Sleeping policemen

Road traffic casualties are known to show wide socioeconomic variation, but evidence as to what works to reduce them is in short supply. A new RCT published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health assessed the effect of 20mph traffic speed zones in London. Researchers, who looked at data from 1987-2006, found that zones targeted in deprived areas only had a limited effect and that the socioeconomic gap continues to widen.

Just a check up

Does the NHS Health Check programme achieve the reach, both in volume and equality, that it needs to? A team from Imperial College London takes a look at uptake amongst high risk patients . A study based in Stoke on Trent considers how to deliver the programme in financially constrained times.

A nudge is a good as ...

The government's Nudge unit or, more properly, the Behavioural Insight Team (BIT) has suggested that smokers be encouraged to use smoke-free cigarettes, an idea that has not been met with universal approval. The suggestion, which has been pounced upon by the press, comes in the BIT's annual update. In the US, electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) are not approved as smoking cessation products and the Food and Drug Administration continues to have concerns about their manufacture and marketing. Thus, there was substantial press coverage of a study of e-cig users in the International Journal of Clinical Practice that sounded a slightly more positive note.

Funny money?

A cunning plan or just a vague idea? Social impact bonds have been cautiously welcomed as the first large-scale trials are announced. These trials, in Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminster, Birmingham and Leicestershire, will be based on an earlier pilot at Peterborough Prison, relating to reoffending. Social impact bonds have also been trialled in Essex and Liverpool. Meanwhile, the Big Society Bank has been renamed, now to be known as Big Society Capital.

Virginia Plain

Tobacco Control this month features discussion of plain packaging for cigarettes and other tobacco products. Australia is well on its way to becoming the first country to legislate on the matter (bills have recently been passed by the lower house), so there's some coverage of responses to this policy move. Also included are studies of young adults' and young women's perceptions of packaging, plain or otherwise. Five tobacco firms in the US have started legal action against the Food and Drug Administration over requirements to include graphic depictions of the dangers of smoking on packaging from September 2012. Meanwhile latest figures from the NHS Information Centre reveal that the number of people trying to quit via NHS stop smoking services has trebled in the past 10 years, although success rates have recently declined slightly. A study of recent quitters in Australia looks at rates of use and perceived helpfulness of a variety of cessation methods, while a team from St George's University of London evaluates the effectiveness of the NHS Quit Kit. A systematic review in the Lancet sifts the evidence on cigarette smoking as a risk factor for coronary heart disease amongst women compared with men.

But why?

An editorial in a recent edition of Maternal and Child Nutrition asks the difficult question: why have recent UK trials had no significant effects on breastfeeding rates? Early results from the 2010 Infant Feeding Survey, covering initial incidence of breastfeeding and smoking during pregnancy, show a rise on previous years, at 82% in England (up from 78% in 2005). A team from Salford looks at inequalities in immunisation and breastfeeding in relation to ethnicity and deprivation. The effect of Baby Friendly Initiative training in primary care has been examined by a team from Bristol, recently, as well as a group from the North West. Health and Social Care publishes a study of the role of Children's Centres in offering support for breastfeeding. Results from what is billed as "the most comprehensive UK study" on the effects of breastfeeding on children, mothers and employers will be presented at a policy discussion at the British Academy in October.

Something about ISER study???

The big question

As noted in the press, the Lancet devotes an issue to the matter of obesity, epidemiology and chronic disease, with four articles and some commentaries. Along with a global overview of the situation, there's also an analysis of UK and US trends, looking in particular at the economic burden. A third paper showcases a new web-based bodyweight simulation model, while the final paper argues that although interventions to halt the obesity epidemic may well be required at several levels, governments should be taking the lead.