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IT. Can randomised trials rely on existing electronic data? A feasibility study to explore the value of routine data in health technology assessment. Health Technol Assess 2003;7(26). Health Technology Assessment is indexed in Index Medicus/MEDLINE and Excerpta Medica/ EMBASE. NHS R&D HTA Programme T he NHS R&D Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme was set up in 1993 to ensure that high-quality research information on the costs, effectiveness and broader impact of health technologies is produced in the most efficient way for those who use, manage and provide care in the NHS. Initially, six HTA panels (pharmaceuticals, acute sector, primary and community care, diagnostics and imaging, population screening, methodology) helped to set the research priorities for the HTA Programme. However, during the past few years there have been a number of changes in and around NHS R&D, such as the establishment of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the creation of three new research programmes: Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO); New and Emerging Applications of Technology (NEAT); and the Methodology Programme. This has meant that the HTA panels can now focus more explicitly on health technologies ('health technologies' are broadly defined to include all interventions used to promote health, prevent and treat disease, and improve rehabilitation and long-term care) rather than settings of care. Therefore the panel structure was replaced in 2000 by three new panels: Pharmaceuticals; Therapeutic Procedures (including devices and operations); and Diagnostic Technologies and Screening.

Cigarette smoking among adolescents was predicted by age, race, involvement in activities with peers and family, peer smoking, family's smoking, and peers' acceptance of smoking. A random sample of 1,826 South Carolina public school students served as subjects. Multiple regression analysis indicated that 43% of the variance in reported cigarette smoking could be explained by these variables. Older, white subjects and subjects with friends and family members who smoked were more likely to smoke themselves. Adolescents who reported low family involvement and high peer involvement were more likely to smoke. High peer involvement and peers' approval of smoking were also associated with greater reported smoking.

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