Helen Cox

• University of York

Acupuncture is used by patients as a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) but the evidence on effectiveness is limited. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome in primary care when provided as an adjunct to usual care. Design: A two-arm pragmatic randomised controlled trial. Set...

Utilisation of usual care in both groups, with data on previous three months recorded by patients retrospectively at three-monthly intervals.

Secondary outcomes based on linear regression modelling at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.

Aim: This paper is a report of a qualitative study conducted as part of a randomized controlled trial comparing a lay-facilitated angina management programme with usual care. Its aim was to explore participants' beliefs, experiences, and attitudes to the care they had received during the trial, particularly those who had received the angina manage...

Multicentered randomized controlled trial with quality of life and resource use data collected. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of yoga intervention plus usual care compared with usual care alone for chronic or recurrent low back pain. Yoga has been shown as an effective intervention for treating chronic or recurr...

furze g., cox h., morton v., chuang l.-h., lewin r.j.p., nelson p., carty r., norris h., patel n. & elton p. (2012) Randomized controlled trial of a lay-facilitated angina management programme. Journal of Advanced Nursing68(10), 2267–2279. Aims. This article reports a randomized controlled trial of lay-facilitated angina management (registered tria...

Background: Previous studies indicate that yoga may be an effective treatment for chronic or recurrent low back pain. Objective: To compare the effectiveness of yoga and usual care for chronic or recurrent low back pain. Design: Parallel-group, randomized, controlled trial using computer-generated randomization conducted from April 2007 to Mar...

Previous studies indicate that yoga may be an effective treatment for chronic or recurrent low back pain. To compare the effectiveness of yoga and usual care for chronic or recurrent low back pain. Parallel-group, randomized, controlled trial using computer-generated randomization conducted from April 2007 to March 2010. Outcomes were assessed by p...

We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of electronic reminders (ERs) to improve the response rates and time to response of postal questionnaires in a health research setting. This pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) was nested within a multicenter RCT of yoga for lower back pain. Participants who provided an electronic mail address and/or mob...

Hundreds of thousands of volunteers take part in medical research, but many will never hear from researchers about what the study revealed. There is a growing demand for the results of randomised trials to be fed back to research participants both for ethical research practice and for ensuring their co-operation in a trial. This study aims to deter...

Achieving sample size is imperative to obtaining sufficient power to detect potential effects in health care research, yet many research studies are prone to under-recruitment. Not only does this create problems with power but also it contributes to research extensions, additional costs and delayed results. To combat this problem, one increasingly...

To conduct a pilot trial of yoga for the treatment of chronic low back pain (LBP) to inform the feasibility and practicality of conducting a full-scale trial in the UK; and to assess the efficacy of yoga for the treatment of chronic low back pain. A pragmatic randomised controlled trial was undertaken comparing yoga to usual care. Twenty participan...

There is insufficient evidence on the effectiveness of acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) for conclusions to be drawn. Given the current interest in acupuncture by patients, it is in the public interest to establish more rigorous evidence. Building on the positive findings from a pilot study, in this paper we present the protocol for a...

A systematic review revealed three small randomised controlled trials of yoga for low back pain, all of which showed effects on back pain that favoured the yoga group. To build on these studies a larger trial, with longer term follow-up, and a number of different yoga teachers delivering the intervention is required. This study protocol describes t...

Background: Musculoskeletal problems generate high costs. Of these disorders, patients with knee problems are commonly seen by GPs. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the knee is an accurate diagnostic test, but there is uncertainty as to whether GP access to MRI for these patients is a cost-effective policy. Aim: To investigate the cost-effect...

Background: GPs commonly see patients with knee problems. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the knee is an accurate diagnostic test for meniscus and ligament injuries of the knee, but there is uncertainty about the appropriate use of MRI and when it should enter the diagnostic pathway for patients with these problems. Aim: To assess the effect...

To assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of a brief home-based cognitive behavioural rehabilitation programme (the ICD Plan) for patients undergoing implantation of a cardiac defibrillator. A prospective multicentred, intention-to-treat, cluster-randomised controlled trial. Eight implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation centre...

to assess whether specialist osteoporosis nurses delivering training to care home staff can reduce fractures and improve the prescription of treatments to reduce fractures versus usual care. pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) with randomisation at the Primary Care Organisation (PCO) level. care homes (residential, nursing and EMI)...

To test the effect of postal randomization on recruitment of patients into a randomized trial in primary care. General practices used a telephone service to randomize patients in our trial. Delays in the start of recruitment at some sites led us to modify the randomization procedure. When new practices took part patients completed and posted baseli...

Objective To test the effect of postal randomization on recruitment of patients into a randomized trial in primary care. Study Design and Setting General practices used a telephone service to randomize patients in our trial. Delays in the start of recruitment at some sites led us to modify the randomization procedure. When new practices took par...

Background Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the knee for meniscus and ligament injuries is an accurate diagnostic test. Early and accurate diagnosis of patients with knee problems may prevent the onset of chronic problems such as osteoarthritis, a common cause of disability in older people consulting their GP. Aim To assess the effect of earl...

Poor response rates to postal questionnaires can introduce bias and reduce the statistical power of a study. To improve response rates in our trial in primary care we tested the effect of introducing an unconditional direct payment of 5 pounds for the completion of postal questionnaires. We recruited patients in general practice with knee problems...

Though new technologies like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) may be accurate, they often diffuse into practice before thorough assessment of their value in diagnosis and management, and of their effects on patient outcome and costs. MRI of the knee is a common investigation despite concern that it is not always appropriate. There is wide variation...

Objective: To assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of a brief home-based cognitive behavioural rehabilitation programme (the ICD Plan) for patients undergoing implantation of a cardiac defibrillator. Design: A prospective multicentred, intention-to-treat, cluster-randomised controlled trial. Setting: Eight implantable cardioverter-defibrillat...

Though new technologies like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) may be accurate, they often diffuse into practice before thorough assessment of their value in diagnosis and management, and of their effects on patient outcome and costs. MRI of the knee is a common investigation despite concern that it is not always appropriate. There is wide variation...