Background: A survey was carried out in the Grampian region of Scotland with a random sample of 10,000 adults registered with a General Practitioner in Grampian. The study complied with new legislation requiring a two-stage approach to identify and recruit participants, and examined the implications of this for response rates, non-response bias and speed of response.

This provides further evidence that birth dates of anorexics peak in the late spring and early summer. There are parallels with the epidemiology of schizophrenia. The evidence suggests that a seasonally fluctuating factor, most plausibly an intrauterine effect of common infectious agents during the winter months, is of etiological significance.

There is a high prevalence of SAD among patients attending their GPs in January in Aberdeen; this is likely to reflect a similar rate in the community.

This study has attempted to incorporate spouse's occupation/income as a factor in the career choices of GPs in Scotland.

In 2003, a majority of consultants in the UK voted in favour of the new consultant contract. This will improve consultant pay and introduce a standard 40-hour working week, including worked on-call. This should address tow of the main areas of consultant dissatisfaction in NHS Scotland. However, staff shortages will require to be addressed if the contract is to be successfully implemented.