The introduction of integrated out-of-hours arrangements in England: a discrete choice experiment of public preferences for alternative models of care.

Objective: To establish which generic attributes of general practice out-of-hours health services are important to the public.

Methods: A discrete choice experiment postal survey conducted in three English general practitioner (GP) co-operatives. A total of 871 individuals aged 20-70 years registered with a GP.

Effect of introduction of integrated out of hours care in England: observational study.

Objectives: To quantify service integration achieved in the national exemplar programme for single call access to out of hours care through NHS Direct, and its effect on the wider health system.

Design: Observational before and after study of demand, activity, and trends in the use of other health services.

Participants: 34 general practice cooperatives with NHS Direct partners (exemplars): four were case exemplars; 10 control cooperatives.

Infant immunization and family size.

Background: To investigate whether a delay in infant immunization is associated with the number of older siblings.

Methods: A cohort analysis of cumulative immunization uptake in 616 children aged 1-4 years recruited for a case-control study of atopic dermatitis in Norwich, UK was performed. The main outcome measures were the age of third pertussis and MMR immunizations.

Atopic dermatitis and the hygiene hypothesis: a case-control study.

Background: The notion that lack of exposure to infection in early life leads to development of atopic disease has come to be known as the hygiene hypothesis. It has arisen from observations of the rapidly rising prevalence of atopic diseases in recent decades and the lower prevalence of atopy with rising birth order. Direct evidence for the hypothesis to date is inconsistent.

What criteria do patients use when judging the effectiveness of psoriasis management?

Judgements on the effectiveness of psoriasis management are based on clinical criteria employed by dermatologists, and how they take account of patients' experiences in the process of history taking. In this study the aim was to gain the in-depth patients' perspective and investigate the criteria that they employ when making judgements about the effectiveness of their therapy. These findings were then compared with the clinical and research literature on the clinical effectiveness of psoriasis treatments.