Aim-To compare the prevalence of childhood and adolescent behavioural problems in low birthweight infants with matched controls. Methods-A cohort study of a geographically defined population of survivors of <1500 g birthweight born in 1980 and 1981 and age, sex, and school matched controls was undertaken. Children with a clinical disability were excluded. Data from Rutter questionnaires, completed by parents and teachers when the children were aged 8 and again at age 14 years, were assessed. Results-From an initial 40 321 births in 1980-81 there were 399 of birthweight <1500 g, of whom 219 survived to age 8. After exclusion of the 42 children with clinical disability, 177 cases comprised the sample. Of these, 10 (6%) refused or could not be contacted, leaving 167 cases for each of whom a matched control was obtained. At age 14 years, both parent and teacher questionnaires showed an increased prevalence of behavioural problems in cases compared with controls. The presence of a pervasive behavioural problem, when the responses of parents and teachers were concordant, was present in 9% of cases and 3% of controls. There were 132 pairs where the cases and controls were the same at ages 8 and 14 years and provided longitudinal data. The parental questionnaire showed there was a significant decrease in the prevalence of behavioural problems for cases and controls between the ages of 8 and 14 years. There was almost no longitudinal change in the prevalence of behavioural problems as shown by the teacher questionnaires. Conclusion-Although low birthweight infants are at increased risk of behavioural problems, because they comprise only a small proportion of all births, their population attributable risk for behavioural disorder is around 2-3%. (Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 1999;81:F5-F9)

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There is wide variation in the sign-out processes followed by different EDs. A majority of those surveyed expressed the need for standardized sign-out systems.

An online questionnaire survey of more than 1,000 users of a consumer health website, SurgeryDoor, was conducted, which sought to discover why the site was consulted and whether the information obtained from it had any health outcome. The majority of respondents were women and middle aged. Doctors were the first port of call for information, but 50% of respondents cited the Internet as one of their top three information sources. Most people did not come to the site with a particular illness or medical condition. Two-thirds of users said that the information found had ‘helped a lot’ in being better informed. Just under half felt that the information they found had helped in their dealings with the doctor, while just over half felt that information found had changed the way they felt about their condition. More importantly, over one-third of respondents said that their condition had improved after having visited the site and more than one in four said that Web information had resulted in a deferred visit or had actually replaced a visit to the doctor.