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Biomedical subjects

D H Stone

Publications and source records attributed to D H Stone.

81 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

An approach to the analysis of health care needs and resources.

A semi-quantitative method of analysing the relationship between health care resources and need is described. It utilises the Donabedian model which expresses needs and resources in equivalent units in order to estimate the ratio of resources to need. The optimum resource/need ratio is regarded as that pertaining to the reference population; deviation from this optimum ratio in the subunits of the reference population is interpreted as a manifestation of inequitable resource distribution. An example is presented of the application of the method to the Greater Glasgow Health Board and its five constituent districts for the years 1974-77. It is argued that this method might, without undermining the principle of geographical equity, meet some of the objections to the more rigid 'formula' approach in the report of the Resource Allocation Working Party (RAWP) and in the Scottish Health Authorities Revenue Equalisation (SHARE) report.

Health Resources↗
PubMed1978

Screening for impaired visual acuity in middle age in general practice.

Screening for impaired distant visual acuity was one component of a controlled trial of multiphasic screening in middle age carried out in two general practices. The prevalence of impaired visual acuity (6/18 or worse in the better eye) at the initial screening in 1967 was 9.6% overall, ranging from 5.9% in people aged 40-49 years to 16.3% in those aged over 60. The question "Do you have difficulty seeing distant objects?" had a low sensitivity and high specificity, rendering it unsatisfactory for use in mass population screening for visual impairment. The prevalences of impaired visual acuity in the screening and control groups at the survey in 1972 showed no significant differences in any age group. Mass screening for defects of visual acuity in the course of a multiphasic examination is thus unlikely to reduce the prevalence of impaired distant visual acuity in the community.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Multiphasic screening in middle age: results and implications of a controlled trial in British general practice.

The Southeast London Screening Study was designed as a long-term controlled trial of multiphasic screening directed at middle-aged individuals registered with their family doctors. In 1967, 7,229 subjects, aged 40 to 64 years, were randomly allocated into either a screening or control group. The screening group was invited to attend two screening sessions held about two years apart while the control group continued to receive conventional medical care. Both groups were then invited to participate in a health survey in 1972 to 1973. Screening-control comparisons revealed no significant differences in either mortality or morbidity over the first nine years of the study with one exception: the screened males were significantly less "anxious" (as measured by the Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire) than the controls (P less than 0.01). In the context of other negative psychiatric findings, however, the importance of this result is considered doubtful. Despite methodological limitations, it is concluded that multiphasic screening of the middle-aged in general practice is probably not worthwhile.

Adult↗