Blinding in randomised controlled trials of oral health interventions and effect size estimates

Clearer guidance needed on cardiology follow up, primary care treatment of skins conditions and surveillance for disability hate crime

In this blog Mark-Steven Howe looks at a methodlogical review and meta-analysis. The review looked at the use of patient and assessor blinding is trials of oral health interventions and shows larger effect sizes when blinding was lacking.

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Mental health and suicide risk in LGBTQ students: What are the associated factors?

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Sarah Carr writes an important blog for #PrideMonth that looks at general and LGBTQ-specific factors associated with mental health and suicide risk among LGBTQ students.

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New study estimates that UK smokers with mental illness cost the economy £2.34 billion

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This new study estimates that there are approximately 3 million smokers in the UK with mental illness, and the direct cost of treatment to the NHS in this population was £719 million in 2010. The total smoking-attributable costs for this group are estimated at £2.34 billion.

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Suicide in primary care: findings of the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness

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The National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness was established in its current form at Manchester University in 1996. From 1991, prior to the move to Manchester, research in this area had been managed within the Royal College of Psychiatrists.  The NCISH has established an outstanding national and international reputation [read the full story…]

Mental and substance use disorders are the leading cause of non-fatal illness worldwide

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Data from the largest and most comprehensive survey of causes of illness worldwide has been published in the Lancet. This paper represents the latest analysis of the data set collected in the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010 (GBD 2010) and focuses on the global burden of illness due to mental [read the full story…]

The burden of disease due to chronic illnesses, especially mental health illnesses is rising in the UK

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The NHS is thought of as a model health care system. It has experienced several reforms over the last 20 years, including greatly increased amounts of spending. So how have these changes affected the burden of disease due to mental health problems over this period, and how does the UK’s record in this area stack [read the full story…]

Rates of emergency admissions to hospital higher for people with learning disabilities

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Avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions for ‘ambulatory care sensitive conditions’ (ACSCs), reduces costs and should provide good outcomes for patients. ACSCs are defined as those where ‘effective management’ at the primary care level should avoid admission to hospital. Many of the conditions identified as ACSCs, for example convulsions and epilepsy are more common among people with [read the full story…]

NHS publish annual statistical report on drug misuse in England

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The NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre have published their annual report on drug misuse in adults and children, which this year includes a focus on young adults. Headlines from the report include a 58% rise in hospital admissions for drug poisoning in the last 11 years, and a 23% fall in admissions for drug-related mental [read the full story…]

Measuring National Well-being: first annual report from the Office for National Statistics

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The Measuring National Well-being programme was set up in 2010 with a focused aim, to ‘develop and publish an accepted and trusted set of National Statistics which help people understand and monitor well-being’. The idea here is that we need to add meaningful economic, social and environmental measures to sit alongside the traditional Gross Domestic [read the full story…]

Scotland sees increase in prescribing rates for mental health drugs

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The Scottish Government have published their annual summary of prescribing statistics for mental health drugs. The report shows increases in the prescribing rates for all groups of drugs over the last 12 months. The prescribing costs of some groups of drugs have also risen (ADHD, dementia, depression) although other groups have seen a decline (insomnia [read the full story…]