Lancet
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Premenstrual tension and functional infertility. Aetiology and treatment.
17 women with premenstrual symptoms received bromocriptine (CB 154) and placebo in a double-blind crossover manner. 5 because pregnant and 10 who completed 2 cycles showed significant improvement in breast symptoms, oedema, weight gain, and mood with bromocriptine. Prolactin concentrations were suppressed. In 34 women with premenstrual symptoms, who had been warned of possible increased fertility, bromocriptine 2-5 mg twice daily from the 10th day of the menstrual cycle for 1--11 months gave marked or complete relief. 45 women attending the infertility clinic took 2-5 mg bromocriptine twice daily for 186 cycles; 23 became pregnant, 2 had marked relief and 20 complete relief from premenstrual symptoms. The relief of premenstrual symptoms by bromocriptine may be due to suppression of prolactin concentrations, which may be a major factor in premenstrual syndrome.
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Comparative Study
Predicting outcome in individual patients after severe head injury.
Clinical data available in the first few days after severe head injury have been collected prospectively on 600 patients from Glasgow and the Netherlands and stored on computer; the patients in the two countries were similar in initial severity and in their outcome on a defined scale at 6 months. Calculated predictions of outcome were made in 200 randomly selected cases, using Bayesian statistics to compare the data from each patient with those from the 400 remaining cases whose outcome was known. ⋯ Comparison of predicted with actual outcomes showed that 96-98% of confident predictions were correct. More logical clinical decisions should be possible when these predictions are available.