Privacy and dignity in a hospice environment-the development of a clinical audit.

A clinical audit was developed and conducted at St Gemma's Hospice, Leeds, to provide evidence of the standard of privacy and dignity afforded to patients in the wards and Day Hospice. It involved setting standards from key documents and including patients, carers, and staff in developing questionnaires. The questionnaires were administered to 30 patients and 130 members of the multidisciplinary team.

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels are associated with breslow thickness at presentation and survival from melanoma.

Purpose: A cohort study was carried out to test the hypothesis that higher vitamin D levels reduce the risk of relapse from melanoma.

Methods: A pilot retrospective study of 271 patients with melanoma suggested that vitamin D may protect against recurrence of melanoma. We tested these findings in a survival analysis in a cohort of 872 patients recruited to the Leeds Melanoma Cohort (median follow-up, 4.

Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, and melanoma: UK case-control comparisons and a meta-analysis of published VDR data.

We have carried out melanoma case-control comparisons for six vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D(3) levels in order to investigate the role of vitamin D in melanoma susceptibility. There was no significant evidence of an association between any VDR SNP and risk in 1028 population-ascertained cases and 402 controls from Leeds, UK. In a second Leeds case-control study (299 cases and 560 controls) the FokI T allele was associated with increased melanoma risk (odds ratio (OR) 1.

Environmental risk factors for relapse of melanoma.

Aim: To identify lifestyle factors affecting risk of relapse.

Methods: A comparison of 131 relapsed melanoma patients with 147 non-relapsers.

Results: Relapsers were more likely to report financial hardship using a number of different measures including access to holidays and feeling financially insecure (odds ratio (OR) 5.

A prospective study of the incidence, prevalence and mortality of multiple sclerosis in Leeds.

Objective: To establish the prospective incidence of multiple sclerosis and mortality rates of people with multiple sclerosis in Leeds Health Authority and an updated prevalence of multiple sclerosis on 31 October 1999.

Methods: A population based prevalence register established on 30 April 1996 was maintained by prospectively registering all new cases of multiple sclerosis, flagging all cases with the National Health Service Central Register for notification of deaths and by registering all new clinical events. General practitioners notified patients with multiple sclerosis moving into or out of the area.