aUniversity of Newcastle upon Tyne, Centre for Health Services Research, Newcastle upon Tyne
bUniversity of Durham, School for Health, Wolfson Research Unit, Stockton-on-Tees
cUniversity of Leeds, School of Healthcare, Leeds
dUniversity of Leicester, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester Clinical Sciences Building, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester
eUniversity of Newcastle upon Tyne, Clinical Research Facility, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Received 8 March, 2005
Revised 29 July, 2005
Accepted 19 September, 2005
Correspondence and requests for reprints to Dr H.O. Dickinson, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Centre for Health Services Research, 21 Claremont Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4AA, UK Tel: +44 191 222 3699; fax: +44 191 222 6043; e-mail: heathe[email protected]
Sponsorship: This work was undertaken with funding from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. The funding body was not involved in any aspect of the design or conduct of the review or interpretation of findings. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funding body.
Potential conflicts of interest: G.A.F. and B.W. have received honoraria from a number of pharmaceutical companies for lectures and consultancy, and grant support for clinical trials from medical charities and the pharmaceutical industry.
Preliminary work on the review was reported in a recent national clinical guideline commissioned by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, see http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=217976.
Part of this systematic review has been prepared under the aegis of The Cochrane Collboration. The Collaboration's publication policy permits journals to publish reviews, with priority if required, but permits The Cochrane Collaboration also to publish and disseminate such reviews.
