Sex- and age-specific incidence of fractures in mental illness: a historical, population-based cohort study.

Objective: To estimate risks of fracture at any site, and at sites linked with osteoporosis, in mentally ill adults compared with the general population.

Method: We created a community-based cohort by using the U.K.

Validating estimates of problematic drug use in England.

Background: UK Government expenditure on combatting drug abuse is based on estimates of illicit drug users, yet the validity of these estimates is unknown. This study aims to assess the face validity of problematic drug use (PDU) and injecting drug use (IDU) estimates for all English Drug Action Teams (DATs) in 2001. The estimates were derived from a statistical model using the Multiple Indicator Method (MIM).

Prevalence of problematic and injecting drug use for Drug Action Team areas in England.

Background: National and local monitoring of policies on illicit drug use requires information on the number of problematic drug users in a country. This article reports the findings from a study that estimated the number of problematic and injecting drug users for all Drug Action Teams (DATs) in England for 2001.

Methods: The Multiple Indicator Method (MIM) is a statistical technique for using aggregated data to estimate numbers of drug users across a large number of areas.

What has happened to antimicrobial usage in primary care in the United Kingdom since the SMAC report? - description of trends in antimicrobial usage using the General Practice Research Database.

Background: The aim of the study was to assess antibiotic prescribing within the United Kingdom for three of the Standing Medical Advisory Committee recommendations 'four things which could be done'.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective survey of morbidity and antibiotic prescribing data between 1993 and 2001 using the national General Practice Research Database. Antibiotic prescribing was linked to diagnoses of cough/cold and sore throat; length of antibiotic course for uncomplicated cystitis.

Early exposure to infections and antibiotics and the incidence of allergic disease: a birth cohort study with the West Midlands General Practice Research Database.

Background: It has been suggested that the rise in prevalence of allergic disease in westernized countries is due in part to a decrease in exposure to infections and an increase in the use of antibiotics early in life.

Objective: The purpose of this investigation was to quantify the relationships between (1) exposure to personal infections, infections in siblings, and use of antibiotics in early life and (2) the incidence of allergic disease.

Methods: Using the West Midlands section of the UK General Practice Research Database, we established a historical birth cohort of children (N = 29,238).