Health researchers commonly use the notion of complexity to indicate the problems faced in evaluating the effectiveness of many non-drug interventions.1-3 However, although it is rarely delineated, complexity has two meanings. In the first it is a property of the intervention, and in the second it is a property of the system in which the intervention is implemented. We examine the implications ...

Compared to many applied areas of economics, health economics has a strong tradition in eliciting and using stated preferences (SP) in policy analysis. Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are one SP method increasingly used in this area. Literature on DCEs in health and more generally has grown rapidly since the mid-1990s. Applications of DCEs in health have come a long way, but to date few have...

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines environmental health as encompassing those elements of human health that are influenced by physical, chemical, biological, social and psychological factors in the environment. It also refers to the theory and processes of analysing, managing and preventing those elements in the environment that have the potential to negatively affect the health of pre...

BACKGROUND Herpes zoster (HZ) is a common viral disease that produces a painful vesicular rash. Early use of antiviral medications is recommended, as it reduces pain and speeds healing. A population-based observational study was conducted to evaluate the changing burden of HZ in the province of Manitoba (Canada) over a period of 17 years. METHODS Administrative health care data including medi...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate hospital-specific health economic implications of different protocols using high-sensitivity troponin I for the assessment of patients with chest pain. DESIGN A cost prediction model and an economic microsimulation were developed using a cohort from a single centre recruited as part of the (ADAPT) trial, a prospective observational trial conducted from 2008 to 2011. The...

INTRODUCTION The mortality associated with weekend admission to hospital (the 'weekend effect') has for many years been attributed to deficiencies in quality of hospital care, often assumed to be due to suboptimal senior medical staffing at weekends. This protocol describes a case note review to determine whether there are differences in care quality for emergency admissions (EAs) to hospital a...

BACKGROUND Health services that operate 7 days per week are under pressure to show the increased cost of providing weekend services can be measured in improved patient outcomes. The evidence for weekend allied health services in acute medical and surgical wards is weak and there is wide variation between the services offered at different hospitals. METHODS This qualitative study was undertake...