Bmc Med
-
The original article [1] contained an error in the presentation of Figure 1; this error has now been rectified and Figure 1 is now presented correctly.
-
The original article [1] did not contain comprehensive information regarding two authors' affiliations that may be considered a potential competing interest.
-
The SMILES trial was the first intervention study to test dietary improvement as a treatment strategy for depression. Molendijk et al. propose that expectation bias and difficulties with blinding might account for the large effect size. ⋯ Since its publication, our results have been largely replicated and our recent economic evaluation of SMILES suggests that the benefits of our approach extend beyond depression. We argue that the SMILES trial should be considered an important, albeit preliminary, first step in the field of nutritional psychiatry research.
-
Delays in accessing appropriate care affect patients with most major health conditions, including psychosis. These delays may also be affected by pathways to care. In a recent article in BMC Medicine, Bhui and colleagues review the current evidence for ethnic differences in pathways to care for psychosis in England. ⋯ In this Commentary, I discuss the implications of this on achieving equitable care for psychosis patients and outcomes following their care. The current review of the Mental Health Act provides a timely opportunity to remove such inequalities in England. Please see related article: https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-018-1201-9 .
-
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is currently subject to unprecedented financial strain. The identification of unnecessary healthcare resource use has been suggested to reduce spending. However, there is little very research quantifying wasteful test use, despite the £3 billion annual expenditure. Geographical variation has been suggested as one metric in which to quantify inappropriate use. We set out to identify tests ordered from UK primary care that are subject to the greatest between-practice variation in their use. ⋯ There are wide variations in the use of common tests, which is unlikely to be explained by clinical indications. Since £3 billion annually are spent on tests, this represents considerable variation in the use of resources and inefficient management in the NHS. Our results can be of value to policy makers, researchers, patients and clinicians as the NHS strives towards identifying overuse and underuse of tests.