Miriam Santer

Background

Conservative kidney management (CKM) is recognised as an alternative to dialysis for a significant number of older adults with multimorbid stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD5). However, little is known about the way CKM is delivered or how it is perceived.

Aim

To determine the practice patterns for the CKM of older patients with CKD5, to inform service ...

BACKGROUND: Evidence for the effectiveness of vitiligo treatments is limited.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of (i) handheld narrowband UVB (NB-UVB) and (ii) a combination of potent topical corticosteroid (TCS) and NB-UVB, compared with TCS alone, for localized vitiligo.

METHODS: A pragmatic, three-arm, placebo-controlled randomized controlled trial (9-month treatment, 12-month follow-up). Adults and children, recruited from secondary care and the community, aged ≥ 5 years ...

BACKGROUND: Non-pharmaceutical public health interventions may provide simple, low-cost, effective ways of minimising the transmission and impact of acute respiratory infections in pandemic and non-pandemic contexts. Understanding what influences the uptake of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as hand and respiratory hygiene, mask wearing and social distancing could help to inform the development of effective public health advice messages. The aim of this synthesis was to explore ...

AIM: To explore parents and carers' experiences of barriers and facilitators to treatment adherence in childhood eczema

BACKGROUND: Childhood eczema is common and causes significant impact on quality of life for children and their families, particularly due to sleep disturbance and itch. Non-adherence to application of topical treatments is the main cause of treatment failure.

DESIGN: Qualitative interview study.

METHODS: Qualitative interviews were carried out with 31 carers from 28 ...

BACKGROUND: Eczema is a common childhood inflammatory skin condition, affecting more than one in five children. A popular perception is that children 'outgrow eczema', although epidemiological studies have shown that, for many, eczema follows a lifelong episodic course.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the perceptions of young people about the nature of their eczema and how these perceptions relate to their self-care and adapting to living with eczema.

METHODS: This is a secondary inductive ...

BACKGROUND: Heavy menstrual bleeding is a common symptom amongst women of reproductive age, yet questions remain about why some women experience this as a problem while others do not. We investigated the concerns of women who reported heavy menstrual bleeding on questionnaire.

METHODS: A cross-sectional postal survey and qualitative interviews were carried out amongst a community-based sample of women in Lothian, Scotland. 906 women aged 25 to 44 reported heavy or very heavy periods in ...

BACKGROUND: Economic evidence for vitiligo treatments is absent.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the cost-effectiveness of (i) handheld narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) and (ii) a combination of topical corticosteroid (TCS) and NB-UVB compared with TCS alone for localized vitiligo.

METHODS: Cost-effectiveness analysis alongside a pragmatic, three-arm, placebo-controlled randomized controlled trial with 9 months' treatment. In total 517 adults and children (aged ≥ 5 years) with active vitiligo ...

BACKGROUND: Childhood eczema, or childhood atopic dermatitis, causes significant distress to children and their families through sleep disturbance and itch. The main cause of treatment failure is nonuse of prescribed treatments.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to develop and test a Web-based intervention to support families of children with eczema, and to explore whether support from a health care professional (HCP) is necessary to engage participants with the ...

BACKGROUND: High-volume prescribing of antibiotics in primary care is a major driver of antibiotic resistance. Education of physicians and patients can lower prescribing levels, but it frequently relies on highly trained staff. We assessed whether internet-based training methods could alter prescribing practices in multiple health-care systems.

METHODS: After a baseline audit in October to December, 2010, primary-care practices in six European countries were cluster randomised to usual ...

OBJECTIVE: To inform the development of a core outcome set for eczema by engaging with people with eczema and parents of children with eczema to understand their experiences and understanding of the concept 'eczema control'.

DESIGN: 37 participants took part in a total of six semi-structured online focus groups held in a typed chatroom with 5-7 participants per group. Three groups involved adults with eczema and three groups involved parents of children with eczema. Framework analysis ...

BACKGROUND: Childhood eczema is very common and can have substantial impact on quality of life. One of the main treatments is topical corticosteroids, but these are often underused by parents and carers for reasons that include concerns about safety.

OBJECTIVES: To explore understandings and concerns about topical corticosteroids among parents and carers of children with eczema who had posted messages in online forums.

METHODS: A qualitative study of messages and their resultant ...

BACKGROUND: Childhood eczema causes significant impact on quality of life for some families, yet non-concordance with treatment is common.

AIM: To explore parents' and carers' views of childhood eczema and its treatment.

DESIGN AND SETTING: Qualitative interview study in primary care in the south of England.

METHOD: Carers of children aged ≤5 years with a recorded diagnosis of eczema, who reported that eczema was still a problem, were invited to participate. Thirty-one parents were ...

OBJECTIVE: Leave-on emollients form the mainstay of eczema treatment, but adherence is poor. We aimed to explore parents'/carers' views on effectiveness and acceptability of leave-on emollients for childhood eczema through secondary analysis of data from 2 qualitative data sets.

SETTING: Study 1 recruited through mail-out from 6 general practices in southern England. Study 2 recruited from a feasibility trial of an intervention to support eczema self-care in 31 practices in the same ...

INTRODUCTION: Eczema care requires management of triggers and various treatments. We developed two online behavioural interventions to support eczema care called ECO (Eczema Care Online) for young people and ECO for families. This protocol describes two randomised controlled trials (RCTs) aimed to evaluate clinical and cost-effectiveness of the two interventions. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Design: Two independent, pragmatic, unmasked, parallel group RCTs with internal pilots and nested health ...

PURPOSE: C-reactive-protein (CRP) is useful for diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infections (RTIs). A large international trial documented that Internet-based training in CRP point-of-care testing, in enhanced communication skills, or both reduced antibiotic prescribing at 3 months, with risk ratios (RRs) of 0.68, 0.53, 0.38, respectively. We report the longer-term impact in this trial.

METHODS: A total of 246 general practices in 6 countries were cluster-randomized to usual care, ...