemiologists

Abstract: The development and validation of a short and simple measure of perceived health problems is described. Extensive testing with selected groups, including the elderly, the chronically ill, pregnant women, fracture victims, and a random sample of the community has established the face, content and criterion validity, and the reliability of the instrument. The Nottingham Health Profile is intended as a standardized tool for the survey of health problems in a population, but is equally valid and useful as a means of evaluating the outcome of medical and/or social interventions and as an adjunct to the clinical interview.

Clinical epidemiology: the essentials.

Abstract: Written by expert educators, this text introduces students to the principles of evidence-based medicine that will help them develop and apply methods of clinical observation in order to form accurate conclusions. The fifth edition includes more complete coverage of systematic reviews and knowledge management, as well as other key topics such as abnormality, diagnosis, frequency and risk, prognosis, treatment, prevention, chance, studying cases and cause.

Oxford textbook of medicine

Abstract: The pride in British medicine that was established by this flagship-the first edition of the Oxford textbook of medicine-is rekindled by the second edition. Some rearrangement and expansion of sections have occurred. The first edition indicated that the book was intended for anyone studying or practising clinical medicine (as a first reference source for general practitioners and specialists) and this new edition amply fulfils that challenge. A section on primary care brings this discipline into its rightful place in such a textbook and helps to break down any artificial barrier that may exist between hospital and family practice medicine. One looks for updating between the two editions and apart from increase in size there are 'improvements' throughout-almost completely new and recent references in the section on pituitary and hypothalmic disorders, an account of CT scanning in pituitary and adrenal disease, developments such as magnetic resonance imaging included in the cardiovascular disease section. The section on respiratory disease has illuminating descriptions of the pathophysiology of the airways and gas exchange. The clinical section on asthma is updated to modern concepts. Rheumatology and connective tissue disorders is expanded from eight to 15 subsections. AIDS, dealt with in only three pages, may (one hopes) be in the end a true perspective or, alternatively, this field is changing so rapidly that we can await a major assessment of this condition in a third edition.

Plasma fibrinogen — a major coronary risk factor

Abstract: The role of plasma fibrinogen as a potential indicator of susceptibility to heart attacks was studied in a sample of 297 men aged 40-69 years at entry who were initially free from overt coronary heart disease. During a mean observation period of 7.3 years (range 0.1-16.1) new heart attacks occurred in 40 men. There was a significant positive correlation between initial plasma fibrinogen levels and the subsequent incidence of heart attacks. In men with high cholesterol or high systolic blood pressure levels the incidence of heart attacks was respectively six times and 12 times greater in those with high plasma fibrinogen levels than in those with low fibrinogen levels. In multivariate models plasma fibrinogen was a highly significant and independent explanatory variable, at least as important as serum cholesterol, blood pressure or cigarette smoking. These results suggest that high plasma fibrinogen levels are an important coronary risk factor and should be included in profiles used to identify those at high risk of heart attacks.