Preventive treatment patterns in the adult migraine population: an observational UK study over 7 years.

Background: Calcitonin gene-related peptide monoclonal antibodies (CGRP mAbs) are recommended by the United Kingdom National Institute of Health and Care Excellence for the prevention of migraine as treatment beyond third line. We report migraine prevalence and preventive treatment patterns in the adult United Kingdom primary care population over a 7.5-year period, focusing on patients ceasing ≥ 3 oral preventive medication classes.

Text messaging reminders for influenza vaccine in primary care: a cluster randomised controlled trial (TXT4FLUJAB).

Objectives: (1) To develop methods for conducting cluster randomised trials of text messaging interventions utilising routine electronic health records at low cost; (2) to assess the effectiveness of text messaging influenza vaccine reminders in increasing vaccine uptake in patients with chronic conditions.

Design: Cluster randomised trial with general practices as clusters.

Setting: English primary care.

The identification of incident cancers in UK primary care databases: a systematic review.

Purpose: UK primary care databases are frequently used in observational studies with cancer outcomes. We aimed to systematically review methods used by such studies to identify and validate incident cancers of the breast, colorectum, and prostate.

Methods: Medline and Embase (1980-2013) were searched for UK primary care database studies with incident breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer outcomes.

High rate of HIV resuppression after viral failure on first-line antiretroviral therapy in the absence of switch to second-line therapy.

In a randomized comparison of nevirapine or abacavir with zidovudine plus lamivudine, routine viral load monitoring was not performed, yet 27% of individuals with viral failure at week 48 experienced resuppression by week 96 without switching. This supports World Health Organization recommendations that suspected viral failure should trigger adherence counseling and repeat measurement before a treatment switch is considered.

Video Rating in Neurodegenerative Disease Clinical Trials: The Experience of PRION-1.

Background/aims: Large clinical trials including patients with uncommon diseases involve assessors in different geographical locations, resulting in considerable inter-rater variability in assessment scores. As video recordings of examinations, which can be individually rated, may eliminate such variability, we measured the agreement between a single video rater and multiple examining physicians in the context of PRION-1, a clinical trial of the antimalarial drug quinacrine in human prion diseases.

Methods: We analysed a 43-component neurocognitive assessment battery, on 101 patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, focusing on the correlation and agreement between examining physicians and a single video rater.