Background: Whiplash injuries are an important public health problem that is associated with significant disability and high health care utilization. Recent cohort studies suggest that physician care may be the most effective treatment for patients with whiplash-associated disorders. However, these findings have not been tested in a randomized controlled trial. The purpose of …

The ’€œhardening hypothesis’€ suggests that as smoking prevalence decreases, lighter smokers will quit first, leaving more ’€œhardcore’€ smokers in the population. At a population level, however, the weight of evidence suggests that no hardening is occurring. By understanding the lessons from Geoffrey Rose’s model of population-level risk factor change, we …

The aim of this study was to compare the responsiveness of a patient specific outcome measure with the Oswestry Disability Index v2.1 (ODI) and the Roland and Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) for patients with mild to moderate subacute and chronic low back pain. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Patient specific outcome …

C-reactive protein (CRP) levels predict coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. Levels are raised among smokers, but the effect of smoking cessation is unclear. Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) may be a confounder. Lifetime smoking exposure may have a dose effect on CRP among smokers, but it is unclear if this …

National smoke-free legislation is being adopted by an increasing number of countries. In terms of scale and the potential impact on many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancers and respiratory disease, this is undoubtedly an important public health intervention. It is appropriate, at this point in time, to review what is …

Objective: To examine the effect of changes in job control on health behaviors, psychological distress and health status. Methods: Using a path analysis model, we examined the effects of change in job control over a 4-year period on levels of physical activity, smoking, and psychological distress; and on self-rated health …

Background For winter 2003/2004 in Scotland, it was recommended that all those aged 65 and over be eligible to receive 23-valent polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine (23vPPV), which has been shown to be effective in reducing the risk of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). We assessed the success of the vaccination programme by …

Abstract Objective: To examine the pathways through which job control affects health status; to examine if the effects of job control on health status are attenuated by including other measures associated with lower socioeconomic status, and to examine if the relationship between job control and health status is consistent across …

Objectives In Scotland, legislation was implemented in March 2006 prohibiting smoking in all wholly or partially enclosed public spaces. We investigated the impact on attempts to quit smoking and smoking prevalence. Methods We performed time series models using Box-Jenkins autoregressive integrated moving averages (ARIMA) on monthly data on the gross …

A review of the surgical costs and results in a group of patients randomly allocated to surgery as part of a large prospective randomized trial of patients with chronic back pain. OBJECTIVE: To report the observational data from the surgical arm of a randomized trial comparing surgery with intensive rehabilitation …