G Measuring health utilities involves two main steps: defining a set of health states of interest, and valuing those health states. There are direct or indirect methods of utility valuation. G The methods that have been used to collect data on utilities include the standard gamble approach, the time trade-off approach and the visual analogue approach. G The main indirect methods of utility meas...

Although evidence suggests that the benefits of psychodynamic treatments are sustained over time, presently it is unclear whether these sustained benefits are superior to non-psychodynamic treatments. Additionally, the extant literature comparing the sustained benefits of psychodynamic treatments compared to alternative treatments is limited with methodological shortcomings. The purpose of the ...

E-mail has become a commonplace 'procedure' in medical practice because it is efficient and inexpensive. However, there are potential misuses and abuses of this form of written communication, with clinical and ethical implications.Common uses of e-mail in paediatics include general communication with colleagues in a professional setting; electronic formal consultation, in which patient confiden...

Many of the available disability outcome measures used in clinical trials of multiple sclerosis are insensitive to change over time, inadequately validated, or insensitive to patient-perceived health status or quality of life. Increasing focus on therapies that slow or reverse disability progression makes it essential to refine existing measures or to develop new tools. Major changes to the exp...

BACKGROUND Use of core outcome sets in research has been proposed as a method for countering the problems caused by heterogeneity of outcome measure reporting. Heterogeneity of outcome measure reporting occurs in Hirschsprung's disease (HD) research and is limiting the development of a robust evidence base to support clinical practice. METHODS Candidate outcome measures have been identified t...

BACKGROUND The primary analysis in a longitudinal randomized controlled trial is sometimes a comparison of arms at a single time point. While a two-sample t-test is often used, missing data are common in longitudinal studies and decreases power by reducing sample size. Mixed models for repeated measures (MMRM) can test treatment effects at specific time points, have been shown to give unbiased ...