Diabetic retinopathy screening: perspectives of people with diabetes, screening intervals and costs of attending screening.

AIMS: To obtain the views of people with diabetes about the provision of diabetic retinopathy screening services; and the interval of screening. METHODS: Between October 2009 and January 2010, people with diabetes attending diabetic retinopathy screening clinics across Wales were asked to complete a questionnaire comprising of two parts: the first asking about their health, diabetes history, demographic characteristics and views about the diabetic retinopathy screening service, and the second asking about the costs of attending the screening. RESULTS: The response rate was 40% (n = 621) from 1550 questionnaires distributed at diabetic retinopathy clinics, with 600 complete responses analysed. Respondents had a mean known duration of diabetes of 8.5 years (sd 7.8) and had attended for screening on average 3.2 times (sd 1.6) in the last 5 years. Sixty-eight per cent (n = 408) of respondents reported having their eyes screened approximately once a year. Eighty-five per cent (n = 507) felt that they should have their eyes screened every year. However, 65% (n = 390) of respondents would accept screening at 2- or 3-year intervals if medical evidence showed that it was safe. The reported personal costs incurred by respondents attending diabetic retinopathy screening were low. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that people with diabetes undergoing diabetic retinopathy screening would accept a greater screening interval, provided that adequate clinical evidence and medical reassurance were given.

Clumsiness, dyspraxia and developmental co-ordination disorder: how do health and educational professionals in the UK define the terms?

At the turn of the century, the idea that there might be a discrete childhood syndrome, which had 'clumsiness' of movement as its defining symptom, began to emerge. Since then numerous labels have been applied to the syndrome. In spite of recent attempts to standardise the terminology used, variation continues to compromise inter-professional communication and interpretation of research. The aim of this study was to determine how the three terms 'Clumsy', 'Dyspraxia' and 'Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD)' are viewed by health and educational professionals in the UK. Two hundred and thirty-four adults (57% from the health professions and 43% from education) provided a written definition of each term. Content analysis of the 702 definitions was used to determine: (1) the extent to which the terms were familiar/acceptable to the respondents; and (2) to capture differences in the meaning of the term being defined. The results indicated that the terms 'DCD' and 'Dyspraxia' were less familiar than the term 'clumsy' which was, however, least acceptable. Amongst those professionals who were familiar with all three terms, there was general agreement that all were used to describe some sort of overall movement difficulty. Beyond that point, divergence of understanding and inter-professional differences in emphasis emerged. The implications of these differences for clinical and educational practice, research and policy making are discussed.

Uses of a cancer registry in the assessment of occupational cancer risks.

Five approaches for the evaluation of occupational factors in cancer etiology are described. These approaches, based on one's having access to cancer registry data, are for examining cancer profiles for industry and occupation, evaluating information on occupation and industry to infer exposure, observing time trends in incidence to evaluate tumors of occupational interest, using cases of interest to form the basis for case-control studies, and linking cohorts with known exposure to the tumor registry to ascertain cancer incidence in that cohort.