BMJ 1995;310:868-869 (1 April)

Letters

Health promotion in general practice

EDITOR,--We wish to respond to A S Wierzbicki and T M Reynolds's letter1 regarding our study of health promotion in general practice.2 Our objective was to observe the effect of personal health education on the lives of patients with angina; hence this was our obvious criterion for inclusion in the study. It is incorrect that a 50% reduction in the incidence of angina was the criterion chosen to indicate a successful outcome. Rather, in determining our sample size we suggested that effective intervention might reduce the frequency of episodes of angina in those who were categorised as severely affected by about 50%. This criterion was purely arbitrary, but other relevant criteria for determining sample size were unavailable.

The difference in death rate was an incidental finding: further follow up may elucidate the importance of this observation. Our report stated that 38 of the 42 deaths that occurred were attributed to . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

BMA's reply
Mac Armstrong
BMJ 1995 310: 532. [Extract] [Full Text]




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