Follow up studies offer vital information regarding course and outcome of any illness and throw light on therapeutic efficacy. Such studies, although fraught with difficulties, arc indispendable in psychiatry. O'Connor and Daly (1985, 1986) in their reports of a follow up study of alcoholics opined that unless a high percentage of follow up group is traced effectively, the results of long term ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate differences in snuff consumption, sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics between baseline intermittent smokers that had become daily smokers, stopped smoking or remained intermittent smokers at the one year follow up. DESIGN/SETTING/PARTICIPANTS/MEASUREMENTS A population of 12 507 individuals interviewed at baseline in 1992-94 and at a one year follow up, a...

Main results 14 trials (7739 patients) met the inclusion criteria. 8 trials evaluated screening and feedback of results; 3 trials evaluated screening, feedback, and general or specific treatment advice to providers; and 3 trials evaluated screening, feedback, treatment advice, and assistance to practices to develop systematic means of improving treatment and follow up.Of 7 trials that reported ...

OBJECTIVES Stroke is one of the most common and resource intensive diseases for society. Stroke in the working age population is increasing in different parts of the world. An incomplete return to work (RTW) after sick leave post stroke entails negative consequences for the affected person and an economical burden for society. The aim of this study was to explore the RTW rate and factors associ...

OBJECTIVE This randomized-controlled experimental study was conducted to determine the effects of psychoeducation in the inpatient clinic and regular telepsychiatric follow-up (via telephone) after discharge on emotional expression, depression and family burden of primary caregivers of the schizophrenic patients. METHODS This study was performed on 62 caregivers of the schizophrenic patients,...

A Welsh multicentre trial of early (fifth day) compared with late (tenth day) mobilisation in 742 patients after uncomplicated myocardial infarction, reported previously, found that there were no significant differences in survival during the first year, but a partial follow up beyond the first year survival showed a significantly reduced survival during the second and third years among patient...

The beliefs of patients attending walk-in clinic and outpatient section, Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS, Bangalore were studied separately. The Walk-in Clinic and Outpatient population were divided into three groups by systematic randomization. The beliefs of Group I, Hand III were left untouched, contradicted and supported respectively. The follow up attendance pattern of the patients was t...

It is well known that the outcome of an intervention is affected both by the inherent effects of the intervention and the patient's expectations. For this reason in comparative clinical trials an effort is made to conceal the nature of the administered intervention from the participants in the trial i.e. to blind the trial. Yet, in practice perfect blinding is impossible to ensure or even verif...